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Oklahoma's Jocelyn Alo breaks NCAA home run record with 96th career blast
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- Oklahoma's Jocelyn Alo breaks NCAA home run record with 96th career blast
Jocelyn Alo grew up wanting to be softball's most prolific home run hitter.
Goal accomplished.
Alo broke Lauren Chamberlain's NCAA record Friday with her 96th career home run, a sixth-inning blast to center against Hawaii in Honolulu in the Rainbow Wahine Classic.
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"Ever since I was young, I've kind of had this in my head for a while," Alo said earlier this season. "When I got to college, and just started taking off, I was like, 'OK, let's do it.' I told my dad the other day, he believed in me from when I was at a young age and just kind of instilled in my head for a while and then I started to believe it and then I got here and now it's actually happening."
For most of the eight games since Alo tied the record Feb. 20, she hadn't gotten many pitches to hit as teams pitched around her, trying to avoid being the team to give up the record-breaker.
Alo got close in the second of those games, battering a double high off the right-field wall against Long Beach State on Feb. 25.
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But since, she'd mostly been walked or pitched around.
In the Sooners' first game Friday night, a five-inning 8-0 win over Cal, Alo went 0 for 1 with two walks.
In the nightcap against Hawaii, Alo found more pitches to hit.
'Just be ready for your pitch': OU slugger Jocelyn Alo sets sights on home opener, NCAA home run record
She hit an RBI double to right in the first inning, then walked in her next two at-bats before singling up the middle in the fifth.
Then in the sixth, she came up with no outs and a runner on third.
On a 2-1 pitch, Alo blasted Ashley Murphy's offering to about halfway up the net above the center field wall to set the record in her home state.
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As Alo rounded first base, she raised her left arm and index finger skyward and picked up her pace, racing first toward Sooners coach Patty Gasso, who slapped Alo's hand as she neared home, and then to her waiting teammates, who mobbed around Alo.
During the stoppage that followed, Hawaii coach Bob Coolen presented Alo with a lei and Alo saluted the crowd.
The Sooners beat Hawaii 11-0 to improve to 19-0.
She Said, He Said: Jocelyn Alo will soon top HR record, but where does she rank among OU softball greats?
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma star Jocelyn Alo breaks NCAA softball home run record
