Sooners win Red River Showdown
Oklahoma got revenge on Big 12 rival Texas and pitcher Hailey Dolcini.
Jocelyn Alo homered and knocked in three runs to help No. 1 seed Oklahoma beat Texas 7-2 on Saturday at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma opened the season with 38 wins before Dolcini shut the Sooners down in a 4-2 Texas victory April 16.
Alo set the tone Saturday with her two-run blast as the second batter of the game. The two-time reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year increased her Division I career-record home run total to 118.
Alo was off her game against Dolcini in April, but she expected to bounce back.
“As good as a pitcher Dolcini is, I’m a really good hitter, too,” she said. “I’m going to trust myself. I’m going to pick myself no matter what. I knew the adjustments I had to make, went out there and made them.”
Tiare Jennings also hit a homer for the Sooners (56-2), who advanced to the semifinals Monday and moved one step closer to defending their national title.
Jennings said the Sooners have changed since the loss at Texas.
“The good thing is they didn’t know us today,” she said. “We came in a whole different team than we were in Austin. That’s something we had an advantage of. We knew that we were different, that’s why we did what we did today.”
Hope Trautwein (20-1) went the distance for the Sooners to claim the win.
Janae Jefferson hit a solo homer in the seventh for Texas (44-20-1).
Texas will play Arizona in an elimination game Sunday. Other game
Oklahoma State 2, Florida
0: Kelly Maxwell threw a threehitter and struck out nine, and No. 7 seed Oklahoma State defeated No. 14 Florida to advance to the semifinals. Maxwell (21-4), a first-team NFCA All-American, struck out 14 in a win over Arizona on Thursday. Chyenne Factor had two hits and knocked in a run for the Cowgirls (48-12). Lexie Delbrey (15-4) took the loss for Florida. The Gators (49-17) will play No. 5 UCLA in an elimination game on Sunday.