6-9-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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Find out more at t-mobile.com. It's Friday! What more could we ask? It's Friday with a much anticipated men's semi-final at the French Open, a champion at the Women's College World Series, a Stanley Cup Final that features history. That happening last night. Of course, Major League Baseball for the weekend as well. And yes, tonight another installment of the NBA Finals. So there's a lot happening in the world of sports on this now June 9th. Did I mention it's Friday?

Oh yeah. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. And we'd love to know where you are and how you're listening. Some of you are finding out that you've got a lot of other people that are listening on the same station in your area.

So this is great. We've gotten hundreds of responses throughout the show already with one hour to go. So whether it's on Twitter, ALOL Radio, I put a post up there, and also on our Facebook page. We love to gauge our audience and know how it is that you tune in. Many of you, as in probably half of the ones we've heard from, are listening on apps or via streaming service. Few of you listening on satellite, Sirius XM, and a lot of you still using our great affiliates, which is awesome too. And honestly, a lot of the apps, they tap into our affiliates. And so even if you're not in that part of the country, you're able to check in via the Odyssey app or TuneIn Radio ad or the iHeartRadio app. So make sure you find us either Twitter or Facebook on what is now a feel-good, free-for-all, freaky, funky Friday.

I could think of some other f-words, but I got to be careful. Yeah, cool to talk to so many of you. And as I mentioned just before the top of the hour, we are three hours away from the match between Novak Djokovic and his quest for Grand Slam singles title number 23 and world number one, Carlos Alcaraz, who's all of 20 years old. And for all of the preview and everything else, the buzz at Roland Garros, we are pleased to welcome our longtime friend and tennis insider, Christopher Clary, who spent 30 plus years at the New York Times and is now branching out on his own because why not?

And we'll hear a little bit about his latest adventures. But Christopher, it's always good to talk to you. Thanks so much for a couple of minutes in Paris.

Amy, it's always a pleasure. Yeah, I know that the buzz is real. We can feel it even here in the United States. So set the stage for us, please. What's it like as we're building toward the semifinal between Novak and Carlos? Yeah, it's crazy, Amy, thinking about it because for so many years, you know, in men's tennis, it's all been about sort of the big three and when's Federer gonna play Nadal or when's Nadal gonna play Djokovic or when's Djokovic gonna play Federer?

Well, obviously this is a different situation now. We got a young guy, 20 years old, Carlos Alcaraz won the U.S. Open last year, age 19. He's from Spain. He plays kind of like a hybrid of all the big three. He's got all different skill sets that those guys possessed. He's a real kind of a smiling assassin. He's an upbeat kind of positive energy guy, but there's a lot of venom in his shots, loves to drop shot, loves to take risks, come to net, can kill you from the baseline, can also kind of beat you out in different ways. And so this is the match, I think, that because of Djokovic's enduring success and having just won the Australian Open in January and, you know, winning Wimbledon last year and still being a huge factor in the game, he is probably the most, you know, successful big three guy left at the moment with Nadal out and Federer retired.

So this is the next generation, old generation match everybody's been wanting to see for over a year now and they haven't played, so this is finally the chance and it's going to come, you know, not in a final but pretty close to one in the semis later today. When Novak says he has extra motivation, he told us that in January. What's he referring to?

What's he talking about? Well, I mean, I think, you know, Federer and Nadal kept the whole grand slam record at arm's length a little bit, maybe because they knew how good Novak is and how much he wanted it, but Novak has not hidden his ambition on this at all. He wants the record to himself.

It's one of the main reasons that he's playing. He and Nadal are tied to 22. Nadal is missing the French Open for the first time in 20 years, probably isn't going to come back at the same level, so Novak knows the new generation is rising led by Alcaraz and he wants that record before they do and so this is one of his probably last really, really good chances to do it and catching Carlos in one of his first major matches and having a chance to use all his best of five set experience.

