Sports

NCAA softball: Oklahoma tops Florida State for rare national title 3-peat

By Chriss Hughes
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By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY — Jordy Bahl threw three innings of perfect relief and Oklahoma won its third straight Women’s College World Series title and seventh overall, beating Florida State, 3-1, on Thursday night for a two-game sweep.

The Sooners finished 61-1 and extended their Division I-record win streak to 53 games. They have won six titles since 2016 after getting their first in 2000, all under Coach Patty Gasso.

Oklahoma’s only defeat was a 4-3 loss at Baylor on Feb. 19. The Sooners set a record for win percentage and had the fewest losses of any NCAA champion. They led the nation in runs per game, ERA and batting average – even after losing Division I career home run leader Jocelyn Alo from last year’s team.

UCLA was the only other program to win three straight titles, from 1988-90. But the Bruins lost 19 games during that stretch. Oklahoma has dropped just eight during its three-peat.

Bahl, a sophomore from Papillion, Nebraska, pitched 24-2/3 scoreless innings in the WCWS and was named its Most Outstanding Player. She went 4-0, earned the save on Thursday and became the first pitcher since 1992 to work at least 20 innings at the World Series without allowing a run.

Cydney Sanders and Grace Lyons hit back-to-back homers off Seminoles ace Kathryn Sandercock in the fifth inning. Florida State had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Mack Leonard’s homer off Sooners starter Alex Storako.

Alynah Torres padded the Sooners’ lead with an RBI single in the sixth, and that was plenty of cushion for Bahl, who struck out three and threw 39 pitches, 28 for strikes.

Sandercock pitched a complete game for Florida State (58-11), which made its third finals appearance in the past five World Series. The Seminoles won the title in 2018 and were runners-up to Oklahoma in 2021.

Storako (18-0) worked the first four innings for the Sooners, allowing three hits and getting a sparkling defensive play in the third from center fielder Jayda Coleman, who made a leaping catch at the wall to take away a potential three-run homer from Florida State’s Kalei Harding.

In the top of the third, the Sooners got a bunt single from Rylie Boone – executed so perfectly that the ball stopped on the chalk – to load the bases with no outs. But Sandercock retired the Sooners’ top three batters to keep the game scoreless.

More to come on this story.

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Chriss Hughes
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