Women's College World Series preview: Oklahoma aims for three-peat with familiar foe, Florida State, standing in way

Oklahoma will play for a place in history when the first pitch of the 2023 Women’s College World Series championship series is thrown Wednesday. It will do it against the foe it defeated in a winner-take-all Game 3 that began the bid for a three-peat.

The Sooners, ranked No. 1 and on a Division I-record 51-game winning streak, are in line for their third consecutive championship in the best-of-three series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City (8 p.m. ET on ESPN). They’ll face Florida State, the team they defeated in Games 2 and 3 of the 2021 series to win their first trophy of the current run. Only UCLA has won three consecutive Division I titles (1988-90).

Oklahoma (59-1) is the modern collegiate softball powerhouse gaining on the Bruins’ Division I-record 12 championships, the first of which was the inaugural competition and the last in 2019 against the Sooners. Arizona won five titles in the 1990s and three more in the 2000s to sit second with eight. They also previously held the winning streak record with 47 set from 1996-97.

The Wildcats’ stretch of dominance has ceded way to the Sooners, who won their first title in 2000 and added ones in ’13, ’14 and ’17 before their current streak. A title this week would be No. 7 overall. They’re the overwhelming favorites with the best pitching staff, most dominant lineup and stellar defensive showing.

“We win a lot. And that’s fabulous,” Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso said. “But sometimes I think we’re so used to taking it for granted and this means a lot. This means a lot, to get to the championship game means a lot.”

It took a two-out, two-run ninth-inning double by Tiare Jennings to put Oklahoma back into the title game. The effort lifted OU to a 4-2 win over Stanford in the semifinals, preserving its winning streak and avoiding a pivotal winner-take-all game afterward. Jennings, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, was 0-for-7 against the Cardinal heading into the at-bat. But the Sooners are just that good, from top of the lineup to bottom in the batting order and the field.

“We could be down by five, four, whatever,” Gasso said last week after the Sooners came from three runs down to beat Clemson in extra innings to win the super regional. “We’re not out of the game. And we believe that.

“Can we do this? I guess we can. They don’t doubt it.”

Florida State (58-9), which lost to Oklahoma by one run in March, did not experience any such theatrics. The Seminoles have outscored their three WCWS opponents 16-2, including a mercy-rule win over Oklahoma State in the opener Friday. It snapped an 0-5 skid in opening WCWS games, leading to a third championship appearance since 2018, when they won their first and so far only title. Oklahoma is making its ninth appearance and UCLA has a Division I-best 20 since winning the first WCWS in 1982.

“We’ve been talking about being rugged and tenfold, dependable and energetic all season and it’s showing up at the right time,” Florida State head coach Lonni Alameda said.

The Seminoles notched 22 hits over their three games and six home runs, including four against Tennessee in the semifinal. Their season-long .306 batting average ranks 31st in D-I, outpaced by leader Oklahoma (.368). Their pitching staff, led by senior Kathryn Sandercock, gave up seven hits with one strikeout to Washington, but combined to allow seven hits and strike out 11 in the first and last games of the WCWS bracket.

“It’s the ultimate goal when you get here to have everything firing on all cylinders,” Alameda said.

Oklahoma always seems to be firing on all cylinders, and have been for years. The Sooners’ only loss this season is to Baylor 4-3 at the Getterman Classic in Waco, Texas, on Feb. 19. It was only their eighth loss in the past three years.

In 2019, the Sooners won 41 consecutive games before losing to Wisconsin in the third NCAA tournament game. It’s the longest win streak in a single season.

From 2020-21, they won 40 in a row dating back to their last seven games of the 2020 season. The rest of the schedule after March 7 was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They kept the streak into April 2021 and won the championship. That streak also grew to 40 and bled into the 2021-22 season. The 38-0 run to start last season is the best record to start a season in D-I history.

Jennings said the Sooners aren’t results oriented, which Gasso reiterated. She hadn’t seen the success she wanted early in the box in that pitching duel against Stanford to earn a ticket back to the final week. But when the junior second baseman stepped back in knowing an out would mean a winner-take-all Game 3, she told herself “so what” about it and kept battling. That same “so what, who cares” mentality has been part of Florida State’s repertoire all season into a hot postseason.

So history won’t come easy for Oklahoma, who surely cares, with Florida State standing in the way.

In the circle

Oklahoma’s pitching crew leads Division I in ERA at 0.98, significantly better than Central Arkansas (1.50), Stanford (1.53) and fourth-place Florida State (1.59).

The Sooners have leaned on freshman righty Jordy Bahl (21-1), who has been credited with all three WCWS wins. In 14 ⅔ innings, she has yet to surrender a run. She relieved junior Nicole May in the sixth against Stanford and struck out six to help clinch the title berth.

May (18-0) ranks third in ERA in D-I (0.91, 14 earned runs in 107 ⅔ innings pitched). Bahl ranks fifth (0.97 ERA, 19 runs in 137 ⅓ innings) and senior Alex Storako (17-0) ranks eighth (1.12, 16 in 99 ⅔).

Florida State turns to Sandercock (28-3), whose 1.05 ERA (28 earned runs in 186 innings) ranks sixth in the nation and wins rank fourth. But of the top 25 pitchers in ERA, she has one of the largest margins from runs (46) to earned runs (28) allowed. Sandercock appeared in all three WCWS games with two wins, nine strikeouts and one run allowed in 13 ⅔ innings.

Sandercock, the program’s all-time appearance leader, pitched in all three games of the 2021 championship series. She had a 1.97 ERA with four earned runs in 9 ⅔ innings as a junior.

Freshman Makenna Reid (12-0) has an 0.89 ERA (10 in 78 ⅓) that ranks second. Allison Royalty has 26 appearances with 10 starts and Ali DuBois has 23 with 14 starts.

Offensive showcase

Florida State’s 5.3 runs per game lead the tournament field and are slightly ahead of Oklahoma’s 5 per game. Over the course of the full season, FSU is averaging 6.1 (13th) to OU’s national-best 8.2. It’s more than one run better than second-place Arizona (6.9).

FSU junior Kaley Mudge has four RBI, hitting .400 in the tournament and sophomore Michaela Edenfield has three, hitting .375. Kalei Harding is tied atop D-I with 22 doubles; Mudge has 18. Edenfield leads the team in RBI (56).

Oklahoma boasts three sluggers in Jennings (.807 slugging percentage), Alyssa Brito and Jayda Coleman (.814), who have 17 home runs apiece. Jennings (65) and Brito (59) lead the team in RBI.

Last time out

Oklahoma won, 5-4, on March 14 in Norman, Oklahoma, off an RBI-single by Jennings in the fourth inning.

The Sooners took the early 1-0 lead on an RBI-single by right fielder Alynah Torres off of Sandercock in the bottom of the order. FSU pinch hitter Jahni Kerr answered with a home run in the third off of Storako. Designated hitter Haley Lee and Jennings each hit solo shots for Oklahoma to go up 3-1.

Designated hitter Katie Dack answered with a three-run homer in the fourth to give FSU its only lead of the game. Lee’s double off the center-field wall scored a run to tie it and Jennings hit a hard grounder up the middle to preserve the winning streak.

Sandercock went only two innings and gave up three hits and one earned run with no strikeouts. Reid gave up four hits and two runs with FSU’s only strikeout in ⅔ innings, DuBois gave up four hits and two runs in one inning and Allison Royalty gave up two hits in 2 ⅓ innings.

Storako was credited with the win. She gave up five hits and four runs in four innings with a walk and six strikeouts. Bahl earned the save, allowing one hit in three innings and striking out four.