Three Thoughts on Oklahoma’s 7-2 Win Over Texas in the Women’s College World Series
Oklahoma got the third day of the Women’s College World Series started off with a dominant victory over their bitter rival Texas by a score of 7-2.
The win sends Oklahoma to the semifinals on Monday where they will face the winner of UCLA vs. Florida/Oklahoma State, while Texas will face off against Arizona tomorrow evening in an elimination game.
With Oklahoma just one win away from the Championship Series, here are three thoughts on today’s game between the Sooners and Longhorns.
Sooners End Texas’ Hot Streak
Coming into today’s game, Texas had won three-straight contests against top-five opponents, but the Sooners were having none of that, as they set a tone from the very beginning that this was their time. The first two at-bats of the game were a Jayda Coleman double and a Jocelyn Alo homerun, making it 2-0 before Texas even had a chance to settle in.
Texas fought back in the bottom of the inning, putting one run up off an Alyssa Washington double, but after that the Texas offense went almost totally quiet. While the Longhorns had six hits in the game, Hope Trautwein held them to just two earned runs, one coming from a Janae Jefferson solo-homer in the seventh. Whether it was just the pressure of playing the Sooners or the fact that Trautwein is elite at keeping balls in play, the fact of the matter is that the Texas offense cooled off today, and it has resulted in them heading to the loser’s bracket tomorrow night.
Jocelyn Alo Hits Another Historic Home Run
Jocelyn Alo practically owns the NCAA Softball record book at this point, as she is the undeniable queen of the sport in her final season with the Sooners. Today against Texas Alo hit her 30th home run of 2022, making her the only player in college softball history to accomplish the feat in three separate seasons, according to OU247’s Joey Helmer.
The Sooner slugger has certainly etched her name deeply into this sport’s history, and something tells me that her story isn’t quite finished just yet.
How Does Texas Respond?
For the first time in 10 days the Texas Longhorns are on the wrong side of the scoreboard, after they went on an impressive run of winning three-straight games over top-five opponents. Now, they must turn around and beat a pesky Arizona team tomorrow night that lost its first game of the tournament to Oklahoma State on Thursday.
Can they turn things around and make it out of that game and into the semifinals on Monday? I believe they can, and will, but this is where pressure starts to rise at an all-time rate. One thing is for sure though: the leadership of Janae Jefferson and Hailey Dolcini has gotten them this far, and will be who they turn to tomorrow to keep their season alive.
