By Canadian Press

Oklahoma beats Texas, repeats as softball national champs

Jun 9, 2022 | 9:49 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Kinzie Hansen and Grace Lyons hit three-run homers, Jayda Coleman made two spectacular defensive plays and No. 1 seed Oklahoma defeated unseeded Texas 10-5 on Thursday night to win its second straight Women’s College World Series title.

The Sooners (59-3) claimed the best-of-three series 2-0 after winning Game 1 16-1 on Wednesday. It was Oklahoma’s sixth overall championship and fifth in the past nine World Series.

Jocelyn Alo, the two-time USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, was named Most Outstanding Player. She hit .666 for the tournament, tied Tiare Jennings for a World Series record five home runs and set a World Series mark with 12 runs scored.

Alo hit a hard single in her final at-bat in the sixth inning and later scored. In the seventh, she stepped in to play left field and caught two fly balls for outs before leaving the game to a standing ovation. She went without a homer on Thursday and ends her career with a Division I record 122 home runs.

Jennings set a World Series record with 15 RBIs. Oklahoma scored 41 runs in its final three World Series games.

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Oklahoma’s Jordy Bahl (22-1), the NFCA Freshman of the Year, settled down after a rough start. She allowed two runs and four hits in four innings.

Texas pitcher Estelle Czech (13-2) began the game with three shutout innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth and fifth and was replaced.

Mia Scott hit a three-run homer and JJ Smith had two hits for the Longhorns (47-22-1), who had survived six elimination games in NCAA tournament play before Thursday.

The Longhorns loaded the bases with no outs in the first and scored two runs. Coleman jumped above the fence for a spectacular grab that robbed Courtney Day of a two-run homer and ended the inning.

Oklahoma finally got on the board in the fourth. After the Sooners got their first run following a throwing error, Taylon Snow’s RBI single tied the game at 2-all.

In the fourth, Coleman had another defensive gem, throwing out a Texas runner at second from the warning track.

Alyssa Brito’s RBI double in the fifth gave Oklahoma the lead for the first time, and Hansen’s blast later in the inning put the Sooners up 6-2.

The crowd stood for Alo’s at-bat in the sixth, hoping for one more blast. Instead, her single loaded the bases. Two batters later, Lyons’ homer made it 10-2.

Scott’s 3-run homer came in the seventh.

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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CliffBruntAP

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More AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Cliff Brunt, The Associated Press