Notebook: Oklahoma ace Jordy Bahl pitches unopposed
OKLAHOMA CITY — While Oklahoma went with its ace in Jordy Bahl, Florida State opted to not pitch its ace senior Kathryn Sandercock. Instead, Mack Leonard started in the circle. And Leonard held Oklahoma scoreless through three innings before getting pulled in the fourth after giving up the game’s first run.
Many expected the Seminoles to bring in Sandercock at that moment. But Florida State opted for freshman Makenna Reid, who gave up two more runs. Senior Ali Dubois pitched the fifth and gave up a run and junior Allison Royalty pitched the sixth and gave up another.
“Definitely sticking to the plan we had all year,” Florida State coach Lonni Alameda said. “I think they’re a really good team at making adjustments. Needed to see what we had from our other pitchers, too. Once they got the lead, there was no reason to. Now we’ve got Game 2. If they go with Jordy, they go Jordy. If they go someone else, we got a different look. At least we got some looks at Jordy.”
It’s likely that Florida State will start Sandercock in Game 2, while it’s unknown who Oklahoma will pitch.
Oklahoma weather delays
It was a complete performance from Oklahoma, after an uncharacteristic slow start. And part of that slow start might have been due to the two severe weather delays. The game, which was originally supposed to start at 7 p.m., didn’t start until 8:10. And then after only four outs, the game was delayed again until 9:02 p.m.
“I was doing a lot of pacing, trying to stay mentally locked in,” Bahl said. “Okay, when are we going to start playing? Are they going to cancel? I was very worried about what was going to happen.”
For the Sooners, they tried to not let the delay affect them. The team stayed engaged, with Gasso even joining in on the dancing in the dugout.
“Dance moves? I have no idea. How’d I look?” Gasso said. “I was just feeling something. I was wanting to play.”
Gasso hopes to dance again Thursday, with Oklahoma only needing one more win to take home a third-straight national title. And Gasso and the Sooners know they’re going to get Florida State’s best shot with their season on the line.
“I knew Florida State was going to be in this championship,” Gasso said. “We faced each other before, and we’ve had battles, but they always make us play hard and better. That is just a tribute to them. We have to get ready for that. We have to get ready for their pitching staff. They throw four pitchers in a seven-inning game, so you have to keep switching your mindset, keep switching your plan. It’s tough to prepare for them. They’re the real deal. They’re that good. They really are.”
Boone’s doubles
Oklahoma senior Rylie Boone had herself a day in Game 1. The left field had two doubles, tying the NCAA single-game record for doubles in a champ series game.
“Doesn’t really mean anything to me because I play for something more,” Boone said. “It’s cool, not saying that I don’t care. It’s cool.”
Boone’s second double was unique, with her advancing to third after the throw to second hit her hand as she was celebrating. She would score moments later on Jennings’ RBI single to give Oklahoma a 5-0 lead.
“Yeah, that one hurt,” Boone said. “I was just celebrating, looking at my teammates, firing them up. It hit my hand, then I went to third.”
Jennings breaks WCWS record
Jennings also put herself in the record books Wednesday. Her RBI in the fifth inning was her 29th at the WCWS, passing her former Oklahoma teammate Jocelyn Alo.
On the season, Jennings now has a team-high 66 RBIs. She is also the current active career leader in RBIs with 245 over three seasons. The all-time NCAA record for career RBIs is held by Arizona’s Jenny Dalton at 328.
Coleman’s throw sparks Oklahoma
Oklahoma junior centerfield Jayda Coleman made one of the best defensive plays of the night in the sixth inning. Florida State’s Kalei Harding hit one to the wall for what looked like a double. But Coleman was able to throw Harding out with an incredible throw from the centerfield wall, ending the inning.
“One of the biggest plays I felt of the game was Jayda Coleman getting that ball in from centerfield to throw them out at second,” Gasso said. “That was huge. We just needed momentum. We needed to continue to create momentum because Jordy was the only one doing it at that time.”
