OU softball one win away from three-peat

OKLAHOMA CITY – OU softball head coach Patty Gasso said something that caught a lot of people’s attention before the season.

Everybody knows about Jordy Bahl the pitcher. But Gasso was adamant in saying Bahl is the faster player on Oklahoma’s roster.

It’s hard to dispute that after watching Bahl at the Women’s College World Series. Bahl was her usual dominant self in the circle, but she provided a crucial spark as a runner to get the Sooners going. It culminated in a 5-0 victory against Florida State in Game 1 of the WCWS championship series.

Lightning in the area delayed the game twice for nearly two hours Wednesday at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. But OU, as it has throughout most of this season, simply wasn’t fazed.

OU is now one game away from winning its third straight national championship. Game 2 is 6:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.

There was zero question about Bahl getting the nod as starting pitcher. However, the Bahl-Kathryn Sandercock battle did not occur.

FSU head coach Lonni Alameda went with senior Mack Leonard, who did the job for three innings. A leadoff walk to Haley Lee in the bottom of the fourth is when OU began to assert its control.

Freshman Makenna Reid replaced Leonard. OU beat her up pretty good during their previous matchup in Norman in March. The Sooners did it again Wednesday.

It started with Gasso using Bahl as a pinch runner. Kinzie Hansen did the rest. She crushed a double that probably shouldn’t have scored Bahl. But the sophomore is just that fast and forced a bad throw to score easily.

Alyssa Brito continued with an RBI single, and OU tacked on another run via an error.

Three runs in an inning felt like game over at that point. Especially with the way Bahl was throwing. She was in total command, for one, but also wasn’t being tested.

Her pitch count was low the entire evening. Gasso never had to make a big decision about whether Bahl should be replaced.

Hansen added some insurance with an RBI single to score Jayda Coleman in the bottom of the fifth. Gasso calls it the wave of momentum, and it hit in the fourth and fifth innings.

Tiare Jennings pitched in with an RBI single in the sixth.

Bahl pitched all seven innings. She gave up two hits, with one walk and 10 strikeouts. Bahl has won every game for OU at the WCWS, going 4-0.

The Sooners are looking to become just the second team ever to win back-to-back-to-back championships. They would join UCLA from 1988-90. OU is now 60-1 overall and riding a 52-game winning streak.

Just one more away.

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