OU Dominates Texas, One Win Away From Title

Wednesday, June 8

Oklahoma City, Okla.

7:30 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

58-3

Texas

47-21-1

Texas

Oklahoma

OU Dominates Texas, One Win Away From Title

June 08, 2022 | Softball

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By: John Rohde for SoonerSports.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – The "run rule" also is referred to as the "mercy rule" in softball.

Unlike all previous games during the season, there is no run rule enforced in the championship round of the Women's College World Series, which no doubt suited defending national champion Oklahoma just fine Wednesday night.

The top-ranked and top-seeded Sooners happily showed Texas no mercy with a 16-1 romp in Game 1, for it was the Longhorns who handed OU its first loss after a record-setting 38-0 start to this season.

A record sellout crowd of 12,234 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium watched the Sooners bang out a WCWS record six home runs while scoring in every inning. Fortunately for Texas, OU was the home team and allowed to bat in only six innings.

With a victory in Game 2 on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., the Sooners (58-3) would successfully defend last year's national crown and claim their fourth title in the last six championships staged (COVID canceled the 2020 WCWS). It would also be OU's sixth national title in program history (2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021).

The Sooners' dominance over Texas (47-21-1) came on the heels of their 15-0 victory over UCLA in Monday's second semifinal, which set a record for the largest margin of victory in WCWS history.

Amazingly, OU matched that record in back-to-back games while posting its 41^st run-rule victory in 61 games this season.

Power-hitting All-Americans Tiare Jennings (4 for 5, two home runs, 5 RBI) and Jocelyn Alo (3 for 3, two home runs, 3 RBI) torched the Longhorns by going a combined 7 for 8 at the plate with four home runs, eight RBI and eight runs scored.

Alo now has 34 home runs this season, a Division I record 122 in her career and also raised her batting average to .527 on the season.

Along with all softball fans, OU head coach Patty Gasso continues to marvel at Alo's achievements.

"I guess I know her so well that I just think that's who she is." Gasso said. "When she comes up, I'm expecting her to hit a home run, probably like anybody else (laughter). It's ridiculous that I'm thinking that way. But I see her at practice every day. I see what she's capable of. It's just so tough to beat her. She's so strong.

"I'm spoiled, but I am not wowed by it because, like I said, I see it on a daily basis."

Taylon Snow added a 3-run homer and Jana Johns hit a solo shot. Meanwhile, Jennings now has 29 homers and a team-leading 86 RBI.

"For me I like watching other people hit theirs (home runs)," Jennings said. "When I'm at home (plate), I just love to celebrate them. To watch everyone do what they can do, hit home runs, I think that's super cool that bond we have at the plate when they come home."

Fans in the stands included OU football coach Brent Venables, quarterback Dillon Gabriel and former OU All-American Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.

Had Gabriel—fellow Hawaii native—not attended, Alo deadpanned, "I would have called him and said, 'Why aren't you here?' It's a good thing he came. Coach Venables, it's just cool to see. The sport is just continuing to grow. Now football players are coming. … People want to watch us play. They love to watch us play. They love to watch us dominate. Yeah, I think it's super cool. It's only going to get better from here."

As for the Sooners clinching the title on Thursday, Snow said, "We're prepared. We're going to have the momentum. It's time to win another ballgame."

NCAA statisticians worked deep into the night researching the records OU set Wednesday and throughout the entire WCWS.

The Sooners have now outscored its opposition (106-15) this postseason and outhit opponents (103-28).

In the WCWS alone, OU has outscored opponents 54-12 and outhit them 54-20 with 15 home runs.

The Sooners have homered in all but six games this season and have 40 multi-homer games. They have homered in 28 consecutive games dating back to April 6 vs. Tulsa.

