Baseball

JMU upsets No. 1 Oklahoma in first round of Women's College World Series

Published Jun. 3, 2021 8:14 p.m. ET

One game in, and the Women's College World Series already has an upset for the ages on its hands.

The James Madison University Dukes knocked off the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners 4-3 in the opening game of the WCWS on Thursday, and to get an idea of how big a shocker it was, you have to make comparisons to all-time college sports upsets.

Such as a college basketball stunner in 1982, when the NCAA's No. 1-ranked Virginia Cavaliers, led by future NBA All-Star Ralph Sampson, fell 77-72 to tiny NAIA school Chaminade. Or a college football matchup that shocked the sports world in 2007, when Appalachian State toppled No. 5-ranked and Big Ten favorite Michigan.

That's the kind of company that James Madisons' win on Thursday, coming in the unranked Dukes' first-ever WCWS series appearance, falls into.

Oklahoma, a powerhouse program, entered the WCWS with a 50-2 record and arguably the best offense in Division I softball history. Prior to Thursday's game, the Sooners were hitting .421/.507/.809 as a team, with 146 home runs in their previous 52 games.

Sooners left fielder Jocelyn Alo is tied for most home runs in a season (30) in Oklahoma program history, but it was JMU's left fielder Kate Gordon, and shortstop Sara Jubas, whose home runs sealed the deal for the Dukes this time around.

In the top of third inning, Jubas hit a three-run homer to center field to put the Dukes up 3-0. The Sooners fired back with a three-run blast of their own in the bottom of the third, evening the score 3-3.

The game went into extra innings, and at the top of the eighth with a full count, Gordon hit her 69th career home run to give JMU the lead, and the Sooners weren't able to pull off a comeback.

The sports world erupted on social media in wake of the Dukes' stunning victory.

JMU will play Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN2).

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