Oklahoma players reveal how team handled lengthy weather delay to start WCWS Game 1
Oklahoma set the tone of the Women’s College World Series on Wednesday night shutting out Florida State 5-0 to secure a Game 1 win.
But the Sooners didn’t have to just defeat the Seminoles, they also had to take on the elements, as one hour, 43 minutes of lightning delays hindered their opening-round matchup. And after the game, some of the Sooner players shared how they passed the time during their duo of long delays.
“We’ve been playing some brain games with each other, trying to guess words and stuff,” Kinzie Hansen said. “We were doing that. We were playing some music, dancing some more. That’s pretty much it. It was pretty fun.”
“Yeah, we were just having fun,” Rylie Boone added.
The Sooners’ laid-back approach to their weather delays seemed to have worked, as their 51-game winning streak and a chance at their third straight national championship hung over their heads. But for starting pitcher Jordy Bahl, there were more questions than singing and dancing with her teammates.
“Yeah, lots of fun was going on. I was doing a lot of pacing, trying to stay mentally locked in. Okay, when are we going to start playing? Are they going to cancel? I was very worried about what was going to happen,” Bahl admitted.
What happened was Bahl had an amazing day on the mound, extending her record on the season to 22-1 and her ERA to 0.92 as she struck out 10 batters on 97 pitches. She was on the mound the entire game allowing just two hits and zero runs, and after the game, she pulled back the curtain on the challenges that came with the weather delays.
“I would say from a pitcher’s perspective or point of view, it’s important to stay mentally locked in. It is hard getting a bunch of reps in during that time because you don’t want to throw a bunch of pitches in the bullpen before you are, like, through the whole first inning,” Bahl said. “I think it’s a lot about trying to keep your mind in it.”
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The weather didn’t effect Oklahoma’s pitching or their bats, as Hansen got the scoring started with an RBI double in the third inning. She ended the night 2 for 4 from the plate with 2 RBIs, marking her fifth multi-hit game of the NCAA Tournament.
“Like Jordy said, keeping your mind in it is really important. We don’t allow outside factors to allow what’s going on within our tight circle. Like I said, we were having fun in the locker room. When the rain delay ended up being over, we walked right back into our game plan and kept rolling with it,” Hansen said. “There was never a pause and restart. Our dugout is pretty chaotic consistently. When that keeps rolling for us, there’s never really a pause and restart on the energy.”
Boone also got in on the double party, hitting two doubles of her own on a night where the Sooners racked up nine hits.
“Yeah, I think with the rain delay, I thought we handled it very well. I didn’t think we were going like a roller coaster. We just stayed neutral. Whatever was thrown at us, we were going to handle it,” Boone said.
Oklahoma will hope for better weather but a similar end result on Thursday as they take on Florida State in Game 2 of the WCWS at 7:30 p.m. ET airing on ESPN, where they have a chance to take home their third national title.