Game 1 WCWS Finals - Final Thoughts and Looking towards Game 2

[OUBeliever56A]

I do not know the proper words to talk about Game 1 and results of the 16-1 win by the Oklahoma Sooners over the Texas Longhorns. This was a dominating win by the Sooners. It reminds me of the 2000 Red River Rivalry football game of 200 when OU defeated Texas 63-14. I was lucky enough to be at that game. The Sooners were playing on a different level that day than the Longhorns were capable of playing.

Last night was the softball version of that Oklahoma victory. Mike White tried to rally his team after the bottom of the first inning when OU scored 5 runs to counter the single run that Texas scored. But he simply did not have the words to do so. John Wooden would have failed also.

The Sooners desire to perform and to continually hit the ball hard can just overwhelm pitchers at time. Last night was one of those times.

I doubt we will see two hitters that are as good, that are as focused right now. Alo and Jennings are on another level right now on a team that is playing a level above the rest of the teams. The current mantra by the 'smart people' is to walk Alo every at bat. They shout, "Do not let her beat you!" What do you then do about Jennings? Walk her also. That seems like a foolish thing to do.

Last night the number of items that were record breaking is a list too long. Here is the article by John Rohde for SoonerSports.

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/6/8/ ... title.aspx

It takes a minute or two to read the records an comprehend them. The offense has been on a level not previously seen at the WCWS. And even with doing that, the Sooners have lost one game. I think that loss fueled a fire within the bellies of the Sooner Softball players that is going to burn for a while.

Meanwhile, Hope Trautwein and Nicole May managed their way through the LongDuck lineup and allowed only one run in the first inning when Trautwein continued to throw the ball inside off the plate to prevent the LongDucks from hitting the ball. 3 walks after allowing a double to Dayton allowed a run to be scored. But it was a single run. The first pitch swing by JJ Smith was perhaps a blessing as it resulted in a fly ball to LF for the 3rd out of the inning.

After that Trautwein was in control for the most part through 5 innings. May pitched the 6th and 7th innings and continued to be in control. As a duo, they allowed only 3 hits (2 doubles to Dayton) and 5 walks, 1 HBP and 3 Ks. Trautwein threw 90 pitches in 5 innings. May threw 29 in 2 innings. they certainly did their part.

The pitching options for the Sooners tonight are pretty good. I think that all three, Trautwein, May and Bahl could pitch tonight. It seems that most think that Bahl could start. that is certainly an option it seems.

The Sooner offense will show up again tonight. It would be a disappointment if the Sooner offense does not show up once again on Thursday night. I think Czech will be sent to the circle for the LongDucks tonight to start. After that, we will see what happens.

Here are a few things I hope happens tonight.

- Grace Lyons is hitting .402 right now. It would be great if G3 could get two or more hits tonight to keep her BA over .400 for the season.
- Jennings is also hitting .402. The same thought applies to TJ.
- Hope Trautwein has 22 Wins against 1 Loss for the season. If Jordy Bahl starts and pitches at least 4 innings she would get the win if the Sooners are leading at that time and finish ahead of Texas. That would make Bahl's record 22 Wins and 1 Loss. That would be perfect. Both with the same record.
- If Bahl can pitch 4 scoreless innings tonight, her ERA would drop below 1.00 to 0,99 for the season. That would be very nice also.
- If the Sooner pitchers give up one run or less, their Team ERA will be below 1,00 also. that would be nice.
- If Jennings could hit a HR tonight, the Sooners would have 2 players that hit 30 HRs. That has a very nice 'historic' ring to it.
- The Captain, Lynnsie Elam should end her career with a HR tonight, #15 on the season. It seems very fitting to me.
- Kinzie Hansen has had a long injury-filled season in 2022. I would like to see her end on a high note tonight with a HR to send her off to her summer playing for Team USA.
- If OU were to hit 4 HRs tonight and not have any Ks, they would hit 157 HRs and have only 157 Ks. Last year the Sooners hit 161 HRs and had 161 Ks. Seems fitting.
- Last one - Alo needs 5 RBIs to tie for the all time Career RBIs with Jenny Dalton at 328. That would the first ask for me. If she got 6, it would be icing on the cake.
I know I am getting selfish with these thoughts. But it would be nice.

Boomer Sooner!

[The Far Journey]

After last night, it does seem more likely Patty will go with Jordy and stay with her as long as she can. Nicole to come out of the bullpen if needed.

[BudaSooner]

After last night, it does seem more likely Patty will go with Jordy and stay with her as long as she can. Nicole to come out of the bullpen if needed.

That's the way that I see it, too. Obviously, we want to close the series out tonight and claim #6, but should worse come to worst, we would have a mostly rested Hope as starter for Game 3.

Hopefully, though, we will see another butt-kicking of the LongDucks and let the celebration begin!

I too would like to see some of the Goals that 56 enumerated in his post above, for example Alo claiming the all-time RBI record with an additional 6 ribbies, but not at the expense of extending the series another game. We all know that ANYthing can happen in sports and I don't want to see anything spoil this memorable season!!!

