Oklahoma softball: Three takeaways from OU’s Saturday WCWS sweep
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma softball eliminated Georgia and UCLA in commanding fashion on Saturday and advanced to Sunday’s national semifinals in the Women’s College World Series.
Having to play twice on Saturday after being upset in the opening game by this year’s WCWS Cinderella team James Madison, the No. 1-seeded Sooners showed their remarkable resilience with an 8-0 run-rule shutout over Georgia in the first game of the day, and followed that with another strong performance in defeating No, 2 UCLA in their second game of the day.
No one predicted that the Sooners (52-3) and Bruins (47-7), the two teams ranked No. 1 and 2 most of the 2021 season, would be playing in a Saturday elimination game. That was the matchup that was expected to take place in the best-of-three championship series.
Instead, it was a showdown of the last two teams to play for a WCWS championship. The Bruins and their All-American, all-everything pitcher Rachel Garcia swept the Sooners two games to none for the 2019 national championship, the last time the WCWS was held because of the COVID-19 pandemic year in 2020.
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The Sooners were put into a hole early in Saturday night’s rematch as Garcia connected on a three-run, home-run blast in the third inning off of OU freshman starter Nicole May. After the next hitter doubled, collecting the fourth hit off of May in the inning, head coach Patty Gasso went to the bullpen and brought in fifth-year senior “G” Jaurez, the complete-game winner earlier in the day over Georgia, who recorded the final two outs.
That would be all the scoring the tough UCLA lineup would be able to produce. The Sooners got back in the game with two runs in their half of the third inning, the big blast coming on a two-out triple by Jocely Alo. They followed that with two more in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead, a single run in the fifth and a five-spot in the decisive sixth inning that extended a 5-3 advantage to 10-3.
The Bruins went quietly in the seventh, leaving Oklahoma to advance to Sunday and sending the reigning national champions home.
Oklahoma will get the chance to avenge its loss to James Madison in a rematch in the college softball version of NCAA basketball’s Final Four. But the Sooners will have to beat the Dukes and their sensational pitching ace Oddici Alexander twice on Sunday to move ahead to the WCWS championship series, which begins on Monday at ASA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.
Three big takeaways from Saturday’s doubleheader dandy:
“G” Juarez brilliance in the circle lifted the Sooners to a pair of Saturday wins
The Oklahoma bats came alive on Saturday, but you can’t overlook the brilliance of Giselle Juarez, who started and finished OU’s win over Georgia in the opening game of the day. She followed that with an equally masterful performance, shutting down the potent UCLA offense in 5 1/3 innings of relief.
For the day, Juarez allowed no runs and just six combined hits, striking out 13 and yielding two walks in 11 1/3 innings pitched. She was the winning pitcher in both games and is now 20-1 on the season.
“Mighty Mite” Donihoo muscles up in both games
Head coach Patty Gasso calls her “Mighty Mite,” and on Saturday, on the biggest stage in college softball, sophomore Mackenzie Donihoo demonstrated why. She entered Saturday, with six home runs on the season, the only player in the Oklahoma starting lineup against Georgia with fewer than 10 home runs.
On Saturday, Donihoo muscled up to hit three out of the yard. A two-run blast to left field in the second inning to get the Sooners on the board with the first runs of the game. She also had a couple of singles in the game.
Then, after back-to-back strikeouts to start the second game against UCLA, the Mustang, Oklahoma, native hit back-to-back bombs in the fifth and sixth innings. Her three-run knock in the sixth iced the game for the Sooners.
Her numbers for the day: Five hits in seven at bats. seven RBI and three runs scored. Mighty, indeed.
Will the Sooners have enough gas in the take to remain alive after Sunday?
There is little question that having to play two games on Saturday took a lot out of the Sooners. The bigger question is, how much to they have left, having to endure four games and two long days of softball, and will it be enough for them to advance and remain alive with a chance to bring home their fifth national championship.
An extremely tall task, but if any team has the ability and the determination to get the job done and complete the improbable comeback, it is this Oklahoma team.
In her postgame interview after the win over UCLA, Patty Gasso acknowledged that her team’s legs were tired from having to play two games on a hot and humid day in Oklahoma City, but adrenaline takes over because you know what’s at stake, she said
“We’ve worked really hard all season,” she said. “You can’t have any excuses when you get into the Final Four. We’ve got to beat a very good team, twice, so we’ve got to put everything we have on the field tomorrow.”