Women’s College World Series: Finale Day 3 of the Championship Series… Oklahoma Never Trails in 5-1 Win over FSU to Capture 5th National Championship

Oklahoma captured its fifth national championship with a 5-1 victory over Florida State in Game 3 of the WCWS Championship Series Thursday.

Patty Gasso’s team was the first No. 1 overall seed to take the title since Florida did it in 2015 and only the fourth to ever come back and win it after losing Game 1 of the Championship Series according to ESPN.

Another impressive stat: only five #1 seeds have won the title since national seeding began 16 years ago so it’s not so easy to do—even when you’re the record setting offensive juggernaut that is OU softball.

Still, it was a pitcher that came up the biggest for the Sooners over the last two days after OU lost Game 1 and needed to shut down the aggressive hitting and baserunning attack that was so effective for Florida State.

Giselle “G” Juarez was lights out on Wednesday in Game 2 to help her team win 6-2 and tie the Series and then went the complete seven innings today giving up just one run on only two hits.

Juarez, who ran her record to 5-0 in the WCWS and gave up just four runs in 31.1 innings over the last few weeks, was named the Most Outstanding Player for the 2021 World Series.

G was engulfed by her teammates after the final out was a weak popup that landed harmlessly in her glove and secured the win for Oklahoma, which finished 56-4 and, impressively, would beat every one of the four teams it lost to either that same day in a double-header or in a subsequent game that week.

With all the great offensive candidates for the Sooners who could have won the MVP, it goes to an outstanding pitching performance this week:

Your 𝐖𝐂𝐖𝐒 𝐌𝐕𝐏: @ggotgame45

🐐🐐🐐 pic.twitter.com/4lz35F8xRH

— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 10, 2021

 Each of the three games in the Championship Series had a different script:

• Game 1 saw FSU jump out to an insurmountable eight run lead;
• Game 2 turned late in the contest when the Sooners took the lead for good on a two-run Jocelyn Alo blast,
• Game 3 witnessed a strong start by Oklahoma with five runs in the first three innings and the lead from the opening scoring via another Alo blast, this one a solo shot in the first inning.

Jocelyn Alo opens the scoring with, what else, a mammoth blast:

🤙 𝐉𝐨𝐜𝐲 𝐁𝐎𝐌𝐁 🤙

No. 3️⃣4️⃣ on the year and the #Sooners strike first!

B1 | OU 1, FSU 0 | 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/pU64vZvdzX

— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 10, 2021

 Alo’s home run was her school-record 34^th of the season and fourth of the WCWS. It also extended the team’s DI single-season record of 161 which was set in yesterday’s game. The previous record-holding was Hawaii.

The offensive star of the title-clinching game today, however, was freshman outfielder Jayda Coleman, the #1 ranked player in the 2020 Extra Elite 100, who homered in the second inning to push the lead to 2-0 and then cleared the bases on a third inning two-out double that pushed the lead to 5-1, which would stand for the rest of the game.

More of the key moments in Thursday’s championship clinching action:

Jayda Coleman extends the lead to 2-0 with this home run.

💥 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐌𝐀𝐍. 𝐈𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞. 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐲. 💥@jaydac00 is different.

B2 | OU 2, FSU 0 | 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/zfUIkpuuOq

— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 10, 2021

Coleman clears the bases with her double to push the lead to 5-1:

JAYDA COLEMAN WITH THE BASES-CLEARING DOUBLE!

She makes it 5-1 for the Sooners! @OU_Softball #WCWS pic.twitter.com/0Ylt4pkpwx

— ESPN (@espn) June 10, 2021

The last out and the mandatory dogpile!

🏆 𝐖𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐆𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐊𝐂 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XQoDpJ4Hrb

— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 10, 2021

*****

After today’s end to the 2021 Women’s College World Series, here is the complete list of DI champions…

* Indicates undefeated teams in final series.

#-UCLA’s 1995 national championship was later vacated by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions