The NCAA–or at least the remnants of it, judging by how their stewardship of eligibility has been going of late–has defined the school year calendar by making the College World Series its final act. For areas that lack major league baseball, that’s as much of a signal that vacation is imminent as anything. Nowhere is this truer than in Oklahoma–still reeling from the Thunder’s earlier-than-anticipated ouster from the NBA playoffs–and in Nebraska, where Omaha gets to be the capital of the non-professional baseball universe for a week and change.
So it was both inspiring and poignant at once that last night’s winner-take-all showdown between the Sooners and a seemingly stronger North Carolina crew was as surprisingly definitive as it was. THE ATHLETIC’s Mitch Sherman did a stellar job putting it into context:
No hill was too steep to climb for this Oklahoma baseball team. The Sooners lost seven of 10 games to end the regular season. They went one and done at the SEC tournament. They faced elimination three times in NCAA Regional play.
Monday night, OU reached the mountaintop with a 13-2 win against North Carolina in Game 3 of the College World Series finals. The Sooners completed the most unlikely postseason run in college baseball since Fresno State came out of nowhere to win it all in 2008.
Earlier this morning Sherman’s comrade in arms Chris Branch threw an additional celebratory log onto this victory pyre:
The Sooners won their first championship since 1994 with a 13-2 shellacking of North Carolina, an elite program that remains ringless. This one was ugly by the fifth inning, too, as Oklahoma piled on seven runs.
And Sherman continued the hyperbole with a few more reasons why we should be throwing our ten-gallons as high as the corn and an elephant’s eye in appreciation:
Back on the brink after North Carolina (54-14-1) evened the best-of-three championship series Sunday, Oklahoma played with the calm and confidence that steered it to nine consecutive wins in the NCAA postseason.
The Sooners punished North Carolina for runs in five consecutive innings after a scoreless first. UNC pitching phenom Caden Glauber threw seven pitches in the disastrous fourth, issuing a bases-loaded, four-pitch walk to Deiten Lachance before Jaxon Willits laced a single into right field to score two runs and blow the game open.
Willits, the older brother of the No. 1 MLB draft pick from a year ago, Eli Willits of the Washington Nationals organization, is set to join the family business in professional baseball this summer. But first, he contributed three hits Monday and reached base five times with the national championship at stake. And after the game, he was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player.
OU legends Barry Switzer and Brian Bosworth celebrated with the Sooners on the Omaha dirt in the aftermath.
Damn right it was all impressive. And welcomed. I mean, would you rather have seen Michael Jordan and Bill Belichick attempting to feign interest instead?
Hats off to OU. You’re doin’ fine, indeed.
Courage…