He is 36, but he's, I think, a relatively young 36 in terms of how his body operates. So I think Novak wants that record and he wants, you know, all the numbers in his favor when the career is over and so this is one of the ways to do that by winning today's match. As I was thinking about a French Open without Rafael Nadal and also the void, I feel it as a fan without Roger Federer, so two now of the big three in the era that you just spoke of, it reminded me of golf in the wake of Tiger Woods when it really became evident that he, I know he won the Masters a couple years ago, but isn't going to be the same force and the same presence on the PGA Tour at the Majors that he was for so long. How does it feel without Rafa and without Roger these last few months?

You know, it is definitely a different world because everything was, you know, geared around those guys and their matchups. I think it surprised to me, especially with Nadal at the French Open, I'm going to get a statue of the guy as you walk in the entrance. I mean, he's Spanish, not French. That just tells you how kind of irresistible he's been and how you just couldn't fight the legacy that he was creating with 14 victories in one tournament like this at a Major. And yet, you know, we talked a lot about it before the tournament, but I think the charisma and the novelty of Alcaraz and the excitement about his game has really filled some of that void, to be honest.

I mean, Carlos is also from Spain. He's a guy who's very appealing to watch people that are casual tennis fans or just general sports fans ought to watch this guy and see what he can bring to the equation because it's quite spectacular. But I think there's been a lot of focus on him and he sort of filled those major match, major court roles that Rafa was filling before so that they, you know, the void has not been as big as I would have expected for that reason, I think.

Good. Christopher Clary is with us from Paris getting set for that semifinal between Novak and the smiling assassin, 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz. Quite a nickname for a guy who's 20 years old.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. What's the latest on Rafael Nadal's health, Christopher? Because it's hard, kind of like Roger. Didn't really get a chance to say goodbye when he was still healthy. Is that going to be the case with Rafa too? You know, much as I don't like to say it, I think, you know, the odds are pointing in that direction, probably because of just, you know, the persistence that Nadal has and sort of the love of competition and I don't know if he's clinging by his fingernails just to, you know, win another title. I just think he genuinely has it in his DNA just to enjoy the fight and enjoy the competition.

You could see the way he's played the game over 20 years. I mean, he really is one of those, you know, Jordan-esque, you know, point-by-point, moment-by-moment kind of competitors and I think a lot of his joy and what he does, Andy, comes from, you know, just the process. He's not so much about holding up the trophy as he is, you know, getting to play the points on the way to the trophy and that's almost a cliche but I think in his case it's true and so I think it's really hard for someone like that to let go of that because I think he really misses that competitive thing and when he's hurting, you know, it's just another obstacle but he doesn't mind the obstacles, doesn't mind the suffering, so it's not surprising that he wants to keep playing.

I don't think he's going to have the same kind of success. It looked to me like, you know, pre the latest round of injuries he'd lost, you know, a step at least in terms of his lateral movement. Always been an explosive mover, amazing mover, but he definitely had lost some speed and he was struggling to beat guys in the last few months before this latest injury break and he's had a series of things happen to his body over his whole career but the pace is accelerating and kind of the breadth of the injuries and where they're hitting him has been accelerating too and this latest injury was suffered in Australia back in January, lost in the second round to Mackie McDonald, American player, and he basically tore a psoas muscle, you know, in his hip area and he looked just letting it rest, didn't work, so he's gone in for, I think it's his first, you know, real surgery he's had in his career, believe it or not, despite all the injuries and so he's just did that about a week or two ago when he announces withdrawal from the French Open.

So we just don't know. I mean, say it's a five-month recovery process, he's 37 years old now, it's hard to see a whole lot of upside but, you know, people have lost a lot of money counting out Rafael Nadal over the years so let me not be the next one. You already have The Master written about Roger Federer, was a New York Times bestseller, love the book by the way, and now according to your Twitter, I haven't had a chance to ask you about this, you're writing The Warrior on Rafael Nadal.

