Jocelyn Alo's legend grows
Softball's home run queen delivered, yet again, on the biggest stage. This time, saving OU's season from ending.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — ESPN’s broadcast of Monday’s elimination game between perennial powers, Oklahoma and UCLA, seemed to catch Jocelyn Alo calling her shot.
Alo was holding up five fingers, appearing to repeat two words, “five innings.”
When asked for confirmation following OU’s unexpected doubleheader, the Sooners’ star senior couldn’t recall the moment but denied any implication she was rallying her teammates to run-rule the Bruins in five frames.
Hard to blame anyone for mistaking Alo for a Babe Ruth-esque moment when she is decidedly the Babe Ruth of the sport she’s left an unprecedented mark on since arriving to Norman five years ago.
It’s also a shame. Had the moment been what it appeared to be, it’d truly be stuff of legends. Not that the all-time Division I career home runs leader isn’t already one. But after the Sooners pummeled the Bruins 15-0 in five innings, which came immediately after UCLA topped OU 7-3 to force the winner-take-all game, Alo would be responsible for as cold-blooded of a story as I or any of my peers covering this sport could conjure.
So no, Alo wasn’t trying to disrespect UCLA. She was certain, however, her team would bounce back from just its third loss of the season and punch its ticket to the Women’s College World Series’ championship series for the third consecutive postseason.
“I went into that game with all the confidence knowing we would walk out of it with the W,” said Alo, who went 4-for-4 in the box with seven RBIs on two home runs.
“… no one beats the Sooners twice.”
So, how did UCLA do it once?
It starts with an impromptu home run derby, one you’d expect a team of Oklahoma’s firepower to win. But hey, no team is perfect.
All 10 runs scored in the Sooners and Bruins’ first meeting of the day came via home run. OU and UCLA traded punches in the first inning, starting with Bruins third baseman Delanie Wisz’s two-run shot and Sooner sophomore Jayda Coleman’s leadoff homer that left the Bruins with a 2-1 advantage after one.
UCLA’s Maya Brady then ripped a 3-run homer in the third, OU’s Grace Lyons sent a two-run bomb in the fourth and Brady closed the door on any Sooner rally with a seventh-inning home run that cemented UCLA’s 7-3 victory.
“They are very prideful, and they truly do believe that no one can beat them back-to-back or twice, period,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “That's the way they think. They came out very calm, very cool. When we knew who was pitching, they were kind of excited. Like, OK, we know, we've seen it. We're ready. They just felt very confident.”
In Game 2, the Sooners raced to a 3-0 lead with Coleman drawing a leadoff walk, Alo doubling to right center and Tiare Jennings blasting her 54th career home run.1 The next three Sooners were retired but a message was clearly sent.
OU, winners of 56 of 58 games entering Monday, wasn’t going to allow its season to end short of the championship series.
“Our season could be over,” Gasso said, “and we didn't even say that, but I think that drove them because they don't want it to end. They would not do well ending with a loss here today.”
So, OU kept piling on the runs.
The Sooners added another 3-run shot, this time from Alo, in the second and a lone run in the fourth.
Then the fifth inning happened.
Eight runs. All from Oklahoma. And among the four chances it capitalized to score, Alo hit her second home run of the day, the 120th of her career and a grand slam to boot.
“I think it all starts at the top with Jayda [Coleman] and just her really good at-bats bleeding into me and Tiare [Jennings], and that bleeds into the rest of the team,” Alo said.
“I think it's just us being confident, collectively, as a unit. I'll put anyone up there, and I know that they're going to get the job done. Just a matter of us trusting ourselves.”
It served them well on Monday. Now, the Sooners get Tuesday off before beginning a best-of-three series against Texas for the national championship the day after.
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The home run ties Jennings for seventh all-time in program history, tying Sydney Romero. A reminder, Jennings is only a sophomore.