OKLAHOMA CITY — Jocelyn Alo and Tiare Jennings fueled Oklahoma’s record-setting offensive burst to help the Sooners move a victory away from successfully defending their Women’s College World Series title.
Alo and Jennings each hit two home runs and top-seeded Oklahoma rolled past unseeded Texas 16-1 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series.
Oklahoma (58-3) set a World Series record with six home runs and matched records for runs and victory margin.
A World Series record 6️⃣ HRs and a 16-1 win tonight for Oklahoma ????
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 9, 2022
Sheesh.
(via @NCAASoftball)pic.twitter.com/FtztFKu2GO
Alo and Jennings each have five home runs in the World Series, surpassing the single-series record of four set by several players, including Alo last year. Alo increased her career Division I homer record to 122, and Jennings drove in six runs to set a record for RBIs in a series with 15.
The teams will meet again Thursday in Game 2, with Oklahoma in position to win its sixth national title. Texas (47-21-1) need a win to stay alive. The Longhorns have won six elimination games since the start of the NCAA tournament.
Oklahoma escaped a bit of difficulty in the first and controlled the game from there. Hope Trautwein (22-1) gave up just two hits and a run in five innings, and Nicole May allowed just one hit in two shutout innings.
Alo cranked a no-doubt home run into the left field seats in Oklahoma’s half of the first, and Taylon Snow followed shortly afterward with a three-run blast — just her fourth home run of the season — to make it 5-1 heading into the second. Texas used three pitchers in the inning, and ace Hailey Dolcini (24-12) registered just two outs before getting pulled.
Tonight was Jocelyn Alo's 2nd multi-HR game at the Women's College World Series. She is the ONLY player in Women's College World Series history with 2 multi-HR games in her career, let alone a single year. pic.twitter.com/9MQt0xZpMa
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 9, 2022
Jana Johns hit a solo shot in the third to make it 7-1 and Jennings hit a three-run blast later in the inning to make it 10-1. Alo and Jennings hit back-to-back homers in the fifth to make it 14-1.
