Skip Johnson details emotions behind Oklahoma fighting back after controversial sixth inning call

In the sixth inning of Sunday’s Game two of the College World Series final, Oklahoma was on the wrong end of a controversial interference call. The Sooners appeared to have gotten on the board and were threatening with two men on base, but after a replay review the call was overturned and the Sooners had a run taken off the board, much to the disdain of Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson.

The swing was a major one, as Oklahoma went from having a lead with the opportunity for more to trailing after Ole Miss put a run on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Oklahoma scored two in the top of the seventh, but the Rebels answered back with three runs in the eighth, and that was enough in the 4-2 final to clinch the College World Series championship.

After the game, Johnson opened up on the emotions Oklahoma battled after that controversial call. Battling through adversity is something that the Sooners have done all season, and Johnson knew his team wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Well, I mean, they’re going to fight,” Johnson said. “That’s one thing that they’ve done all year long. They’ve fought and they’ve fought and they’ve fought and they’ve battled and battled. That’s a part of their DNA, and that’s a part of what the University of Oklahoma has taught them to do and our culture has taught them how to do. I’m really proud of those guys.”

Johnson on the call against Oklahoma: Baseball ‘doesn’t care how you feel’

Later on, Johnson had an interesting comment to make on the controversial call that went against Oklahoma. In the end, he knows that baseball is a competitive game and that how you feel doesn’t really matter. But Johnson took away some learning lessons from the play, and he came away proud of how his team responded in the heated stretch.

“The funny thing is about baseball, it doesn’t care how you feel. It doesn’t,” added Johnson. “That’s what’s great about it, too. That’s the learning lesson in it, continue to fight and understand the details of the game and fight for what’s right in the game and play as hard as you can because it respects you.”

Oklahoma finished the season with an overall record of 45-24, which included a 15-9 mark against Big 12 opponents. The Sooners won the Big 12 Tournament, and then went on to win the Gainesville Regional and Blacksburg Super Regional to punch their tickets to Omaha. Oklahoma entered the CWS final against Ole Miss with a 3-0 record in Omaha, but the Rebels needed just two games to wrap things up.