Covering the Bases: Season 1, Volume 17
It's Oklahoma and Florida State for the national championship.
Welcome back, everyone. I know I said last week I’d be sending the next edition after the championship series, but circumstances have changed a bit. Weather delays and both semifinals requiring the “if-necessary” game forced the championship series to be pushed back a day, so it will start tonight at 6 p.m. local time (Central).
In the meantime, we’ve got plenty to cover from the last five days, and what looks to be a fantastic final series to preview. No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 10 Florida State both took the hard path, losing in the opening round on Thursday and winning four elimination games each to get this far.
How Oklahoma got here
The Sooners were on the wrong end of one of the biggest upsets in Women’s College World Series history in the first round. James Madison opened the WCWS with a bang, shocking Oklahoma 4-3 in eight innings. The teams traded three-run home runs in the third inning — Sara Jubas for the Dukes, National Freshman of the Year Tiare Jennings for the Sooners — and otherwise it was a pitchers’ duel between Odicci Alexander and Shannon Saile. But in the top of the eighth, Kate Gordon’s long fly ball to left-center just snuck over the fence, giving James Madison the victory.
Oklahoma had Friday off to think about what had just occurred, and the Sooners came back furious. They run-ruled Georgia in their first elimination game as a Giselle “G” Juarez gem was backed by home runs from National Player of the Year Jocelyn Alo, Kinzie Hansen and Mackenzie Donihoo.
That set up Saturday night’s matchup with No. 2 UCLA, a rare elimination game between the top two seeds. Rachel Garcia’s three-run shot in the third put the Bruins on top, but it was all Oklahoma from there. Jennings’ two-run double in the fourth gave the Sooners the lead, and they kept pouring it on, with Donihoo homering twice for insurance in a 10-3 OU win.
So the Sooners climbed their way back into a rematch with the Dukes with a spot in the championship series on the line. And they looked good early in the first game Sunday, getting a Jennings leadoff homer and eventually a 3-0 lead. But Jubas got the better of Saile again in the fourth, with another three-run blast to tie things up. That’s how it stayed until the seventh, and this time it was Oklahoma breaking the deadlock. Jennings doubled in the go-ahead run before Hansen’s two-run homer provided insurance. Freshman Nicole May was excellent in relief, and the Sooners took it 6-3.
Oklahoma had to play from behind in Monday’s true semifinal. Gordon launched Juarez’s first pitch out of the yard to give JMU the lead, which Alexander maintained until the fourth. At that point, she was gassed, and who could blame her? Arguably the best offense in college softball history finally woke up, scoring twice in the fourth and four times in the fifth, adding Alo’s 32nd home run of the year in the sixth for a 7-1 win.
The Sooners are back in the finals for the fourth time in the last five tournaments and are trying to win their third title in that span and their fifth overall. It’s safe to say Patty Gasso has built a juggernaut right in OKC’s backyard.
How Florida State got here
In 2018, Florida State lost the first game of the WCWS to UCLA, then won six in a row for its first national title (and the first by any ACC school). This year, Lonnie Alameda’s team lost its first game of the WCWS to UCLA. And once again, they’ve won four elimination games to reach the finals.
Rachel Garcia and the Bruins shut out the Seminoles 4-0 on Thursday night, and FSU’s season was on the brink Saturday afternoon, trailing No. 11 Arizona by two in the sixth. But Dani Morgan hit a three-run shot just over the wall down the left field line to put Florida State in front 3-2. The Wildcats tied it in the top of the seventh before Cassidy Davis’s sacrifice fly scored Kaley Mudge with the winning run in the bottom half.
The game was the last in the storied, 36-year career of Arizona coach Mike Candrea, who announced his retirement Monday. Candrea won eight national titles in Tucson and holds the NCAA record with 1,674 career wins.
Then, in a game that started close to midnight local time (I’ll address issues like this in an upcoming newsletter), Florida State eliminated No. 5 Oklahoma State, 4-2. The fatigue was evident — the teams combined for six errors — but FSU took the lead with three runs in the third and never looked back. Kathryn Sandercock went the distance in the circle.
