Oklahoma softball and the secrets behind the most dominant team in sports
She announces her arrival with an elaborate choreography, a dance she has perfected. She arches her back over her left leg, once more over her right. She lifts the bat over her right shoulder. Thumps it against her back in three short, violent bursts. Bang. Bang. Bang. Whips it through the air, the bat made into a blur like light trails on a highway.
The scoreboard reveals that Oklahoma is in a rare bind: trailing in the fifth inning. At home. On the last day of the regular season. But the bases are loaded, and Alo has a chance, with one swing, to do what she does. Take this game over. Before that, though, she waits.
Alo watches as Kelly Maxwell, Oklahoma State’s ace, hosts a conference in the circle, conferring with the catcher and coach. She stands in wait as an assistant runs out with a towel for Maxwell, who wipes her arms, her hands, her face; then she continues to bide her time as Maxwell approaches the umpire to request a new softball. Over Alo’s shoulder, a man yells out — “She’s shook! She’s shook!” Maxwell bleeds the seconds — 30, then 60; 90, then 120 — enough time for the whole of the Oklahoma softball squad to join Alo on the field and lead the sections behind home plate in a Boomer Sooner call-and-response.
play
7:03
Cover Story: How Jocelyn Alo became the NCAA’s home run queenTake a behind-the-scenes look at how Oklahoma slugger Jocelyn Alo turned herself into the NCAA’s career home run leader. Produced by Candace Jordan; Edited by Jenna Kijowski.
