WCWS finals: The numbers behind Oklahoma’s historic Game 1 victory

Oklahoma softball is one step closer to defending its 2021 national title after a 16-1 win over Texas in the first game of the WCWS championship series.

Here are some key stats from the historic win:

1:

Texas managed to get out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. But the Longhorns’ joy was quickly extinguished in the bottom of the first as the top-seeded Sooners stormed back to take a 5-1 lead.

“They punched first, but we punched back,” Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said. “And we punched harder.”

2:

Jocelyn Alo, the NCAA’s all-time home run leader, became the only player in Women’s College World Series history to have two multi-home run games in her career. Both came this year.

The ONLY player in #WCWS history with two multi-HR games in her career:

Jocelyn Alo 😤 pic.twitter.com/MsxIMMs1DV

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 9, 2022

6:

With six home runs against Texas, Oklahoma set a single-game record for the Women’s College World Series. The previous record of four had been set six times previously.

The Sooners also broke the WCWS finals record of four home runs in a single game, set in 2019 by UCLA against Oklahoma. Oklahoma tied the record in the third inning of Wednesday’s game and broke it in the fifth.

8:

Of Oklahoma’s nine starters, eight recorded a hit in the game. The ninth recorded a walk and managed to score a run.

“It was like an avalanche,” said Texas coach Mike White. “Once it starts going, it starts gathering steam, and it’s harder to get it to stop.”

13:

With her second home run and third RBI in the fifth inning, Alo set the single-season WCWS records for RBIs (13) and home runs (five).

14:

Alo’s single-season records didn’t last long, though. Tiare Jennings tied the home run record of five with a fifth-inning blast of her own immediately after Alo, then broke the RBI record with a double in the sixth inning. Jennings now has 14 RBIs in the WCWS.

16:

The 16-1 win over Texas put Oklahoma in a tie for the most runs ever in a WCWS game. The other team to hold the record? Florida, who scored 11 runs in the first inning against Alabama in 2011. The Gators eventually won 16-2 in five innings.

Notably, there is no run rule in the WCWS finals.

54:

With 54 runs so far in this Women’s College World Series, the Sooners have already set the record for total runs scored at one WCWS with at least one game still to play. That mark bests the 49 runs scored by last year’s Sooners team.

12,234:

A total of 12,234 fans were in the stands as the sold-out crowd set a championship series attendance record. Game 2 is also sold out and could see similar numbers.

Tonight's crowd of 𝟏𝟐,𝟐𝟑𝟒 is a new Championship Finals attendance record! 👏#WCWS pic.twitter.com/PDm6ur7c5V

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 9, 2022