
23 under 23 for 2023: Young stars shine bright in women’s sports
From Sophia Smith to Suni Lee to Aliyah Boston, keep your eye on these athletes.
Oklahoma softball appears to be well on its way to back-to-back national titles after putting up a record-breaking six home runs in the first game of the Women’s College World Series finals against Texas. The Sooners beat the Longhorns 16-1 in Oklahoma City.
Jocelyn Alo got the party started in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run home run to add to her own NCAA record total.
Hello. Goodbye. 👋@78jocelyn_alo sends it WAY OUTTA here!!!
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 9, 2022
📺 @espn #WCWS x @OU_Softball pic.twitter.com/4jb4JYVzz2
Not long after, Taylon Snow hit the game’s second home run – and the second of the inning – to give the Sooners a 5-1 lead. The blast was Snow’s fourth of the season.
𝙇𝙀𝙏 𝙄𝙏 𝙎𝙉𝙊𝙒 ❄️
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 9, 2022
📺 @espn #WCWS x @OU_Softball pic.twitter.com/Y971ydxPbz
The bats were relatively quiet in the second, but the Sooners picked up the slack in the third, starting with a solo home run by Jana Johns to make the score 7-1.
.@JohnsJana joins in on the home run party with her second 💣 of the World Series!
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 9, 2022
📺 @espn #WCWS x 🎥 @OU_Softball pic.twitter.com/5yYhWAE36c
Three batters later, Tiare Jennings hit a three-run shot, scoring Rylie Boone and Alo.
☠️ 𝔓𝔦𝔠𝔨 𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔓𝔬𝔦𝔰𝔬𝔫 ☠️
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 9, 2022
Texas opts to walk Alo and @_tiarejennings follows up with a 3-run shot!
📺 @espn #WCWS x @OU_Softball pic.twitter.com/ru32zXjpL3
Alo and Jennings would then go back-to-back to start the fifth inning to put the Sooners ahead 14-1.
💣 We're just gonna put 'em both in one clip. 💣
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 9, 2022
𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭. 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫. 𝐇𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐃𝐮𝐨. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫.@_tiarejennings @78jocelyn_alo | 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/orL1cfIuSH
Their dads got in on the fun (and the pun) after receiving each player’s respective home run ball.
𝐃𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐬
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 9, 2022
Back-to-back 😆💣 pic.twitter.com/xdQQaP6S35
With no run rule in effect for the championship series, the game went the full seven innings. The Sooners didn’t add any more homers, but they did add a few more runs to get to the final score of 16-1.
From Sophia Smith to Suni Lee to Aliyah Boston, keep your eye on these athletes.
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