Jocelyn Alo blasts 2 home runs, drives in 7 as Oklahoma routs UCLA to advance to World Series final series
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo hits a grand slam during the fifth inning of an NCAA softball Women’s College World Series elimination game against UCLA, today, in Oklahoma City.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oklahoma utility Jocelyn Alo celebrates on the way to home plate after hitting a home run during the first inning of an NCAA Women’s College World Series softball game against Texas, Saturday, in Oklahoma City.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
UCLA’s Maya Brady celebrates after a home run during the third inning of an NCAA softball Women’s College World Series game against Oklahoma, today, in Oklahoma City.
Jocelyn Alo and her Oklahoma teammates wasted no time bouncing back in a big way today at the Women’s College World Series.
Alo went 4-for-4 with two home runs and seven RBIs, including a grand slam to cap the Sooners’ 15-0 five-inning mercy rule victory over UCLA that sends the reigning national champions to the WCWS finals.
Alo and Tiare Jennings hit three-run homers in the first two innings and Oklahoma never let up in the second matchup with the Bruins today at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. The Sooners’ display of dominance started less than an hour after the Bruins beat them 7-3 to force a survivor-advance game in the double-elimination tournament.
Alo, the college softball two-time national player of the year and all-time career home run leader from Hauula, launched a mammoth shot beyond the left-field fence giving Oklahoma a 6-0 lead in the second inning. Another run came across when she singled in the fourth, with the runner scoring on an error, and her grand slam highlighted an eight-run knockout punch in the fifth.
“It’s insane,” Alo said in a postgame interview with ESPN. “It’s my last World Series. I’m just trying to leave my mark.”
Alo also scored in the first after doubling in front of Jennings’ three-run homer.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma pitcher Hope Trautwein allowed just two hits in the five-inning complete-game victory.
The Sooners (57-3) play Texas or Oklahoma State in a best-of-three series starting Wednesday for the national championship.
UCLA finished its season at 51-10. The Bruins beat Oklahoma in the finals of the 2019 WCWS for the Bruins 12th national championship. The Sooners knocked UCLA out of the 2021 Series on its way to beating Florida State in the finals for Oklahoma’s fifth NCAA crown.
Maya Brady hit two of UCLA’s three homers and drove in five runs in the first game. UCLA took the lead in the first with Delanie Wicsz’s two-run homer and never lost it.
The Sooners struck back immediately, as leadoff batter Jayda Coleman homered. But Megan Faraimo then retired Alo on a fly to center, the first of nine Oklahoma outs in a row.
Brady, a niece of NFL great Tom Brady, hit a three-run homer in the third to expand the lead to 5-1.
Alo singled up the middle to start the fourth inning and scored on Grace Lyons’ homer to cut UCLA’s lead to 5-3.
Brady’s second homer, in the seventh, accounted for the final score.
Holly Azevedo, in relief of Faraimo, struck out Alo with Coleman on first and two out in the fifth to maintain the two-run lead.
Alo finished the day with five hits in seven at bats, and her batting average for the season is over .500.
