What Patty Gasso, players said after Oklahoma softball’s fifth national title win
No. 1 Oklahoma softball claimed their fifth national title in program history on Thursday with a dominant 5-1 win over Florida State in the decisive Game 3 of the Women’s College World Series finals.
Starting pitcher Giselle Juarez was once again tremendous throwing seven sensational innings that locked up her bringing home the award for the Most Outstanding Player of the week. Jocelyn Alo’s 34th home run of the year set the tone early and the Sooners simply never looked back cruising to the title-clinching win.
The argument can easily be made that this is the greatest team in the history of softball after the absurd offensive numbers they put up all season long. At the very least, this is a historic team that won’t be soon forgotten.
After the game, head coach Patty Gasso, Juarez and Alo spoke to the media about their incredible run. Here are some of the highlights of what they had to say:
On Giselle Juarez
"Giselle, my heart just was overflowing with joy for her because it was a tough season for her. It was her super senior year. She had a lot of things to prove. 2019 didn't finish the way she wanted, and went through some really tenacious surgery and rehab just to get back and play that last season. I'm just overwhelmed with joy for that young lady because she was very diligent and fought through it and didn't have her best season, and she would tell you that, but I don't know that it matters right now to her because she had that moment in the course of about seven days. It caps off her career in the most ultimate way you could ever think of."
Winning title after everything program had to go through
"Yeah, I just don't know that people understand how rough it was. I think every coach in the country could relate, where week by week you're wondering who's going to be at practice and who might not, whether they are contact traced and they're out for two weeks, 10 days. It was really tough. It was tough on a few players particularly that were quarantined but never had tested positive, so there was a lot of that going on. When we started the season, we didn't know who might not be traveling with us. Every day at practice, I was trying to get people to learn new positions to fill in this case we don't have those players with us. It was hard. But at the same time they were so athletic and understanding about it and saying, hey, whatever we need to do to win, put me wherever you need to put me. Some players were sitting out when they know that they're good enough to be in. It was just such a selfless team approach the entire season. That's what it's about."The role of super seniors Giselle Juarez, Nicole Mendes and Shannon Saile
"Yeah, you could see both teams today were really starting to run out of gas, especially with how hot it was and the amount of games that we've played and the quick turnarounds that we have to face on a pretty much daily basis. Giselle was -- just something different about her this week that everyone felt very confident about. She had a different look, approach, calm, confident, wanting the ball. Shannon, as well. Shannon was ready at all times. Nicole May got some very valuable experience on this big stage. But Nicole Mendes is a whole 'nother level of leader. She's so well spoken. She's so passionate. But anything she says she backs it up. I think Jocey is a lot like that, as well. Lynnsie Elam, another, she's our captain. There was some really good leadership going on this week. Those three in particular I was really proud of how they took some things over. I think they helped people like Lou get fired up and have a big week, huge week for her, and Lou was someone that is sitting out and wondering when I'm getting in. She got that opportunity, she just blasted it, and in that moment, it's like, I don't care whether this is a matchup for you or not, you're staying in the game. Some of the catches she made were incredible. Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, some of the young ones had to be led by those who have been there, and they did a really nice job of that."(Much more at the link below)
What Patty Gasso, players said after Oklahoma softball’s fifth national title win
A recap of what Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso, SP Giselle Juarez and DP Jocelyn Alo said after the Sooners' national title win on Thursday.
www.yahoo.com
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