FSU title dreams dashed in championship game; OU rolls to 5-1 win
OKLAHOMA CITY -- They made it further than anyone might have predicted. But in the end, Tuesday night's upset of No. 1 Oklahoma was as much as they could muster.
In a battle of pitching and defense vs. ball-crushing offense, it was the Sooners' powerful lineup that ruled in Thursday's national championship game -- just like it had all season
OU hit solo homers in the first and second innings, then put up a three-spot in the third to take a four-lead and cruise to a 5-1 victory. The win gave the Sooners the victory in the best-of-three championship series and the 2021 national championship.
"I'm so proud of the (seniors)," FSU head coach Lonni Alameda said. "I think they kept the vision in mind and really made sure we stayed together as a unit. And we have great relationships. ... I am very grateful for that because this program moving forward is on a solid foundation for what they gave us.
"I'm proud of them and happy for them because they did end it here in Oklahoma City, where they wanted to be."
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Florida State, which entered the postseason as the No. 10 seed, finishes as the national runner-up. The Seminoles end with a record of 49-13-1; Oklahoma finishes at 56-4.
After trailing early 2-0, the Seminoles cut their deficit in half on a bizarre play in the top of the third inning. With a runner at second base, senior Sydney Sherrill hit a pop-up straight into the afternoon sky, and the Sooners' infield couldn't locate it.
But that would be the only run of the day against Sooners ace Giselle Juarez, who improved to 23-1 on the year. She threw complete games against the Seminoles for both championship series victories.
FSU starter Danielle Watson was pulled in the third inning after giving up a leadoff single, and Alameda took a gamble by going with redshirt freshman Emma Wilson, who had only thrown 20 innings all season.
Wilson lasted only two-thirds of an inning, surrendering two runs on one walk and two hits, before being replaced by staff ace Kathryn Sandercock.
"Emma's an incredible pitcher," Alameda said. "She's going to be incredible down the road. ... That was my call. That was the plan on getting in there today. We were going to have to give some different looks to them today to get through it. And the main thing was we were going to have to score some runs. It wasn't going to be a 1-0 ball game, a 2-1 ball game. They hit the ball. And we knew that. So, we had to sell out to try to beat some of their hitters.
"That innings got to us. Maybe it wasn't so fair on her part for me to put her in there. But I know she wanted it. I know for the future of the program it's going to be good for her to take that memory."
Sandercock pitched the final 3 1/3 innings and faced the minimum 10 batters. She and left fielder Kaley Mudge both earned spots on the All-Tournament team. Mudge also established a new WCWS record with 14 hits.
It was the second WCWS finals appearance in the last three tournaments for the Seminoles. And for the second time, they were able to storm back out of the loser's bracket to get there.
They just happened to run into arguably the best college offense of all time. In what essentially amounted to a home park for Oklahoma with most of the 12,000 fans in attendance cheering - and cheering loudly - for the home-state Sooners.
"I'm just so proud of this team," said an emotional Dani Morgan, who had a critical three-run homer in the Seminoles' win over Arizona. "To be here, and everything we've gone through this year, to persevere and be in this moment is what we dreamed of. I'm just so proud of this team.
"We were able to get here and give everything we had."
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