Oklahoma Softball: Why Teams Won't Stop Pitching to Jocelyn Alo at the WCWS
OKLAHOMA CITY — Social media doesn’t often come to a consensus.
But Wednesday night, as Oklahoma trounced the Texas Longhorns 16-1 in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series finals, it seemed the internet came together to ask one question: Why do teams keep pitching to Jocelyn Alo?
In the last two games alone at the WCWS, Alo has hit 7-for-7, launching four home runs and driving in 10 RBIs.
Alo now holds the WCWS records for most career home runs in the event (12), most home runs in a single season (5), runs scored in the event (11) and runs scored in a single WCWS game (5).
After last night’s heroics, Alo is now hitting .519 on the season, and she now has an absurd .649 on base percentage.
Still, Texas coach Mike White said he wants his team to attack softball’s best hitter, even if the odds say she will produce another spectacular moment.
“She does fail half the time,” White said after the loss with a smile. “We're not making the pitches to get her out, or they're making the adjustments, knowing what we're throwing. There's a couple ways to look at it.
“If you look at the first home run, look at the replay, it hit her halfway up the handle. That's a lot of power, by the way. Can you say that's a bad pitch? Not necessarily.”
Alo’s pair of home runs were just two of the six Oklahoma launched out of Hall of Fame Stadium on Wednesday.
And while White acknowledged that Texas’ pitching performances were far from perfect, sometimes the other team just has “it”.
“Sometimes you just got to tip your hat, it's their night, they were fired up,” White said. “We just got to find ways to get them out. You got to throw their timing off.
“We didn't really have an off-speed to do that with, so they were able to kind of really be on time and be on plan. It makes it very difficult.”
Even OU head coach Patty Gasso, who has coached her fair share of indomitable power hitters, has grown to expect the spectacular from Alo on a nightly basis.
“I guess I know her so well that I just think that's who she is,” Gasso said. “When she comes up, I'm expecting her to hit a home run, probably like anybody else. It's ridiculous that I'm thinking that way.”
The excellence surrounding Alo in the Oklahoma lineup makes it even harder on the opposition to simply hand out a free pass.
Tiare Jennings, hitting right behind Alo, has also smacked five home runs in the 2022 WCWS, and she hit a pair of bombs herself Wednesday agains the ‘Horns.
Jayda Coleman, who is slotted ahead of Alo, has a .589 on base percentage as well, meaning its likely walking Alo puts two runners on base for Jennings to drive home.
“You can start going down the list here, what they're doing,” White said. “But Jennings was on time the whole night. I think she had four hits or something, right? Five RBIs, that's a pretty decent night.
“But, no, I mean, we've got to score runs to beat them. I mean, by walking them, you're just putting one more runner on. They're going to put up some numbers, four or five, we got to find a way to score seven. That's the way it is.”
Incredibly, the predicament White describes is a complete turn around from earlier this season, where opponents avoided pitching to Alo for weeks while she was on the cusp of breaking the home run record.
Over the course of six games in late February, Alo drew 13 walks before teams finally started to pitch to her again in Hawaii.
Now, with a National Championship on the line, teams can’t stop pitching to her.
And she hasn’t stopped making them pay.
“I see her at practice every day,” Gasso said. “I see what she's capable of. It's just so tough to beat her. She's so strong. I'm spoiled, but I am not wowed by it because, like I said, I see it on a daily basis.”
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