Texas softball clobbered by No. 1 OU in first WCWS Finals game

On the night of June 8, unseeded Texas softball was put to the test in the biggest way possible on the grand stage of the Women’s College World Series Finals in Oklahoma City, OK. Texas faced the top-seeded Big 12 foe Oklahoma Sooners on June 8 to try and continue their magical postseason run.

Head coach Mike White and the Longhorns got off to a pretty good start against the Sooners on June 8. Texas actually scored the first run in the top of the first inning of this game against Oklahoma. Courtney Day drove in Bella Dayton in the first inning to get Texas on the board first.

But that would be the only run on the night for the Longhorns. Once the bottom of the first inning arrived, the difficulties began for senior pitcher Hailey Dolcini and the Longhorns. In the bottom of the first inning alone, Dolcini and the Longhorns saw superstar Jocelyn Alo hit a home run and help spark a five-run explosion for the Sooners.

Dolcini wouldn’t even make it through an entire inning on the mound for the Longhorns, though. In just 0.2 innings of work on the mound, Dolcini allowed two earned runs on four hits. But Dolcini did see five runs scored in her time on the mound in this game. Three of them were unearned thanks to some costly errors by the Texas defense.

Jocelyn Alo and No. 1 Oklahoma dominate Hailey Dolcini and Texas softball in Game 1 of the WCWS Finals

This big night for Alo really summed up the efforts of the Oklahoma offense. While the Texas defense struggled with four errors on the night, Oklahoma was able to put up well over a dozen hits. Oklahoma scored 16 runs on 16 hits, including four walks and six home runs.

Once Dolcini was taken off the mound in this game, the pitching struggles actually heightened for Texas. The last two pitchers for the Longhorns in this game gave up nine earned runs combined and a dozen hits.

This was definitely a trying game for the Longhorns through and through. The bats struggled to get going and the defense had trouble finding its footing.

But this is a Texas team that has constantly thrived with their backs against the wall throughout the postseason. Texas still owns a record of 6-0 during the postseason when facing elimination. And Texas has faced some really good opponents when facing elimination this postseason, including in their impressive semifinal win in OKC over the seven-seed Oklahoma State Cowgirls.

Dolcini, White, and the Longhorns will need to have some trust in their resilience to round out the WCWS Finals in OKC for the rest of the week to eek out a win over Alo and the Sooners.

Next up for the Longhorns will be the second battle in the WCWS Finals with the rival Sooners on June 9. The first pitch time in this de facto elimination game in the WCWS Finals for Texas against Oklahoma is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.