So the Seminoles were in the semifinals, needing two wins against No. 3 Alabama. Caylan Arnold and Sandercock combined on a shutout in Sunday’s game, and Florida State pushed across single runs in the fifth and sixth for a 2-0 win. FSU stands out among all the teams in Oklahoma City, relying on great pitching and plenty of small ball rather than home runs. It’s nice to see some variety in styles of play, and it’s clearly working.
But Florida State’s bats came alive early and often on Monday evening, as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the third with the big blow being a three-run homer by Elizabeth Mason. Mudge was 5-for-5 from the leadoff spot, tying the WCWS record for hits in a game.
The Crimson Tide nearly fought all the way back, getting a Bailey Hemphill home run to help them pull within three. But FSU’s three-woman pitching staff got the job done in the end, with Louisville transfer Danielle Watson recording the final eight outs as the Seminoles took it 8-5 and advanced to the championship series.
The wildest winners’ bracket Friday ever
Friday’s winners’ bracket games ended up having no bearing on the championship series, but they were two of the most exciting games of any World Series.
James Madison, fresh off the historic upset of Oklahoma in the opening round, made it 2-for-2 against the home state teams. The Dukes took a 2-1 lead over the Cowgirls into the seventh, with one of the runs coming on another Gordon long ball. Oklahoma State put runners on second and third with nobody out in that seventh inning, benefitting from a controversial obstruction call. With one out and two runners still in scoring position, Chelsea Alexander bunted back toward the pitchers’ circle. Odicci Alexander fielded it, saw she didn’t have time to toss the ball to the plate, and decided to dive at the incoming runner. This deservedly was the top play on SportsCenter and one of the best in WCWS history. Alexander retired the next batter on a popup to short to secure the win.
I’d like to take this space to thank the Dukes for capturing my heart and the hearts of softball fans everywhere this postseason. What JMU did this year was great for the growth of the sport. An unseeded team had never advanced this far before, and this was uncharted territory for a mid-major. Alexander pitched her heart out until she couldn’t anymore. Gordon and Jubas became household names. Madison Naujokas was perfect in stolen base attempts until the World Series. Lynsey Meeks proved that height (she’s 4-foot-11) is just a number, having a career year both at the plate and at third base. When Alexander was taken out on Monday following Oklahoma’s offensive outburst, the heavily pro-Sooner crowd appropriately gave her a huge hand.
It seemed impossible to top Alexander’s performance on Friday, but Montana Fouts did just that. Alabama’s ace — on her 21st birthday — threw a perfect game against UCLA (a lineup that includes such big names as Garcia, Aaliyah Jordan, Maya Brady, Bubba Nickels and Briana Perez. No big deal). Fouts struck out 14 of the 21 batters she faced, needing only 95 pitches. She finally faltered in Monday’s semifinal against Florida State, but she’s probably the best returning pitcher in the country, and she’ll have the Tide primed for another run at the title in 2022.
Championship series preview
Game times: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT, Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT, Thursday (if necessary) at 2 p.m. CT, all on ESPN
Not much more needs to be said about the Sooners and Seminoles. Oklahoma still is in the conversation for the best team of all time — OU entered Monday with a team OPS of 1.289. Any Sooner can hit the ball out of the yard at any time. Alo, Jennings and Hansen are the most likely candidates, but players like Donihoo have stepped up big in Oklahoma City. Juarez, Saile and May are all reliable options in the circle.
Pitching depth truly does win championships, and no team epitomizes that better than Florida State. Sandercock is the ace, but Arnold and Watson are more than capable of giving Alameda quality innings at critical junctures. No FSU starter is hitting above .300, with Sydney Sherrill just a shade under that mark, but the Seminoles have put up the runs when they’ve needed to even without much slugging. If Sandercock and co. can contain the mighty Sooner bats, Florida State might just scratch out enough runs for another title.
FSU is certainly capable of that. But no team has proven it can beat Oklahoma twice. In a double elimination tournament and a Best-of-3 series, that’s critical. The Sooners may drop Game 1, but they’ll make the adjustments when they have to. I’ve got Oklahoma in 3.
That’s all for this week, and thanks so much for following. We’ll be back to recap the championship series, followed by an early offseason edition discussing off-the-field matters, including inequity between the softball and baseball tournaments and what the game needs to keep growing.