by John Rohde for SoonerSports
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Rarely has Oklahoma’s top-ranked and top-seeded softball team suffered defeat this season. It has now happened just three times in 60 starts.
And each time a setback occurs, a familiar refrain is voiced.
“No team beats us twice,” Sooners Hall of Fame coach Patty Gasso said Saturday after her squad avenged its loss in April at Texas with a 7-2 second-round victory over the Longhorns in the Women’s College World Series.
OU began Monday with a 7-3 loss to fifth-seeded UCLA in a semifinal where a victory would have advanced the Sooners to the best-of-3 championship series that starts Wednesday.
Instead, OU found itself on the brink of elimination. The next result was somewhat predictable.
Rather than wallow in their most convincing loss of the season, the Sooners resurrected themselves and ended the Bruins’ season with an eye-popping 15-0 eliminator.
“No one beats the Sooners twice,” super senior home run queen Jocelyn Alo said after helping her team dismantle UCLA by going 4 for 4 at the plate with two home runs, seven RBI and three runs scored.
In the three losses OU has suffered this season, the Sooners (57-3) have outscored their next opponent by a combined score of 39-0 – 10-0 vs. North Texas; 14-0 vs. Prairie View A&M; 15-0 vs. UCLA.
The defending champion Sooners, who have collected an astonishing 40 run-rule victories in 60 starts (.667) this season, will play the Oklahoma State-Texas winner in an all-Big 12 final series for the NCAA title.
OU will be seeking its sixth national crown overall and its fourth in the last six staged championships (COVID canceled the 2020 event).
Making their sixth consecutive WCWS appearance and their 15th overall, the Sooners essentially treated Monday’s second contest more like a two-hour batting practice, pounding out 13 hits while scoring in double digits for the 23rd time this year.
So, what was Gasso’s message between games and how loudly was it delivered?
“Definitely just reassuring us,” said Alo, who now has 32 homers this season and has upped her record career total to 120. “She’s not going to yell at us before a game. I don’t see the point in that. She’s just reassuring us and letting us know we’re good. It’s just about how we come out the next game, and it was all positive affirmations.”
Second baseman Tiare Jennings, who went 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBI in the second game, said Gasso was “Just calm and collected. Keeping us positive and just taking a breath. Taking a moment just to reset and go out there and just do what we know how to do.”
Sooners super senior righthander Hope Trautwein didn’t get to start Monday’s opener against UCLA (51-10), but she sure got to finish off the Bruins with a commanding performance before a crowd of 11,836 at hot and sticky USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.
How did Trautwein prep herself for the elimination game? “Stick to my routine,” she said. “That’s something I’ve been working for a long time, pretty much the whole postseason now. Also just treating it like another game. There’s no reason to psych myself out or any of the girls out by treating it like it’s a special game that we have to win.”
Ah, but it was a game OU had to win to play again.
Trautwein threw 67 measly pitches in her five innings of work, allowing just two hits, striking out six and walking no one. She figures to be fully rested when OU returns to action on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. to open the championship series.
A transfer from North Texas, Trautwein has been particularly impressive despite playing in her first WCWS, thankfully alongside teammates with more than ample experience.
“I’ve definitely been getting more used to the environment,” Trautwein said. “The environment is – it’s hard to play here. There’s a lot of distractions going on, and I really have locked into my routine as I have thrown more innings. Being comfortable and knowing my team has my back, it’s getting easier as the innings go on.”
Once again, the Sooners excelled defensively in the clincher, led by All-American shortstop Grace Lyons, who had a 2-run homer in the opener.
“I love defense,” Gasso said. “I love home runs. I love Jocy. I love all that, but I love defense, and I do believe that defense wins championships in about every sport. I feel like we’ve got one of the best infields in the country, but without question, in my mind, Grace Lyons is the best shortstop I’ve ever seen, and I get the pleasure of working with her on a daily basis. She’s so good, she makes everyone around her that good.”
In the 7-3 loss, OU hitters sent several fly balls to the warning track, or just in front of it. In the second game, the ball flew a little bit farther, especially for Alo and Jennings.
“The game of softball doesn’t know if you are 0 for 3 or 3 for 3,” Jennings, who indeed was 0 for 3 in the opener. “I just flushed it. I knew when Jayda and Joce got on, I knew I had to do whatever it took. The first game we were on it. I mean, we saw both pitchers. We’re seeing the ball really well. I think in the second we just really made our adjustments to low line drives, attack early in the count, get the pitch that you want, and just controlling the strike zone a lot more.”
