OU softball headed back to WCWS championship series
OKLAHOMA CITY – There was that sneaky feeling that OU softball wasn’t done with Stanford’s NiJaree Canady after Day 1 of the Women’s College World Series.
It was going to take one more effort and one more big-time moment to punch the Sooners’ ticket. Tiare Jennings did just that.
The Sooners cut down Stanford one more time, 4-2, in nine innings on Monday afternoon in the WCWS semifinals at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. OU will go for its third straight national championship, beginning Wednesday night.
Oklahoma is now 59-1 overall and on a 51-game winning streak. None of those numbers mean much this time of year.
What mattered was finding a way to crack the Canady code. Canady entered in the fifth inning with the game tied 2-2 and went to work.
But as OU has done so many times throughout this season, Patty Gasso‘s squad found the answer. It took some time, but it happened.
Jennings came up in the top of the ninth inning 0-for-4 with a couple of strikeouts. Canady had been making Jennings look unsure of herself.
Stanford even decided to intentionally walk Jayda Coleman to get to Jennings with two outs in the ninth. Jennings made the Cardinal pay for that choice, smashing a two-run double into right-centerfield. Fitting for the birthday girl.
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Then it was up to Jordy Bahl to close the door. She did it once again, as she has time and time again in a clutch moment. Bahl pitched the final four innings, striking out six.
Stanford got out quickly with Kylie Chung’s two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. OU junior pitcher Nicole May allowed two runs and three hits in the first inning and was tremendous after that.
No damage, no runners, nothing. May retired 13 in a row at one point before making way for Bahl.
The Sooners got back into the game with an RBI sacrifice fly by Alynah Torres in the second inning. Then Coleman crushed her 17th home run of the season in the third. There was no scoring the rest of the way until Jennings’ heroics in the ninth.
Up next for OU
The Sooners know it’s going to be a second go-around against Tennessee or Florida State. OU defeated the Seminoles in the regular season in Norman. Then OU trounced the Vols 9-0 in five innings on Saturday.
Tennessee has to beat FSU twice Monday evening. The Seminoles, meanwhile, just need that one victory to set up a rematch of the 2021 championship series.
