Three-peat: OU softball completes sweep of FSU for program's seventh title
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso wanted to make one thing clear.
It’s not easy to win as much as the Sooners have in recent years, no matter how easy they make it look.
So sitting at the press conference following the Sooners’ 3-1 win over Florida State on Thursday, clinching the program’s third straight national title and seventh overall, Gasso was relieved.
“It is incredibly hard,” Gasso said. “I don't know how to explain it. I just can tell you the way I feel right now is free because the expectation is overwhelming, the pressure is overwhelming.”
To feel that freedom, and the happiness of another national championship, the Sooners had to pass one final test in Game 2 of the Women’s College World Series. And it required several players to make key plays.
After defeating the Seminoles 5-0 in Game 1, the Seminoles responded by starting ace pitcher Kathryn Sandercock on Thursday. She gave the Sooners’ offense issues early, as they failed to score in the first three innings. OU pitcher Alex Storako, meanwhile, also kept the Seminoles’ offense from scoring.
The Sooners’ first big play of the game came from its defense in the bottom of the third. After the Seminoles got two runners on base, FSU’s Kalei Harding delivered a bomb to center field that appeared primed to give the Sooners a 3-0 deficit.
OU center fielder Jayda Coleman had other plans. She jumped up the wall and caught it before it went over, robbing the Seminoles of a three-run home run.
“Immediately I was like, ‘Go get it. Immediately run to the fence,’” Coleman said. “It's really exciting to make those plays. I practice them all the time. But like I say every single time, the best thing out of those plays is watching your teammates react and watching them just be so happy for you.”
The Seminoles did eventually get a home run courtesy of Mack Leonard in the bottom of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead over the Sooners. But the Sooners, like they have all season, responded in the fifth inning.
OU leadoff hitter Cydney Sanders needed just three pitchers to deliver a solo home run to right field, which tied the game. Four pitchers later, OU captain Grace Lyons hit her own solo home run to left field, giving the Sooners a 2-1 lead.
“Man, the Lord is good,” Lyons, a fifth-year senior, said. “I mean, the home run was awesome, but just the feelings of coming home to my team and just the joy that a home run can't bring. It's all from the Lord. I think it was just a genuine joy as I rounded just knowing that it was a total team effort, and that team is something special.”
The Sooners added an insurance run in the sixth inning when Alynah Torres hit an RBI single to score Jordy Bahl. But the finishing touches came from Bahl in the circle.
Before the game, Gasso planned to bring in Bahl late if the Sooners had a lead. That came in the fifth inning, and Bahl promptly retired the side in each of the final three frames.
Bahl, who was named the WCWS’ Most Outstanding Player, finished the tournament without surrendering a single run in 24.2 innings and delivered the game-winning strikeout in the bottom of the seventh.
“I'm really just proud of this team for how we have stuck together this year,” Bahl said. “... I'm just proud of how we've stuck together through pressure, adversity, and just have ultimately been one strong, cohesive unit that has at the end of the day taken that pressure and given the glory to the Lord and been able to still play free and play together and find joy in things outside of the playing field.”
The Sooners (61-1) finished the season winning an NCAA-record 53 games en route to only the second three-peat in softball history.
It may not have been easy. But for Gasso, it was rewarding.
“The fact that we got here and we won this is just mind-boggling with all of the wave of pressure and so forth. I could not be more proud of this group,” Gasso said.