Grace Lyons’ last shot as an OU softball player could hardly have been bigger.
Lyons hit a solo home run in the fifth inning Thursday night in Game 2 of the Women’s College World Series final.
A home run that put the Sooners ahead, catapulting them to a 3-1 win over Florida State to claim a third straight national title, to lead their winning streak to an NCAA record 53 and solidify their place among the greatest teams in college softball history.
But after the game, when OU coach Patty Gasso spoke about Lyons’ contributions, it wasn’t the home run Gasso was talking about.
Instead, it was the roller coaster of the start of the season where Gasso – among the most legendary coaches in the history of the sport, who won his seventh national title on Thursday – ceded some control.
“I go to Grace Lyons and I say, ‘What do you want to do here? Do you want to do this? Do you want to do this? “Said Gasso. “Where normally, as a coach, ‘This is what we do, then we do this, we go there, then we do that.'”
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Lyons set the tone for this Sooners team long before his fifth inning ignited the crowd at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.
For Lyon’s impact on OU softball, ask her teammates.
“She’s been my benchmark and my rock here,” Tiare Jennings said.
Virtually all Sooners share similar sentiments.
“Grace Lyons is one of the best people I’ve ever met in my life,” Jayda Coleman said. “She helped me in my faith and on the pitch, she helped me in all aspects of life.”
Even the Sooners’ woman of the hour — well, WCWS all-hour — praised Lyons’ manner.
“I think Grace Lyons came to college softball wanting to leave a more different impact than what players usually want to leave on their programs,” OU ace Jordy Bahl said. “She did just that. … It’s just a complete honor to be on the court with her.
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This sentiment added an element to what was already an emotional moment.
Before Thursday, WCWS Lyon was largely forgettable on the pitch.
She was just 1 of 6 at the plate without an RBI.
But Lyons is no stranger to the rise.
She homered in the WCWS deciding game against Texas last season, stole bases in three consecutive WCWS games in 2021, and her golden defense has become a WCWS staple since her freshman season. in 2019.
So it’s no surprise that she got up when the Sooners (61-1) needed her the most.
She nearly did it in the third inning, narrowly missing what would have been a two-run homer that instead ended up as a long single.
Just before Lyon entered home plate in the fifth, Cydney Sanders sparked energy in the crowd with a solo right shot.
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Lyons took the first pitch for a ball, then fouled twice in a row before belting Kathryn Sandercock’s offer to the left-field wall to give the Sooners the lead — for good.
Before Thursday’s game, Lyons took time to reflect on the impending end of his career.
“It’s surreal,” Lyons said shortly after entering the post-match press conference as Bahl began to talk about Lyons’ impact. “Today I was definitely thinking about the possibility of this being my last game, playing in this uniform – just the emotions that go with it.
“It’s so cool to know that these players saw that my legacy, my intention and my legacy, was going to be different. It means so much to me, more than any softball hit, home run, game. Like that says a lot.
As Lyon floated around the bases, the anticipation for the meeting at home plate grew.
“Man, the Lord is good,” she said. “I mean, the home run was great, but just the feelings of coming home to my team and just the joy that a home run can’t bring. It’s all from the Lord. I think it was just a real joy because I finished knowing it was a total team effort, and this team is something special.
Bahl said it was hard not to make an already important moment even bigger.
“Just seeing her around the base, seeing the look on her face, it was just moving,” Bahl said. “As I said, it was still in the middle of the game. You try not to be emotional at the time, but it was just hard.
Next year, another shortstop will run through the middle of the infield for the Sooners. Maybe it will be Jennings, his second-place doubles partner for the past three years, or Alyssa Brito. It might be someone new.
But Lyon’s impact on the OU program will be long-lasting, Gasso said.
As the celebration swirled around her on the grass outside the stadium – after Bahl closed it with three dominant runs in relief from Alex Storako – Lyons pulled out her phone and FaceTimed her fiancé, the former United bettor. Sooners Michael Turk, who is in NFL Training Camp with the Miami Dolphins.
Then, for the last time as a Sooner, Lyons left the field.
“You didn’t hear the end of her,” Gasso said. “She will change lives.
Lyon has already done it.
2023 WCWS All-Tournament Team
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NiJaree Canady, P, Stanford
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Taylor Gindlesperger, DE, Stanford
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Kiki Milloy, OF, Tennessee
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Zaida Puni, INF, Tennessee
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Michaela Edenfield, C, State of Florida
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Kaley Mudge, OF, Florida State
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Kathryn Sandercock, P, State of Florida
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Jordy Bahl, P, Oklahoma
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Rylie Boone, OF, Oklahoma
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Jayda Coleman, DE, Oklahoma
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Kinzie Hansen, C, Oklahoma
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Tiare Jennings, INF, Oklahoma
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Most Outstanding Player: Jordy Bahl, P, Oklahoma
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball sweeps Florida State in WCWS final for seventh NCAA title