OKLAHOMA CITY ( Associated Press) — Jocelyn Alo and Tiare Jennings fueled Oklahoma’s record-setting offensive blast, helping the Sooners win away from successfully defending their Women’s College World Series title.
Allo and Jennings each scored two home runs and top-seeded Oklahoma beat unseeded Texas 16-1 in Game 1 of a best-of-three championship series on Wednesday night.
Oklahoma (58-3) set a World Series record with six home runs and matched the record for the difference between runs and wins.
Elo and Jennings each have five home runs in the World Series, surpassing the single-series record of four set by several players, including Elo, last year. Elo increased his career Division I homer record to 122, and Jennings scored six runs for RBI with 15 in a series.
The teams will meet again on Thursday in Game 2, with Oklahoma in position to win its sixth national title. Texas (47-21-1) need a win to stay alive. The Longhorns have won six elimination games since the start of the NCAA tournament.
Oklahoma escaped with little difficulty at first and took control of the game from there. Hope Troutwin (22-1) conceded just two hits and one run in five innings, and Nicole May allowed just one hit in two shutout innings.
The Allo no doubt cranked up Oklahoma’s home run in left-field seats in the first half, and Tylon Snow followed shortly after with a blast of three runs – his fourth home run of the season – to make it 5-1. II to proceed from. Texas used three pitchers in the innings, and ace Hailey Dolcini (24-12) recorded just two outs before pulling out.
Jana Johns hit a single shot in the third to take it 7-1 and Jennings later in the innings blasted three runs to take a 10-1 lead. Elo and Jennings hit successive homers in the fifth to make it 14-1.
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