Oklahoma sent Georgia packing, run-rule style, back to Athens on Saturday to remain alive in the Women’s College World Series. Giselle Juaraz fanned 10 Bulldog batters and Jocelyn Alo went yard to take sole possession of the single-season home run record at the University of Oklahoma.
Alo’s two-run blast came in the top of the sixth inning when she sent the ball over the wall at center field to put the game in run-rule territory. She wasn’t the only Sooner batter to go deep on the day though.
Mackenzie Donihoo and Kinzie Hansen also went yard in the game as Oklahoma pelted Georgia’s pitching staff for eight runs on nine hits. Donihoo left the park in the top of the second inning with a two-run homer that went out over left field to also score Jayda Coleman. She struck again in the top of the fourth when Coleman came home off a throwing error after Donihoo had sent the ball to through the left side of the infield. The only new player in the lineup from Thursday’s loss to James Madison, Donihoo also scored in the top of the sixth off a ground out from Tiare Jennings.
Kinzie Hansen got in on the home run derby in the top of the fifth with a two-run shot to center field that also scored Jennings. Oklahoma’s dominance over Georgia should put to rest the earlier conversations of the Bulldogs beating the Sooners in Athens back in April. Since that extra innings loss OU has now run-ruled Georgia twice.
The Sooners were equally impressive from the pitcher’s circle as they were from the plate as Oklahoma held Georgia to just three hits in the game while striking out 11 batters. Juarez was responsible for 10 of those strikeouts as she picked up her 19th win of the season after going 5.1 of the six innings played. Freshman Nicole May picked up the final two outs of the game, with one of them coming via strike out, to end things early by run-rule.
Oklahoma will now play UCLA at 6:00 (CT) tonight in the second elimination round. The winner between the Sooners and Bruins will advance to Sunday’s semifinal round.
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