Oklahoma earns 5th WCWS title
Giselle Juarez threw her second consecutive complete game and Oklahoma won its fifth softball national championship, beating Florida State 5-1 in the Women’s College World Series on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
The Sooners had lacked a dominant pitcher heading into the series but Juarez answered the call, allowing one run on two hits in the decisive Game 3.
Oklahoma won Game2 6-2 behind Juarez, who went 5-0 at the World Series and was named Most Outstanding Player. She allowed four runs in 31 1/3 innings.
Much of the crowd stood when Juarez took the circle in the seventh inning. Fittingly, the final out was a popup into her glove. Teammates mobbed her and “Boomer Sooner” blared over the sound system as the crowd of mostly Oklahoma fans celebrated the win just 25 miles from campus.
It wasn’t easy for the topseeded Sooners — they came out of the losers’ bracket after dropping a stunner to unseeded James Madison in the tournament’s opening game. But Oklahoma beat James Madison twice in the semifinal round, then recovered from a loss to Florida State in the championship series opener.
Oklahoma (56-4) also won titles in 2000, 2013, 2016 and 2017, all under coach Patty Gasso. The Sooners set the Division I single-season record with 161 home runs this season.
Jocelyn Alo homered in Game 3, her 34th of the season, extending her school single-season record. The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year hit four homers in the World Series, including the go-ahead blast in Game 2.
Left fielder Mackenzie Donihoo went 10-for-21 in the World Series and made several outstanding catches during the week.
Florida State (49-13-1) was seeking its second national championship in the past three World Series under coach Lonni Alameda.
• One of legendary Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler’s sons and two of his former players described in detail how they were molested by the team’s longtime doctor and how Schembechler turned a blind eye when they told him about the abuse, telling one to “toughen up” and punching his son in anger.
Matt Schembechler, 62, and former Wolverines players Daniel Kwiatkowski and Gilvanni Johnson told similar stories about how Dr. Robert E. Anderson, who died in 2008, molested and digitally penetrated them during physical exams decades ago. They also talked about how Bo Schembechler, a Michigan icon whose statue stands outside a university building that bears his name, refused to protect them and allowed Anderson to continue abusing players and other patients for years.
Anderson “was supported by a culture that placed the reputation of the university above the health and safety of the students,” Matt Schembechler said during a news conference in the Detroit suburb of Novi. “That is the culture that made my father a legend and placed his statue in front of Schembechler Hall.”
“Dr. Anderson was part of the University of Michigan team,” he continued. “He was part of Bo’s team, therefore, he was more important than any man. It’s very clear that Bo and the university always put themselves before any student-athlete or son, just to support the brand.” was a stroke in front of Johnson, Doc Redman, Chesson Hadley and South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen.
• Irish rookie Leona Maguire shot a 7-under 65 at Lake Merced to take the first-round lead in the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship.
• Austria’s Christine Wolf and England’s Sam Horsfield shared the lead at 8-under 64 after a day of low scoring in the inaugural Scandinavian Mixed in Gothenburg, Sweden. The field of 78 men and 78 women competed on the same course at Vallda Golf and Country Club for one prize fund of 1 million euros and one trophy, a first on the European Tour.