Skip Johnson reveals background on team not celebrating CWS final berth
After the final out of the Oklahoma win over Texas A&M pushed them into the College World Series championship series, a celebration with a dog pile on the field never followed to the surprise of many fans and media members. Focused on winning it all over the weekend, the Sooners made a decision not to get carried away with the party after advancing once more.
During the postgame press conference, Skip Johnson addressed why his Oklahoma team did not participate in a celebration in the typical fashion which has become tradition during the College World Series.
“I think those kids are focused,” said Johnson. “I don’t know if it’s dog-piling or whatever it is. I mean, it’s kind of weird sometimes. I don’t tell them not to dog-pile, I can tell you that.
“I’m real emotional. It might not seem like I am. I’m just thanking Jesus for the moment really and all the people that are pulling for a bunch of guys named David. It happened to be David pitching today.”
Despite skipping the Omaha traditional celebration after eliminating Texas A&M, Oklahoma has become one of the best stories of the postseason with their run through the Regional and Super Regional rounds coming together with an undefeated run through the College World Series bracket.
David Sandlin on big game mentality
David Sandlin wasn’t going to accept anything less than a win for Oklahoma on Wednesday, as the Sooners pitcher led the charge to the Championship Series with a victory over Texas A&M.
Sandlin was an unhittable puzzle for Aggies batters, amassing a career-high 12 strikeouts in the process. Afterwards, the Sooners pitcher spoke about being prepared for the environment he pitched in on Wednesday.
“Absolutely. Just got me ready for the atmosphere I was going to be in and mentally prepare almost more for this game and trust everything I had,” Sandlin said, regarding his relief appearance from days prior. “I think I tried a little too hard, and as Coach Johnson says, you can’t do that. You don’t want to get geared up when I don’t need to be.”
Continuing, Sandlin explained how everything came together for him on the mound against the Aggies.
“I mean, I felt pretty good. I just trusted my preparation,” stated Sandlin. “Like I’ve been working towards it all year, and I feel like today was more muscle memory than anything up there on the mound. Just going out there and he just executing, don’t think about things too much.”