Oklahoma softball: OUch!! No. 1 Sooners fall to James Madison in WCWS

Unseeded James Madison held top-seeded Oklahoma softball to a season-low three runs and upset the Sooners 4-3 in eight innings in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series.

James Madison senior pitcher Odicci Alexander went the distance for the Dukes, allowing just six hits to the country’s best offensive team and striking out nine of the 31 batters she faced, and handed the Sooners just their third loss in 53 games this season.

Aside from losing to an unseeded team, what made this especially hard was the fact that it came before a full capacity and mostly Sooner partisan crowd at ASA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma starter Shannon Saile also pitched an exceptional game in the circle, striking out eight and giving up just three hits in an eight-inning complete game. Unfortunately, two of those hits left the yard, accounting for all four James Madison runs. Saile suffered her first loss of the season after 17 consecutive wins.

This is just the third time all season Saile has pitched longer than five innings in a game.

James Madison struck first on a three-run home run by shortstop Sarah Jubas, her 11th of the year, in the third inning.

Oklahoma came right back with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Jana Johns reached first base on an error and Taylon Snow singled. With two on and nobody out, OU super freshman Tiare Jennings hit one out of the yard for her 26th home run of the season, and just like that James Madison’s three run lead evaporated.

The six runs the two teams combined for in the third inning ended up being the only scoring in the game until James Madison leadoff hitter Kate Gordon blasted a solo home run to left center field with one out in the eighth off of Saile to give the Dukes a 4-3 lead. It was James Madison’s first hit since the third inning.

After registering four consecutive hits to begin the third inning, the Sooners collected just two more hits over the final five innings and had just one base runner reach as far as second base.

This is just the second time in WCWS history that an unseeded team has knocked off the No. 1-seeded team in the opening game.

Odicci’s brilliance in the circle is further testament to how great pitching can silence great hitting.

The Sooners had struck out just 12 times in their five previous NCAA Tournament games this season. Against James Madison, they fanned nine times, seven of those swinging. OU had three three-up, three-down at bats from the fourth through the eighth.

Oklahoma now improbably falls to the loser’s bracket after just one game. The Sooners (50-3) will face the loser of Thursday’s game between Georgia and Oklahoma State. Both teams own a victory over the Sooners in the 2021 season.

Oklahoma’s three losses on the season have been against teams in this year’s WCWS field.