OKLAHOMA CITY - Throughout the season, Oklahoma has been circled on opposing team’s schedules, and frequently found itself battling ace pitchers.
Its biggest test seemingly came in the Norman Super Regional with Clemson, when all eyes turned to USA Softball Player of the Year Valerie Cagle. But when OU battled Stanford freshman NiJaree Canady, the nation's leader in ERA (0.48), it was clear that the Sooners offense, which leads the nation in batting average (.372), had met its match.
Center fielder Jayda Coleman was the first Sooner to battle Canady, and blooped a single to center field after a 10-pitch at-bat. Infielder Tiare Jennings upped Coleman's battle with an 11-pitch duel, resulting in a strikeout. After a pair of eight-pitch battles to infielders Cydney Sanders and Grace Lyons in the second, Canady sat at 52 pitches, but no runs and one hit allowed.
It was a game of tough battles, but the Sooners kept fighting.
"I think those really long at-bats, even though we weren't scoring, I think our team was still very motivated," Coleman said. "We knew we were having good at-bats, and we were seeing balls. We like to celebrate the little things, so watching people go to a 13-pitch at-bat and watching them poke it through, it's something we like to get excited about, and it ended up coming good for us later in the game. I'm just glad we kept fighting and just kept grinding."
OU (57-1) finally broke through with a pair of runs in the fifth, which proved to be enough in its 2-0 win over No. 9 Stanford (45-14) in the Women's College World Series on Thursday. After opening its WCWS campaign with an uphill struggle, coach Patty Gasso expects much of the same down the road.
"There's absolutely no overconfidence (on this team) because this field of teams is loaded, and everybody who knows softball knows that," Gasso said. "So when I saw our matchup, I'm like, 'Okay, let's go. Let's get the machine cranking up. Let's grease it up, make sure it's working, they can throw that hard.' But yes, I do think a battle early, and I think we may have had one of the toughest match-ups at the beginning of this World Series. It’s going to pay dividends because of the fight, the fight they had all day."
Despite the lengthy first two OU at-bats, Canady didn't reach three balls in either one, a trend she'd continue throughout. In all, 78 of the right-hander's 99 pitches were strikes. That, on top of her velocity, proved troublesome for the Sooners.
"She was throwing 75 miles an hour," Coleman said. "She was really starting ahead. She was getting strikes. I think we realized we needed to take those pitches up in the zone. For some reason we felt like we needed to swing at them, but we got a little bit more disciplined as the innings went on and just kind of (let) those go and really focused on the strikes that were lower in the zone."
After Coleman's leadoff single, the Sooners didn't collect their second hit until the fifth inning and only hit past the infield twice in that time. For OU, which has hit at least one home run in each of its seven postseason games, it meant an adjustment to the usual power that fuels the Sooners’ offense.
"We don't always have to hit home runs," Coleman said. "We can be the team that's just scrappy. Just put the ball in play, hit low line drives. I think sometimes people want us to jack home runs when that doesn't win it all the time."
Despite a strong outing for Canady, who allowed one earned run on four hits in five innings, OU eventually broke through with that hit in the fifth inning. Right fielder Alynah Torres lined a base hit into left field, and later, left fielder Rylie Boone found a hole between the shortstop and third baseman to give OU runners at first and second.
Coleman then drove the third pitch she saw into left field for a hit, knocking in pinch runner Avery Hodge and Boone with help from an error from Stanford’s Ellee Eck.
𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 🔥 @jaydac00 drives in a pair!END 5 | OU 2, Stanford 0 | 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/BJQCxqfgb1
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 1, 2023
Despite its unfamiliarity with stagnant offensive showings, OU’s resiliency at the plate prevailed.
“I was really proud of those guys because we haven't really seen this before,” Gasso said. “And they were really fighting, and they knew (they’d rally). I think it just bled over to everybody.”
Bahl works through trouble, deals strong outing
While Canady was dealing a gem for the Cardinal, sophomore Jordy Bahl was doing the same for the Sooners.
Bahl frequently worked herself into trouble. However, she escaped each time with minimal damage done, a testament to the mentality she possesses.
"She lives for those moments," Gasso said. "It's not a lie. It's real. She loves the pressure, and that's where she thrives the most. So she's the right person at the right time."
It began in the first inning, where Bahl allowed the two and three-hole hitters to reach base. After a sacrifice groundout advanced each runner, Bahl emphatically struck out Stanford designated hitter Kylie Chung.
Jo out the jam ✔️ @jordybahlMID 1 | OU 0, Stanford 0 | 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/Yshuwtrfgv
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 1, 2023
Bahl then retired seven straight batters before allowing consecutive hits in the fourth inning, immediately followed by consecutive strikeouts to maintain the stalemate. After battling through yet another two on, one out jam in the fifth inning, Bahl closed the game by retiring eight of the last nine batters she faced. She allowed no runs on five hits in seven innings pitched and struck out 11 batters with one walk.
The dominant outing comes one year after Bahl spent most of the postseason nursing an injury she suffered before OU's last regular season game. She didn't return until the Women's College World Series.
"If I learned anything from my injury, it was you just really can't take anything for granted," Bahl said. "So just trying to be as present as possible was huge."
OU will face No. 4 Tennessee (50-8) in the winners' bracket at 2 p.m. Saturday on ABC.
"Nothing they do surprises me at all," Gasso said of her team. "They're always ready. They're always talking. They're wanting to win. They're wanting to be great. They love doing it together. So nothing surprises me about this team."
This story was edited by Nick Coppola.
