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BY: CHRIS PLANK ocked in… no two words better describe the mindset of the Oklahoma Sooner softball team and its talented slugger Jocelyn Alo. As the Sooners head towards the postseason, Alo has put together a phenomenal season forged in hard work and commitment even through the most challenging of times.
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“There is a new Jocelyn Alo,” Sooner head coach Patty Gasso said. “Her body is strong, she looks great, she is taking better care of her health. She has been locked in and on a mission. This is the best I’ve ever seen her and she’s not going to stop.” Not many would understand the need for anything to be new for the talented Sooner slugger based on her numbers and production in previous seasons. Alo tied the Sooner single-season home run mark with 30 home runs during her freshman season and has continued to be one of the most feared hitters in college softball. Her sophomore season was filled with challenges and COVID-19 cut the season short during what would have been her junior season. Despite struggles during the shortened season in 2020, Alo refocused during the latter stages of quarantine and has come back better than ever. “Last year was tough,” Alo confessed. “I felt like I didn’t end the season like I wanted. And honestly, during quarantine, I had no motivation to do anything. But once we started getting closer to coming back, I felt like it was time to lock in. Being back with the team really made me more motivated because seeing them over Zoom I was not motivated at all. I needed to be around them.” This season, Alo has already moved up to No. 2 on the career home run list for Sooner softball. She currently sits with the best career batting average in Sooner softball history and is in the Top 10 in career RBIs. But the Hawaii native made an impact on the sports world well before she even decided to make softball her full-time sport.
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In high school, the multi-sport commitment was anything but typical. While some student athletes might compete in basketball or even track and field, Alo made her presence felt on the mat. In fact, her prep accomplishments include a Hawaii High School Athletic Association wrestling title at 184 pounds as a Kahuku (Hawaii) sophomore in 2015. You read that correctly, one of the greatest home run hitters in college softball history was a high school wrestler who took home the state championship.
“My dad was a wrestler and he wanted me to wrestle to learn the mental toughness,” Alo said. “When you mess up it’s on yourself. You must be consistent with your emotions and not get too high or too low. But I just knew I had to focus on softball to get a degree and have a chance to play at the next level.”
Photos courtesy: Josh Gateley - OU Athletics
After winning the wrestling state championship, Alo had a singular focus on softball for the remainder of her high school career. After transferring to Campbell High School, she took home consecutive state titles in softball and was named the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Position Player of the Year to end her high school career. Attempts to pitch around Alo started well before she wore crimson and cream. During her senior year state tournament, Alo walked in 13 of her 17 plate appearances. Like her time with the Sabers, opposing pitchers have learned to be far more selective when pitching to Alo, who has the power to send one out whenever she swings a bat. “High school’s very different, they would just walk me and walk me and walk me,” she said. “Pitchers this year, they have film on you and know what you do and what your tendencies are. Freshman year, you come in and they don’t know who you are, they don’t know what you can do. For me it was just about adjusting to that, adjusting to how pitchers were pitching to me. It’s definitely different from being walked all the time.” Her love for softball has been in place from an incredibly young age. While her father had wanted Alo to compete as a wrestler, Alo always had visions of playing on the diamond. She started preparing for her place in the softball world when she was just 3 years old.
38 | April 2021