How much does it change when you don't actually know what happens next with him? You know, it is funny because it is sort of the same situation I was in when I started writing the book on Federer and I'm in no way trying to usher anybody out the door in literary fashion here, but it's just, I feel like, you know, the main body of work for Roger was done when I started doing the book and it's hard not to feel that the main body of work is done for Nadal at this point, so I think it's a good moment to get to work and try to sum up a lot of things that have made him great over the years and try to explore some other things as well and it's the reason I left the time after 30 plus years was that this book opportunity came along and I'm at a stage where, you know, I kind of had to choose and I feel like I'm getting a lot out of these, you know, the books, I'm getting a lot out of that process. I really wanted to do it again and this was the way to do it, but it is, it's hard to leave after 32 years. So are you having fun so far though, being on your own and being a full-time author? Best part about writing a book, Amy, is the research.

It's the writing part, that's the nasty part. Christopher Clary is with us from Paris. Well, we appreciate you joining us for a couple of minutes. Let me ask you about the American presence in Paris.

Where are the Americans? You know, the American, you know, players have had a bit of an uptick in some ways, especially on the men's side. They've been some good successes. Taylor Fritz is in the top 10 on the men's side, has done well. Francis Tfoe, a couple might remember, got to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open last year, created a lot of buzz, lost to Alcaraz in a great five-set match and has won some titles this year as well, too.

He's a very dynamic player, but these young guys led by Alcaraz, you know, are just a little bit cut above the Americans at the moment, so it's hard for them to go too deep. Didn't see much of them in the second week of the French Open. On the women's side, Coco Gauff has done very well, but has hit a bit of a glass ceiling at the top, hasn't been able to really win the biggest matches against the very top-ranked players, and she lost in the quarters here to Ignis Viantek, who she's never beaten, the number one player from Poland.

So, there's some little holes, not big holes, but little holes in Coco's game, and she's only 19, so not writing her off by any means, but she doesn't seem to be able to make that big leap to the very, very top of the game. Was a French Open finalist last year, but lost that final pretty easy. Jessica Pagula, a great tennis player, top five in the world, hasn't been able to go super deep at the majors either, so the American players are strong, but they're not as strong at the very top as they've been in the past right now.

I think that's the way to sum it up. How dominant is Iga? Because she's managed to stay on top.

Is this a player that you think could put together an extended run? She was very dominant last year, won a whole bunch of titles, and had number one rankings, showed up almost by double the points of her closest pursuer. Not so much the case in recent months. It's been more of a three-way operation with Irina Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan and Iga. But Rybakina got sick here, couldn't finish the tournament. Sabalenka lost a crazy match yesterday, three hours plus in the semifinals to Karolina Muhova, who's a very talented Czech player, kind of coming into her own here.

And Iga is sort of money on clay. That's her happy place, her best surface, and I think she was the favorite coming in, and she's still very much the favorite going into the final. But Muhova is very talented, could make it hard for her. I've been watching that match actually. They replay them on the tennis channel overnight, so we've been able to see them during the week while we're here hosting our show. So from this point, it's on to Wimbledon, right? When you think about tennis and it kind of feels wide open, other than Novak, and we'll see what happens, it feels kind of wide open. How healthy is the game of tennis right now, do you think, across the board, globally? Well, the woman said I think there's a little concern just because there's been so much turnover at the top. I mean, you've had these superstars get created, people like Naomi Osaka, of course, and then Ash Barty from Australia was number one, won Wimbledon. And then they just haven't stayed at the top. Naomi's case, she took a break from the game, needed a mental break from the sport, now is pregnant, going to give birth later this summer, and tends to return to the tour, but not until probably the new year.

So that's a huge hole in the game. Serena retiring last year, Venus Williams is coming back in her early 40s to play Wimbledon again, it looks like, she's on her ass getting ready. But there's been a real problem with kind of having staying power at the top, and much of the quality of tennis with Sabalenka and Svyantek and Rybakin has been excellent this year, some great matchups.

