OU Run-Rules UGA, Set to Meet UCLA

Saturday, June 5

Oklahoma City, Okla.

11 AM

University of Oklahoma

51-3

Georgia

34-23

Oklahoma

Georgia

June 05, 2021 | Softball

Box Score OU 8, UGA 0 (6)Highlights Photo Gallery

OKLAHOMA CITY — Rather than cling to the disappointment of its stunning opening-round loss in the Women's College World Series, the top-ranked Oklahoma softball team returned to normalcy by pounding Georgia with an 8-0, run-rule victory in an elimination game Saturday afternoon at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.

The No. 1-seeded Sooners remain alive in the double-elimination tournament and will face No. 2-seeded UCLA later today at 6 p.m.

OU (51-3) and UCLA (47-6) have been ranked Nos. 1-2 in every ranking since March 23. The Bruins beat Florida State 4-0 in their tournament opener on Thursday but were the victims of a perfect game thrown by Alabama birthday girl Montana Fouts in a 6-0 loss on Friday night.

The OU-UCLA winner must beat James Madison (41-2) twice on Sunday (at noon and 6 p.m.) to advance to the best-of-three championship series Monday through Wednesday. It was JMU who handed the Sooners a 4-3 loss in eighth innings on Thursday behind a stellar performance from pitcher Odicci Alexander.

Sparked by a trio of home runs against the unseeded Bulldogs (34-23) on Saturday, OU posted its 35th run-rule triumph in 53 games this season.

Senior Jocelyn Alo set a single-game school record by hitting her 31st home run, a towering blast to center in the top of the sixth inning to give the Sooners an eight-run lead and set the table for a potential run-rule outcome. Alo has 85 career home runs, 10 shy of the national record owned by former OU great Lauren Chamberlain.

Sophomore leftfielder Mackenzie Donihoo put the Sooners on the board in the top of second inning with her seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to left.

"I felt in control of my bat," said Donihoo, who went 3-for-3 in the game to raise her season batting average to .448. "I knew what I wanted and I knew what she was going to throw me."

OU sophomore first baseman Kinzie Hansen made it 5-0 with a line-drive blast well over the center-field wall in the fifth inning for her 22nd home run of the season.

The Sooners now have 150 homers on the season, eight short of the all-time record of 158 set by Hawaii in 2010.

After committing two errors in their loss to James Madison, the Sooners were flawless in the field and got a commanding performance from senior lefthander Giselle Juarez (19-1), who allowed just three hits, struck out 10 and walked only one in 5.1 innings of work.

"Defensively, I thought we were spot on but most of all Giselle, seeing Giselle handle herself on this big stage when she's gone through some ups and downs this season, it's really one of the highlights of this weekend," OU coach Patty Gasso said afterward.

It was Juarez' first appearance since allowing three hits and three runs (all earned) in two innings against Wichita State on May 22 in the Norman Regional.

"I think it will be a lasting memory in her career," Gasso said of Saturday's triumph. "It has been a tough year for her. I think she just really wanted to be the pitcher that she used to be and it just didn't come as naturally as she expected, and I think sometimes she was just trying so hard, it didn't work right for her."

Juarez said facing her teammates in practice helped prepare her for Saturday's moment.

"Honestly, our hitters just make me better so just going up against them every day in practice is something that I have to find new ways and they make me better every day by just like competing against me," Juarez said. "So I think that's why I did what I did today."

Saturday's game represented the rubber match between the Sooners and Bulldogs, who met in a doubleheader on April 20 in Athens. Georgia's 7-6 victory in the first game handed OU its first loss of the season and snapped its winning streak at 40. The Sooners exacted revenge in the second game with a 12-3 run-rule rout in five innings.

"I would say that we were ourselves today," Donihoo said. "We didn't try too hard. We just went out there and played our game and when we played our game, I feel like we're unstoppable."

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