Summary
The Women's College World Series is complete, and Oklahoma has made history. The Sooners lost only one game this season on their way to a three-peat. Check out all our coverage here.
WCWS championship series
Wednesday
Game 1: Oklahoma 5, Florida State 0, final
Thursday
Game 2: Oklahoma 3, Florida State 1, final
Required reading
- Oklahoma softball wins third consecutive WCWS title: How Sooners cemented a dynasty
- How Kathryn Sandercock and Florida State softball grew to meet their WCWS moment
- How Oklahoma softball star Jayda Coleman’s urgency drives the Sooners’ WCWS three-peat bid
- Kaley Mudge, Florida State return to Women’s College World Series with unfinished business
(Photo: Getty Images)
OU 3-peat doesn’t mean dominance comes easy
Her Oklahoma players schemed, openly and obviously, as all newly crowned champions do when they want to douse their head coach with an ice bath. One grabbed Patty Gasso by the waist to hold her in place on the right side of the infield, and three others lifted the cooler.
Gasso stopped resisting and threw up her hands, letting the cold water and ice cubes drench her, playing her part in the Sooners’ now-annual national championship ritual. It was, of course, her third in a row. No one has done that in Division I softball in more than 30 years. Only one other program has ever won three consecutive national titles: UCLA, from 1988 to 1990.
Make space in the record books for these Oklahoma Sooners, who sealed a three-peat on Thursday night with a 3-1 win over No. 3 Florida State that extended their Division I-record win streak to 53 games. Oklahoma has now won five titles in the past seven seasons and six in the last 10 years.
“That sounds impossible, doesn’t it?” marveled Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione on the field moments after the confetti fell.
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Jordy Bahl delivers once again on the biggest stage
With a national championship on the line, Oklahoma softball fans couldn’t have been more comfortable with who was in the circle. It was obvious from their chants of “three-peat” and their under-the-breath words of encouragement: They had supreme confidence in Jordy Bahl.
It would be hard to top the kind of performance the Sooners ace had in Oklahoma’s national title run this season. But especially the kind of power she showed in Oklahoma City this week. Bahl did not allow a run throughout the entire WCWS, pitching a complete shutout in Game 1 of the championship series against Florida State before closing out a 2-1 victory in Game 2.
She didn’t pitch until the bottom of the fifth inning on Thursday night, sporting her usual camo headband and eye black. And her entrance all but secured the Sooners’ third-consecutive national title.
“At that point, you can feel it getting loud,” Bahl said in the outfield afterward, surrounded by family, teammates and red and white confetti. “You can feel the pressure starting to set in a little bit.”
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2023 All-Tournament Team
NiJaree Canady, P, Stanford
Taylor Gindlesperger, OF, Stanford
Kiki Milloy, OF, Tennessee
Zaidi Puni, INF, Tennessee
Michaela Edenfield, C, Florida State
Kaley Mudge, OF, Florida State
Kathryn Sandercock, P, Florida State
Rylie Boone, OF, Oklahoma
Jayda Coleman, OF, Oklahoma
Kinzie Hansen, INF, Oklahoma
Tiare Jennings, C, Oklahoma
Jordy Bahl. P, Oklahoma (Most Outstanding Player)
Oklahoma softball wins third consecutive national title
Oklahoma’s softball dynasty lives on, as the No. 1 Sooners came back from a one-run deficit with back-to-back solo home runs from Cydney Sanders and Grace Lyons to beat Florida State 3-1 and sweep the best-of-three championship series.
- The Sooners have now won three consecutive national titles, a feat that just one other Division I softball program has ever accomplished. UCLA did it from 1988 to 1990.
- The 2023 title is Oklahoma’s fifth in seven seasons and sixth in the past 10. It is legendary head coach Patty Gasso’s seventh overall championship.
- Thursday night’s victory over the Seminoles extended the Sooners’ Division I-record win streak to 53 games. That streak includes 24 wins over ranked opponents, 12 wins by 10 or more runs and 29 shutouts.
Sooners pitcher Jordy Bahl pitched a two-hit shutout in Game 1 of the championship series and entered Game 2 in relief of starter Alex Storako once Oklahoma secured a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning. Bahl, the Sooners’ speedy ace, closed out the championship with three strikeouts and little drama over the final three innings. She even pinch-ran again, crossing the plate for a second consecutive game.
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Oklahoma has a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning
You know a crowd is loose when the (quasi) home team has a two-run lead, an inning to go, a national championship on the line ... and they're doing the wave.
Oklahoma is three outs away from a three-peat
It will also be the Sooners' 53rd straight win. Just unbelievable stuff.
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Jordyn Bahl has entered the game
Jordy Bahl has entered the game to great applause to pitch the bottom of the fifth. Not that anyone could forget, but Bahl just pitched a masterpiece a night ago — a two-hit, complete-game shutout with 10 strikeouts. And she pinch-ran and scored, too. She's in the game to close it down.
Bombs away
OK, now everybody's hitting it out of the park. Grace Lyons also goes yard, and Oklahoma has taken a 2-1 lead here in the fifth.
Oklahoma ties it up with a solo shot of its own
Cydney Sanders goes yard. So far, we're getting big hits from unlikely sources. Sanders, too, hadn't been very hot at the plate in OKC.
She was due
Prior to that home run, Mack Leonard had been hitting .091 here in OKC.
Florida State leads 1-0
Mack Leonard, who had been having a miserable WCWS so far, hits a solo shot and gives Florida State a 1-0 lead, its first lead of the championship series.
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Coach Venables got jokes
Now we've got Oklahoma football coach Brent Venables trolling Jayda Coleman's boyfriend.
And we're headed to the fourth inning, scoreless
This could be dangerous territory for the Noles. Oklahoma in the fourth inning against FSU this season:
March 14: Go-ahead two runs in 5-4 win.
Champ Series Game 1: Broke 0-0 tie with three runs in 5-0 win.
Jayda Freaking Coleman
Patty Gasso told me, "the first time she robbed somebody of a base hit or home run, she had a different kind of energy. It started to grow on her. … She learned that she could use her legs in the outfield and reach just about anything."
Huge escape there for Florida State
Bases were loaded with no outs and the Seminoles got two force outs at home plate and one line out to left-center field. Surprised the Sooners went scoreless there, but that's a testament to what we've heard all week from the Seminoles: They won't get easily frazzled.
Bases loaded for Oklahoma
Loudest cheers of the day so far for a beautiful bunt put down by Rylie Boone to load the bases. It was spinning toward foul territory and stopped on a dime to stay fair. Wild stuff.
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We're still scoreless as we head into the third
Three up, three down for Alex Storako. She's definitely settled in after an eventful first inning.
Interesting play here
Looks like Alyssa Brito had the intent of stealing second, but Kinzie Hansen popped it high in the infield and the Seminoles got a double play out of it. We've seen a few uncharacteristic mistakes from the Sooners this series, now is time for FSU to take advantage of them.
FSU leaves their runners stranded
FSU did this last night, too. The Seminoles got base runners on and even in scoring position and couldn't bring 'em home. What a missed opportunity in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. But it's also worth pointing out that FSU was hitting Storako hard. This lineup seems to see her well.