NOTES & NUMBERS

Texas scored its lone run when Hope Trautwein walked in a run in the top of the first inning.
Oklahoma's Jayda Coleman hit a first-inning leadoff double, her third two-bagger of the WCWS. It marked the fourth straight game she reached in the first at-bat for the Sooners. Three of those four were extra-base hits (2B, HR, BB, 2B).
Jocelyn Alo homered twice, belting a two-run shot in the first and a solo blast in the fifth for her 121st and 122nd career round-trippers. She now has five home runs in this WCWS.
With 34 home runs this season, Alo now leads all Division I players this season. She is the only player in NCAA DI history to lead the nation in home runs three different seasons.
Alo set the WCWS single-game record with five runs scored. She also broke the record for most runs in a single WCWS (11).
The Sooners extended their streak of games with at least one home run to 28. The last time they failed to hit a homer was 04/06/22 against Tulsa. They have homered in 55 of 61 games this year.
Taylon Snow's first inning three-run home run was the eighth of her career and her first since 03/19 vs. San Diego in the Hall of Fame Classic at OKC's Hall of Fame Stadium.
Snow's home run marked the 25th time this season that OU has had multiple homers in the same inning.
Jana Johns was hit by a pitch in the first inning to move her career tally up to 96. She is second in NCAA history in all-time HBPs (Radford's Backey Mantel holds the record with 111).
In her next at bat, Johns hit her 13th homer of the season and the 25th of her career. It was OU's 28th game this season with three-plus home runs.
Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third and a solo shot in the fifth, upping her season total to 29 (five in the WCWS).
With two home runs each, Alo and Jennings broke the WCWS tournament record for homers with five apiece.
With six home runs, Oklahoma doubled its previous WCWS single-game record for homers. The previous record of three was accomplished three times. This was OU's fifth game this season with six home runs.
With her sixth-inning double, Jennings broke the WCWS single-game record for most total bases (11). Alo (10) tied the previous record earlier in the game.
Jennings (14) and Alo (13) now own the top two RBI totals for a single WCWS. The previous record of 11 was held by UCLA's Andrea Harrison (2010).
With 16 runs scored tonight, Oklahoma has now broken its WCWS single-game program record for runs scored three separate times this week. The previous high before this year was 10 vs. UCLA on 06/05/21, but the Sooners scored 13 last Thursday vs. Northwestern and 15 on Monday vs. UCLA.
OU has now scored 54 runs in this year's WCWS (five games), breaking its own previous record of 49 runs last year (eight games).
The 16 runs scored by Oklahoma marked the third most by a team in a WCWS Championship Series, hitting that mark in only one game. It exceeds the number of runs the Sooners scored in their three-game Championship Series last season against Florida State (15).
OU's 15-run difference marked a WCWS record for largest margin of victory. The previous record was 13 (UCLA beat OU 16-3 on 6/3/19).
The Sooners' 38 total bases tonight set a WCWS single- game record. The previous record was 34 by UCLA vs. Arizona on 6/8/10.

Records Update:

NCAA Career Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo - 122*
WCWS Career Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo - 12*
WCWS Series Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings - 5
WCWS Single-Game Home Runs: Oklahoma - 6
WCWS Single-Game Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings, 12 others - 2
WCWS Series Runs Scored: Jocelyn Alo - 11
WCWS Single-Game Total Bases: Tiare Jennings - 11 (Alo's 10 tonight are tied for second most)
WCWS Single-Game Total Bases (Team): Oklahoma - 38
WCWS Single-Game Runs Scored: Jocelyn Alo - 5
WCWS Single-Game Runs Scored (Team): Oklahoma and three others - 16
WCWS Series RBI - Tiare Jennings: 14 (Alo's 13 tonight are second most)
WCWS Series Team Runs Scored: Oklahoma - 54
WCWS Single-Game Margin of Victory: Oklahoma vs. Texas - 15
WCWS Series Home Runs (Team): Oklahoma - 15 (2021, 2022)
Jocelyn Alo became the only player in NCAA Division I softball history to lead the country in home runs in three different seasons.