Who won game 1 of the 2022 Women’s College Softball World Series?
The Women’s College World Series final got underway in a true cross-border rivalry as the Oklahoma Sooners took on the Texas Longhorns in Game 1
Oklahoma set the record straight with Texas in Game 1 of the 2022 Women’s College World Series, handing the Longhorns a 16-1 drumming. Earlier in the season, the Sooners had gotten off to an unbelievable 38-0 start before losing their first game to Texas. That win would have played on the minds of the Longhorns, giving them the sense that Oklahoma could be beaten here in the CWS. The Sooners put paid to that idea.
A sellout 12,234 crowd watched the best team in college softball knock a record six home runs into the stands, scoring in every inning.
This win now sees the Sooners tie their previous night’s 15-0 victory over UCLA as the largest margin of victory in WCWS history. This team is one of the most powerful ever fielded and are now one win away from going back-to-back as national champions. If they do, that will make four national titles in the last six tournaments for the Sooners.
Oklahoma’s bats were on fire in Game 1 and they were led by All-Americans Tiare Jennings, who went 4 for 5, blasting two home runs and 5 RBIs, and Jocelyn Alo, whose 3 for 3 night included two home runs and 3 RBIs. For Alo, this raises her season numbers to a Division I record 34 home runs and sees her batting an insane .527 for the year.
Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso said, “I guess I know her so well that I just think that’s who she is. When she comes up, I’m expecting her to hit a home run, probably like anybody else (laughter). It’s ridiculous that I’m thinking that way. But I see her at practice every day. I see what she’s capable of. It’s just so tough to beat her. She’s so strong. I’m spoiled, but I am not wowed by it because, like I said, I see it on a daily basis.”
Adding to the Sooners numbers were Taylon Snow and Jana Johns, who hit a three-run shot and a solo homer respectively.
Cheering the ladies on from the stands were Sooners football coach Brent Venables, quarterback Dillon Gabriel, and former OU standout, current Atlanta Hawk, Trae Young.
Jocelyn Alo didn’t miss the significance of the event, saying, “The sport is just continuing to grow. Now football players are coming. People want to watch us play. They love to watch us play. They love to watch us dominate. Yeah, I think it’s super cool. It’s only going to get better from here.”
Oklahoma have outscored their opposition 106 to 15 in the postseason, an unbelievable stat in any sport. Alo might be right when she refers to what the Sooners do as “dominance”. There is simply no other word for it.
Fellow Oklahoman Carrie Underwood sang that she was “invincible, unbreakable, unstoppable, unshakeable”. That certainly sums up this group of Oklahoma ladies.