I'm not sure it really breaks out personality-wise to a wider public yet, they need years to create that. On the men's side, I got to say, amazingly, when you've lost a big three because of the rise of Alcaraz and the meteoric rise of Alcaraz and the way he plays, I think there's a much more upside there at the moment probably than the women's game just in terms of the general audience, but we'll see how it all plays out. Any idea how this match might go? Well, I had an interesting conversation with an old Aussie wise man named Paul McNamee, who was a great number one player in the world in doubles and knows a lot about Clay Cortensen. And he basically, his theory is, you know, the best shot on the court will win on Clay because of the fact you have to earn all the points. And he thinks, you know, Novak and Carlos, the best shot on the court is the Alcaraz forehand. So that's the thing to watch. Carlos can hit a huge power with it.

It can also hit very hard to read drop shots. He is 20 years old, full of energy, enthusiasm, talent. Novak's 36, hasn't played his best tennis this year since Australia. So, you know, just on paper, you got to give Carlos the edge just based on level of play and sort of the rise and fall of things.

And yet something inside my head is I cannot pick against Novak entirely because the guy's the best of five. He's such a good adapter. He's such a good tactician now. He's still remarkably fit for his age. I'm going to go with Alcaraz because I feel like, you know, just what I said before, kind of the weight of the years and the momentum of the game. But if he doesn't play a great match, he's going to lose. I always enjoy seeing history. And if this is what we have left of the big three, then I got to be rooting for Novak to get that record that he so desires with the extra motivation. All right, you can find Christopher on Twitter at Christoph Clary.

C-H-R-I-S-T-O-P-H. And then Clary. And no longer with the New York Times, but leaving of his own accord to become a full-time author and are still our favorite correspondent when it comes to the international events. It's always great to catch up with you. We look forward to it in a couple of months for Wimbledon. Amy, thanks. It's been so much fun talking to you over the years. Hope we can keep doing it.

We absolutely will. Thank you so much, Christopher. It's good to talk to him in Paris. He's, I tell him this so it's not like I'm talking behind his back, but he's one of my favorites because I always learn something from him and because he's so intelligent too, the way that he talks about tennis and appeals to me.

Really exciting. And if I was in his shoes, I'd be scared to death, but he sounds very even keel. He's made the decision to leave his, made the decision to leave what was his base, right? His foundation, his source after 30 plus years, 30 plus years in one place.

I think I've been in a place a long time in 11 years, but that's a lot. So he's awesome and definitely would recommend the book on Federer. If you're a tennis fan or you love Roger Federer, it's called The Master and it's a New York Times bestseller. Got a new one coming out on a doll very soon and says the research is the fun part, not so much the writing, that's the nasty part. Cool.

To get a peek inside his brain a little bit. All right, coming up, Florida, Las Vegas, Stanley Cup final, history and the Golden Knights were minutes away from taking a 3-0 lead. Matthew Kuchuk, every time, every single time they need something, Kuchuk steps up to the plate. Oh, wait, that's a different sport.

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You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. On his way to the ice, it's Verhage over on the far side. It was Haig trying to clear. Barkov kept it in. Verhage, right point backhand, long shot and a save made by Hill. The turnaround follow-up from Bennett blocked Ekblad near point. Looks across, big drive for Haig. They score and it's Matthew Tkachuk on the doorstep and this game is tied at two with 2.13 to play in regulation time.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Every single time, every single time the Panthers need, as in desperately need a big goal, Matthew Tkachuk. Matthew Tkachuk, didn't he have three game winners in the last series? I mean he's, who even knows? He's got 11 goals now.

I shouldn't say it like that, who even knows? There's one of these theories in which he had three game winners. Just a guy who, like a Jimmy Butler, if we're comparing these South Florida teams, is willing to step into the fire and set a tone for his team and he has been incredible in terms of that Johnny on the spot type of quality.

You need it, you gotta have it. Matthew Tkachuk is your guy. Chucky as they call him. 11th goal of this postseason and it looked like the Golden Knights were headed for a 3-0 series lead. They were two minutes and 15 seconds away from that 3-0 series lead until Matthew Tkachuk tied it up.