[OU_Tom]

• Texas scored its lone run when Hope Trautwein walked in a run in the top of the first inning.
• Oklahoma's Jayda Coleman hit a first-inning leadoff double, her third two-bagger of the WCWS. It marked the fourth straight game she reached in the first at-bat for the Sooners. Three of those four were extra-base hits (2B, HR, BB, 2B).
• Jocelyn Alo homered twice, belting a two-run shot in the first and a solo blast in the fifth for her 121st and 122nd career round-trippers. She now has five home runs in this WCWS.
• With 34 home runs this season, Alo now leads all Division I players this season. She is the only player in NCAA DI history to lead the nation in home runs three different seasons.
• Alo set the WCWS single-game record with five runs scored. She also broke the record for most runs in a single WCWS (11).
• The Sooners extended their streak of games with at least one home run to 28. The last time they failed to hit a homer was 04/06/22 against Tulsa. They have homered in 55 of 61 games this year.
• Taylon Snow's first inning three-run home run was the eighth of her career and her first since 03/19 vs. San Diego in the Hall of Fame Classic at OKC's Hall of Fame Stadium.
• Snow's home run marked the 25th time this season that OU has had multiple homers in the same inning.
• Jana Johns was hit by a pitch in the first inning to move her career tally up to 96. She is second in NCAA history in all-time HBPs (Radford's Backey Mantel holds the record with 111).
  In her next at bat, Johns hit her 13th homer of the season and the 25th of her career. It was OU's 28th game this season with three-plus home runs.
• Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third and a solo shot in the fifth, upping her season total to 29 (five in the WCWS).
• With two home runs each, Alo and Jennings broke the WCWS tournament record for homers with five apiece.
• With six home runs, Oklahoma doubled its previous WCWS single-game record for homers. The previous record of three was accomplished three times. This was OU's fifth game this season with six home runs.
• With her sixth-inning double, Jennings broke the WCWS single-game record for most total bases (11). Alo (10) tied the previous record earlier in the game.
• Jennings (14) and Alo (13) now own the top two RBI totals for a single WCWS. The previous record of 11 was held by UCLA's Andrea Harrison (2010).
• With 16 runs scored tonight, Oklahoma has now broken its WCWS single-game program record for runs scored three separate times this week. The previous high before this year was 10 vs. UCLA on 06/05/21, but the Sooners scored 13 last Thursday vs. Northwestern and 15 on Monday vs. UCLA.
• OU has now scored 54 runs in this year's WCWS (five games), breaking its own previous record of 49 runs last year (eight games).
• The 16 runs scored by Oklahoma marked the third most by a team in a WCWS Championship Series, hitting that mark in only one game. It exceeds the number of runs the Sooners scored in their three-game Championship Series last season against Florida State (15).
• OU's 15-run difference marked a WCWS record for largest margin of victory. The previous record was 13 (UCLA beat OU 16-3 on 6/3/19).
• The Sooners' 38 total bases tonight set a WCWS single- game record. The previous record was 34 by UCLA vs. Arizona on 6/8/10.
  
  
  Records Update:
• NCAA Career Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo - 122*
• WCWS Career Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo - 12*
• WCWS Series Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings - 5
• WCWS Single-Game Home Runs: Oklahoma - 6
• WCWS Single-Game Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings, 12 others - 2
• WCWS Series Runs Scored: Jocelyn Alo - 11
• WCWS Single-Game Total Bases: Tiare Jennings - 11 (Alo's 10 tonight are tied for second most)
• WCWS Single-Game Total Bases (Team): Oklahoma - 38
• WCWS Single-Game Runs Scored: Jocelyn Alo - 5
• WCWS Single-Game Runs Scored (Team): Oklahoma and three others - 16
• WCWS Series RBI - Tiare Jennings: 14 (Alo's 13 tonight are second most)
• WCWS Series Team Runs Scored: Oklahoma - 54
• WCWS Single-Game Margin of Victory: Oklahoma vs. Texas - 15
• WCWS Series Home Runs (Team): Oklahoma - 15 (2021, 2022)
• Jocelyn Alo became the only player in NCAA Division I softball history to lead the country in home runs in three different seasons

.

[BudaSooner]

Records Update:
NCAA Career Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo - 122*
WCWS Career Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo - 12*
WCWS Series Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings - 5
WCWS Single-Game Home Runs: Oklahoma - 6
WCWS Single-Game Home Runs: Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings, 12 others - 2
WCWS Series Runs Scored: Jocelyn Alo - 11
WCWS Single-Game Total Bases: Tiare Jennings - 11 (Alo's 10 tonight are tied for second most)
WCWS Single-Game Total Bases (Team): Oklahoma - 38
WCWS Single-Game Runs Scored: Jocelyn Alo - 5
WCWS Single-Game Runs Scored (Team): Oklahoma and three others - 16
WCWS Series RBI - Tiare Jennings: 14 (Alo's 13 tonight are second most)
WCWS Series Team Runs Scored: Oklahoma - 54
WCWS Single-Game Margin of Victory: Oklahoma vs. Texas* - 15
WCWS Series Home Runs (Team): Oklahoma - 15 (2021, 2022)
Jocelyn Alo became the only player in NCAA Division I softball history to lead the country in home runs in three different seasons

A quibble: On the WCWS Single-Game Margin of victory, OU is tied with itself for the 15-0 run-rule demolishing of UCLA, in addition to the 16-1 butt-kicking administered to the Horns.

[TropicalSooner]

After last night, it does seem more likely Patty will go with Jordy and stay with her as long as she can. Nicole to come out of the bullpen if needed.

Yep.