Oklahoma softball: Sooners defeat FSU 6-2 to force winner-take-all final
By Chip Rouse
No. 1-seeded Oklahoma softball staved off elimination for a fifth time in this year’s Women’s College World Series, defeating Florida State 6-2 on Wednesday to force a deciding Game 3.
The Sooners (55-4) trailed 2-1 in the sixth, when national home-run leader Jocelyn Alo blasted a two-run home run over the right center-field fence, igniting a four-run sixth to give Oklahoima a commanding 5-2 lead. OU sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth, collecting five consecutive hits before the first out was recorded and knocking Florida State starter Kathryn Sandercock out of the game.
OU senior third baseman Jana Johns hit a solo home run in the Sooner half of the third to get Oklahoma on the board and cut the Florida State in half at 2-1. FSU had taken an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run home run by redshirt sophomore Elizabeth Mason.
Alo’s home run was her 34th of the season and broke the NCAA Division I softball all-time team home-run record. It was the Sooners’ 159th of the season, breaking the old record of 158 held by Hawaii.
Alo was the Oklahoma offensive hero in Game 2 of the WCWS championship series. She was three for three at the plate along with a walk, driving in two runs and scoring twice.
Sooner starter “G” Juarez was the player of the game for Oklahoma, however, holding the potent Florida State lineup to the two first-inning runs and just four hits in the game. After enduring a 31-pitch first inning, Alo allowed no runs, just two hits and a total of three base runners the remainder of the game. in going the distance for her fourth win in this year’s WCWS.
For the third straight game, the high-powered Oklahoma offense struggled to get on track in the early innings. The Sooners opened the game with a leadoff double off the bat of National Freshman of the Year Tiare Jennings. That was followed by a walk to Alo, but OU’s third hitter in the lineup. catcher Kinzie Hansen grounded into a double play and clean-up hitter Nicole Mendes ground out to third ending the threat and leaving one OU runner on base.
The Sooners recorded just three hits and three base runners in the first three innings, but one of those hits was the home run by Johns, her 12th of the season.
Eleven of Oklahoma first 15 outs were ground outs before the Sooner hitters started finding holes in the infield and line drives that found open spaces in the outfield beginning in the sixth inning. Prior to the sixth, it seemed that every ball hit by OU was directly at a Florida State defender, much like what was the case in Game 1.
The two teams will now play a deciding, winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday afternoon (2 p.m. CT on ESPN). If Oklahoma wins on Thursday, the Sooners will be only the the third team since the best-of-three championship format was implemented in 2005 to win the championship after losing Game 1 in the championship series. Oklahoma is seeking its fifth national championship; for Florida State, it will be a second national crown and the second in the last three years the WCWS has been held.