Oklahoma City — Texas Longhorns knows what this looks like.To make matters worse, they are how it is feel: From the best attacks in college softball history, there’s nothing fun far away about being at the wrong end of an extraordinary batter clinic. Trigger Win / Loss Game 2 in any situation, and certainly not in the context of the Championship series.
But Texas is used to turning its back on the wall. To become the first unseeded team in history to make the final round of the Women’s College World Series, we played six elimination games this postseason and were able to win all. Now it has to face the 7th.
Texas pitcher Heyri Dolcini played against Oklahoma in the first inning of Game 1.
Soogrokki / Associated Press
After losing 16 to 1 to No. 1 Oklahoma in the first match of the National Championship on Wednesday, Texas odds look almost impossible long until the final shot of the Best 3 Series. The team will perform a physically difficult task on the field on Thursday. And it has the same mentally daunting thing as it does now — find a way to move on.
“Remember that the worst has already happened,” said Texas senior catcher Mary Iakopo. “Play leisurely and loosely. That’s all we can do.”
If you feel a bit extreme that “the worst has already happened”, go back and check the score again. Oklahoma’s 16 runs are the most tied up in WCWS games to date. This loss of scale is an unprecedented result at this stage, but in a sense it is appropriate. Oklahoma is an unprecedented favorite, the number one wire of the season, and Texas is an unprecedented underdog and the only unseeded team to make it. So far. The experience was disastrous. Now Longhorns needs to find a way to ensure that it never happens again.
“Nothing will be taken over from today,” said Texas pitcher Haley Dorcini, who was knocked out in one go. “So you learn from it and try not to make the same mistake again. Then we come out and play loose. I think I lost a little today.”
The Longhorns managed to get on the board in their first inning, taking advantage of the characteristic sway of the Snurs pitcher Hope Troutwayne. For a few minutes Texas was able to enjoy its early 1–0 lead. This almost never disappears. The Suners went on Wednesday, beating their opponents by a margin of 111–5 in their first inning. Getting on the board first seemed to be not only a good sign for Texas, but perhaps even a necessary sign.
And it was Oklahoma’s turn to hit.
The Suners didn’t waste time highlighting their claim to the best attacks in the sport. Lead-off batter Jida Coleman has doubled. Behind her, NCAA slugging queen Jocelyn Alo crushed the ball to her left for her first home run in the game. The Longhorns had already lost their lead and faced two runs from the first two batters, who never regained it.
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“They punched first, but we punched back,” said Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso. “And we punched harder.”
That’s right. The Suners first attacked to build a 5 to 1 lead. They will continue to score at least once each time. By the third, Oklahoma set four homerun records for most WCWS games. By the 5th time, the record was set 6 times. Of the nine starters, eight scored hits and the ninth was still walking and scoring.It was an overwhelming display of firepower — the absolute best of the team that made the habit To be the best.
“It was like an avalanche,” said Texas coach Mike White. “When it starts moving, it starts collecting steam, and it’s harder to stop it.”
Joslyn Alo, 78, took two of the Snurs’ six home runs in a 16-to-1 Game 1 victory over the Longhorns.
Soogrokki / Associated Press
Still, Thursday’s team’s focus isn’t on run prevention as much as run scoring. As White sees, Oklahoma’s attacks cannot be completely stopped. (Sooners’ best batter in the country wasn’t locked out this season. He scored at least two times in each of the three defeats.) Therefore, Thursday’s Longhorns goal is a seemingly unstoppable force. It’s not about stopping. I will do my best to overcome it.
“We have to win runs to beat them,” White said. “They’re going to give some numbers (4 or 5). We have to find a way to get 7. That’s it.”
With Wednesday’s unveiling, Texas pushed out of the zone on too many pitches and started swinging, making the game faster rather than slower. The mantra in Game 2 is to go in the opposite direction. The same applies to defense, but sometimes in a hurry, ending with four errors. And in the circle, Texas could be a sophomore transfer. EstelleCzech threw a shutout with the sixth Oklahoma in the final round. The team passed four pitchers on Wednesday, but she remained untouched. (White didn’t promise to nominate the Czech Republic as a starter on Thursday, but when asked if he intentionally kept her away from Game 1 to keep her fresh for Game 2, he Smiled and said, “It looks like that.”) What’s the rest? They can only try to forget.
“Tomorrow is a new day, a new game,” said Longhorns center fielder Bella Dayton. “We are starting from 0–0. We are starting anew.”
More Women’s College World Series coverage:
•• “Come so far”: ASU and the rich history of WCWS before Title IX
•• New WCWS format for a powerful tournament finish
•• Don’t be fooled by this WCWS final matchup
