Oklahoma City-It doesn’t happen often, but Oklahoma has shown that he knows how to recover from defeat.
Every time the top-ranked Snurs lost this season (only three times in total), they thoroughly defeated their next opponent and the NCAA Run Rule ended the game early.
That was the case on Monday in the semi-final round of the Women’s College World Series after Oklahoma suffered a third defeat of the season-a 7-3 defeat to UCLA, who set the exclusion game late in the afternoon.
In less than three hours, Joslyn Alo hit a home run, Hope Troutwayne performed brilliantly in the pitching circle, and the Suners defeated the Bruins 15-0 in five innings to advance to the final.
This is the biggest win in WCWS history, the team’s 40th run rule win of the season, and double the team’s next closest in Division I.
Alo said he hadn’t seen any panic from his teammates in the locker room after the loss and only heard positive affirmations from Patty Gasso and the rest of the staff.
“She’s not going to yell at us,” Alo said of Gasso. “I don’t know what that means.” If anything, Alo said the team simply had to press reset between games.
“I participated in the game with the confidence that I was out with a dub,” Alo said. “No one beats Sooners twice. I think we really stick to the planning of the game and focus on what we need.”
Oklahoma, improved to 57-3, faces Texas, which defeated Oklahoma twice to move forward on Wednesday late Monday.
The Cowgirls and Longhorns were the only two teams to beat the Snurs this season before Monday.
In April, Oklahoma defeated North Texas 10-0 following their first defeat in Texas of the season.
Last month, during the NCAA Regional, Sooners defeated Prairie View A & M 14-0 to recover from their defeat to Oklahoma.
Gasso was surprised at a press conference when he was told that the team’s total score was 39-0 and 3-0 in the match after losing.
She said the team wanted to show pitcher Nicole May, who lost in the first match on Monday, “We got you.”
“They are very proud and I really believe that no one can beat them in a row or twice,” Gasso said. “That’s their way of thinking, so they came out very calm and very cool here …. they were very confident.”
Alo, who set a home run record earlier this season, hit another two home runs against UCLA, including a grand slam in the fifth inning. Her 7 RBIs matched the single game WCWS record.
Alo helped drive on his eighth run when she became a single and Jida Coleman scored a defensive mistake.
Trautwein didn’t need as much execution support as she got. Her transfer from North Texas abandoned only two hits and hit six hits during her complete game performance.
Gasso loses the chance to see Trout Wayne step up, and Jordy Buijs, who caused a sensation for freshmen in the first game after missing time last month with a forearm injury, to do a 4⅔ inning job. He said it could be a silver lining to get out of.
“It may sound strange, but the second game was a blessing to us for that. Look at Hope in that environment, see what Jordi and she can do for us, Watch our team stand up and step up and say, “We won’t go home,” Gasso said. “It was especially important for teams like UCLA. They are very dangerous. They are very good. They are well coached. Their pitchers are very good and they are tough. They beat. It’s difficult and their batters are, so it always looks like they’re facing each other in this situation. Whenever you play at UCLA, we have to do our best and they always look like us. Will make you better.
“So the fact that you play against them really needs to bring out your best.”
