Senior infielder Dayton Tockey felt surreal to have the winning moment for the Sooners’ first regional championship since 2022.
Tockey blasted a walk-off home run in the 10th inning for OU (36-22) to defeat No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech (50-11) in a winner-take-all regional final. His homer went 454 feet, and Tockey and his teammates swarmed him.
“It's a surreal feeling to hit it and be able to know it's gone,” Tockey said, “and … just to celebrate with my teammates is unbelievable.”
Junior catcher Deiten Lachance praised his strength and added how special it is for Tockey to have the moment as a senior since any game could be his last.
"He's a big guy with power, …” Lachance said. “Any veteran we have in the lineup right now, I think it's awesome.”
Tockey’s mother anxiously watched from the bleachers of Russ Chandler Stadium before he hit the walk-off home run and embraced those around her after her son’s game-winning moment. Her son not only won the Sooners the game but also marked OU’s first walk-off homer in the NCAA Tournament since 2008.
The ESPN broadcast frequently showed her during the game as well, while she paced around with a “Tockey” hat on. Tockey said he would receive texts of videos of her during the game.
“I would get some texts here and there, like, ‘Oh, wow, they're showing your mom” because I don't really go back and watch the games, but like, I would get videos sent to me, like, midgame of her,” Tockey said. “And I'm like, ‘Yeah, she's ridiculous, just on the screen all the time,’ but it's sweet that she got to be there.”
Tockey’s spectacular performance came despite being in and out of the lineup for most of the season, only starting 26 of the Sooners’ 58 games.
“For Dayton to do that is incredible,” head coach Skip Johnson said following the game. “He had a really good season going last year, broke his ankle, was one of our best hitters and fought through it for a long time. Struggled this fall a little bit (but) he was a good mentor to another freshman. We started playing him here lately, and he's got it going good.”
His home run capped off a comeback from down 7-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Sooners also mounted a comeback to defeat Georgia Tech the game before, climbing from down 8-2 at the start of the bottom of the fourth to winning 15-8.
“What makes it good is (that) we were doubted,” Tockey said. “You don't ever doubt us; we're always going to be in the game.”
Junior infielder Jaxon Willits added that head coach Skip Johnson calls momentum “a drug.”
“Skip talks about it a lot; momentum is like a drug,” Willits said. “You can keep it on your side; it's going to do a lot of good things.”
Johnson said that senior outfielder Trey Gambill gave a message to the team over the weekend that resonated as they mounted comebacks.
“They're going to hit us in the mouth, and we got to expect that they’re going to hit us in the mouth,” Gambill said. “And what we do after that is what we do. We can't back away from there.”
Heading into super regionals against No. 15 overall seed Kansas (45-16), the Sooners are feeling confident.
“We can beat anyone in the country,” Tockey said, “when we’re playing our game.”
