All Sooners

OU Softball: Grace Lyons, Oklahoma's Captain, Stepped Up When Her Team Needed it Most

Despite her postseason struggles, the Sooners' shortstop delivered a party-starting double to set up Tiare Jennings for the game-winner against Stanford.

Ross Lovelace

OKLAHOMA CITY — Throughout the postseason, Oklahoma’s path back to the Women’s College World Series Championship Series hasn’t always been smooth sailing. That’s the whole point of having a captain to steer the ship steady, though.

Grace Lyons, who has struggled mightily at the plate over the last few weeks, delivered when the Sooners needed it most Monday afternoon. 

In the top of the ninth inning with the score knotted at 2-2, the story of the game was once again the pitching of Nijaree Canady. Oklahoma’s batters simply couldn’t figure her out.

But it was Lyons who led off for OU in a critical moment, and ended up starting the party that won the game. 

The defensive-minded shortstop stepped up to the plate and fired a rocket to the left field wall — which nearly found its way over, but bounced off to secure a double to kick off the game-winning frame for the Sooners.

"Every single at-bat is a new at-bat," Lyons said after the game. "It's a new chance to make an adjustment.

"It was so cool to see different people step up in different ways, and that all led into just how it ended. The entire game, top to bottom, offense, defense, we all got each other's backs, and it was a complete game."

Stanford’s big first inning put the Sooners on the ropes early. It certainly wasn’t the only time Oklahoma has been tested this season, but on a stage as big as Monday’s, it was a deflating start. Stanford’s Kylie Chung sent a moon shot out of the park, bringing two runs across the plane for the Cardinal and taking a 2-0 lead on the defending champs.

Thanks to a sacrifice-fly from Alynah Torres and a solo shot from Jayda Coleman, the Sooners tied the game up after the third inning. From there, it was radio silence on the scoreboard until late in the game.

Both Canady and Jordy Bahl were throwing true gems on the mound, and any sort of momentum was quickly erased by both defenses impressively find a way out of jams. As the game reached extra innings, it felt like both teams were hanging on for dear life.

In the ninth, Lyons' lead-off shot to the left field wall brought the crowd to its feet as she emphatically cheered from the second base bag. Putting a runner in scoring position gave the team all the momentum it needed.

After Torres and Rylie Boone each grounded out, Coleman had a chance to play hero once again. Stanford, however, opted to walk the Sooners’ star center fielder and trust Canady to strike out Tiare Jennings once again. Jennings had other plans.

She drilled a rope to right-center as far as it could go, bringing around Lyons and Coleman to give Oklahoma a two-run lead. 

It certainly felt like any score would end up being the deciding run that late in the game, and the feeling proved to be true. Oklahoma avoided a doubleheader and punched its ticket to the Championship Series behind Jennings’ heroics.

None of it would’ve been possible without Lyons leading by example, though.

The senior shortstop found a way to bounce back in a big way after coming up short during Oklahoma’s run through the WCWS. Dating back to the Sooners’ thrilling series against Clemson in the Super Regional, Lyons was a combined 0-for-11 at the plate and couldn’t seem to find any rhythm on the offensive end. Her late-season slump had taken her batting average from over .500 in mid-February to .323 going into Monday.

Of course, Lyons is always effective in the field, but Oklahoma desperately needed her firepower behind the bat.

"You can't think back to the results like we were talking about," Lyons said. "You can't think of what not to do. You just want to set your mind on, one, things above. That kind of keeps us from being result oriented. But we also just want to make an adjustment by getting on top of the ball.

"I think that was something that everyone could see. She was spinning it really well, getting people to chase on that up ball. We just needed to make an adjustment to get on top of it. It worked out this time. But even if it didn't, we were still making those adjustments and just being simple with what we were doing and keeping our eyes fixed on things above."

Lyons left the past in the past and found a way to set the Sooners up for success. Her adjustment at the plate against a pitcher like Canady gave Oklahoma confidence to pull through even when the odds seemed to tip in Stanford's favor.

Jennings will go down as the hero, but the season-long consistency of Lyons to finally break a hitting drought set the Sooners up for victory — and maybe another national championship.

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Ross Lovelace
ROSS LOVELACE

Experience Ross is a young, up-and-coming sports reporter who has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Oklahoma Sooners over the past six years. He's made guest appearances on various radio stations and has helped out with the All Sooners podcast whenever he gets the chance. Ross enjoys public speaking and has done so at multiple churches and high schools across the OKC metro area. In addition to writing, Ross has been the Play-by-Play announcer for Crossings’ basketball and football programs since 2020. In high school, Ross worked for self-starter blogs and latched onto Thunder Digest, where he discovered his passion for writing. From there, he worked for the OU Daily as a women's basketball reporter and was hired by All Sooners. Ross landed an internship with Sports Illustrated's Inside the Thunder and has since become a full-time contributor. One day, Ross hopes to work in the NBA. Work History Education Ross holds a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and a minor in Communication from the University of Oklahoma. Personal Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Ross played basketball and wrote for his own Thunder blog at Crossings High School in OKC, OK. He enjoys reading, New York Jets football and a week at the beach. Ross is engaged to be married at the end of the year. His Twitter handle is @Rosslovelace.

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