By Michael Kinney
OKLAHOMA CITY- Despite riding a 50 game win streak, No. 1 Oklahoma knew 51 wasn’t going to come easy. Facing No. 9 Stanford in the semifinals of the Women’s College World Series, OU was in danger of dropping their first game in four months.
However, clutch hitting from Tiare Jennings and shutout relief pitching from Jordy Bahl helped the Sooners secure a 4-2 victory in nine innings against the Cardinal Monday at USA Hall of Fame Stadium.
With the win, Oklahoma advances to the best-of-three national championship series for the fourth straight time and the fifth time in the last six tournaments.
“What a battle today for both teams,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “Very even and just back and forth the whole way. Challenging always at the plate, with both pitchers being very good. I think sometimes — we win a lot, and that’s fabulous. But sometimes I think we’re so used to taking it for granted, and this means a lot. This means a lot. To get to the championship game means a lot.”
After the OU (59-1) and Stanford (47-15) battled back and for through eight innings, the contest came down to a crucial ninth inning at bat. Grace Lyons led off the top of the ninth inning with a double to left field off freshman hurler NiJaree Canady. Two batters later, Rylie Boone grounded out, but advanced Lyons to third base.
After Canady intentionally walked Jayda Coleman, Jennings came to the plate. The junior was 0-4 at the plate and looked like she was headed toward 0-5 when Canady got two strikes on her.
However, Jennings didn’t give up on the at-bat and laced a double into right field that brought home a pair of runs.
“I didn’t know they were going to do that to Jayda. It kind of didn’t matter to me. Either way, I was going to have to find a way to either get on or help my team as best I can,” Jennings said. “We talk about not being result oriented, and that’s exactly what happened today. I didn’t get the results I wanted earlier, and so what? I’m going to step in there and keep on swinging. I knew I had two strikes so I was going to battle. But I was going to keep swinging and just do whatever I can to help the team.”
OU took a 4-2 advantage into the bottom of the ninth. Bahl, who had entered the game in relief in the sixth inning, was still on the mound. She sat down the Cardinal batters in order to put the contest away.
Bahl (21-1) picked up the win after allowing 0 runs and four hits in four innings. She struck out six of the 16 Stanford batters she faced.
Bahl has yet to surrender a run in the tournament.
“Really for me, it’s just be present, stay simple,” Bahl said. “The second I try to do too much with any one of my pitches, I start overthrowing, and then things really go downhill from there.”
Canady (17-3) took the loss for the Cardinal. She pitched the last five innings of the game and struck out six to go along with allowing four hits.
Two of Canady’s three losses this season came against Oklahoma at the WCWS. In the nine innings Canady pitched, Stanford’s offense provided zero runs in support.
“Definitely not the outcome we wanted,” Canady said. “I mean, we’re back at the World Series. I feel like that was the goal. We got here. That was a taste, and now we’re going to come back hungry.”
The Sooners found themselves trailing for the first time at the tournament when Stanford’s Kylie Chung hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first inning off Nicole May.
However, OU had an opportunity to respond in the very next inning when Cardinal pitcher Alana Vawter walked two batters and gave up a single to load the bases. Alynah Torress hit a towering sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Alyssa Brito.
In the third inning, Jayda Coleman tied the game at 2-2 with a solo shot over the right-field fence.
In the fifth inning, the Sooners put a runner on base and Cardinal coach xx Weekly didn’t waste any time. She brought in her ace NiJaree Canady to replace Vawter on the mound. She got out the next two batters to end the threat.
Oklahoma made the same move when Gasso replaced May with Bahl in the bottom of the sixth and a runner on base. However, she promptly gave up a single to Emily Young with no outs on the board.
The left side of Sooner’s infield came up with a pair of stellar defensive plays before Bahl strikeout Emily Schultz to get out of the inning.
Torress led off the seventh inning with a double off the left-field fence. Rylie Boone then bunted her way, which got the Sooner’s fan base out of their seats.
Facing the top of the Sooner’s lineup, Canady just dug in and kept throwing heat. She got Coleman to pop out before striking out Jennings. Jocelyn Erickson ended the inning with a fly ball to right field.
The Cardinal had a chance to close out the game in the bottom of the seventh. However, Bahl took care of business and kept the contest tied, and sent it to extra innings.
“It was so cool to see different people step up in different ways, and that all led into just how it ended,” Lyons said. “The entire game, top to bottom, offense, defense, we all got each other’s backs, and it was a complete game.”
Game one of the championship series is set for July 7 at 7 p.m. Oklahoma will face Florida State, who defeated Tennessee 5-1 in the second semifinal.
The Sooners will be playing for the program’s seventh national championship while the Seminoles are seeking their second.
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