You hear it with Doug Plagans on Panthers radio sending them into sudden death overtime. Verhage nearly was able to take that away. Tried to nudge it out front of the net but the Golden Knights move it forward. Now it's Bennett back in. Bennett up the near side looks across Verhage high slide shot. He scores! Connor Verhage the overtime winner here in game three. The Panthers take it three to the final. Hanging around, hanging around. Connor Verhage flops a nut straight.

Pay that man his money. Overtime winner for Connor Verhage. And the Panthers cut the series deficit in half. They take it 3-2 in overtime and now they'll have a chance on home ice to even the series on Saturday night in game four. I really don't know what to say probably just the gutsiest win I've ever been a part of so I'm very proud of of the team and and uh you know we're not done yet.

Matthew Tkachuk doesn't he sound a lot like Jimmy Butler? We're gonna win the next game. We're not done yet. We're going to advance. I mean that's the unwavering confidence on Sportsnet. What did Jimmy Butler tell us about the team and why they're so resilient? It's the I don't give a damn factor.

That's it. We don't care. We don't care what people think. We don't care what people say. We only care about the guys in the locker room and our coaching staff and it's the I don't give a damn factor. We don't care who steps up, who gets all the attention, who scores, who does this, who does that. We just want to win.

Drink wine, play spades and dominoes. Matthew Tkachuk on Sportnet as I said he had the game tie and goal late in the third and then Carter Verhage who actually assisted on Tkachuk's goal has his fourth career playoff overtime goal and it it was it was sweet. It was one of those that you recognize kind of the wisdom and what people say about sudden death overtime which is that every single shot is an opportunity no matter what you just put the puck on net because you never know what's going to happen and it was uh it was a shot from Carter that comes maybe six feet inside the blue line it was straight up top and it was the perfect angle it goes over the glove so over the wrist of Aidan Hill and because of how it hit the post it banged into the back of the net and as I said this earlier it reminded me of football and field goals and how sometimes you get the perfect spin and the ball caroms off the upright and through other times like we hear it in hockey a lot it clangs off the post well this one was the perfect angle it went off the post into the back of the net and so Carter not only with the big assist late in game in period three but also the overtime winner. There's a huge goal the tying goal and we've been so good in overtime and I think uh Matthew made a great play I mean just got open and he's so good around the net and just try and get the puck to him there and made a great play and yeah I mean uh to win an overtime in front of our home fans it gives us a little bit of momentum and you saw it right from the start in the first period I think we fed off our home crowd a little bit and without playing at home. Now remember the Golden Knights had set a record for most goals in the Stanley Cup final through the first two games. They had five in the opener and then seven in game number two. The fact that Sergei Bobrovsky only had to come up with 25 saves I think speaks volumes about not just the defense in front of him but the fact that the Panthers were able to limit and by limit recognize who they're playing limit the opportunities for the Golden Knights. So a couple of things the Knights scored both their goals on power plays they were two for six with the man advantage Panthers were over five so there's an area where they really could use a little boost but also Golden Knights started overtime with a power play so that's that's the hole the Panthers put themselves in they had to start sudden death with this idea of course that the Golden Knights had already had two power play goals and they're so relentless in those opportunities in those opportunities they have a ton of guys who can hurt you. Eichel and Marcheso and Stone and just to get through that power play to start sudden death to me felt like this you almost feel if you're watching or listening to sudden death to sudden death it was like man that was the first major hurdle and after that a lot more a lot more free a little more freedom for them to be able to go back to what they've been doing but yeah Sergei Bobrovsky says really the biggest difference was the defense in front of them and so just had the 25 saves to me again that speaks volumes about how the Golden Knights didn't have as many opportunities Bruce Cassidy admits we didn't take advantage of the ones we had. I hope it leaves a sour taste in your mouth at least for the night I mean you know we had a chance to put the game away talk about winning hockey closing out hockey games how important it is this time of the year so I hope they're upset with certain things that transpire that's okay it's an emotional game but not tomorrow can't be tomorrow get your night's rest and you know be ready to as I say get better tomorrow that's been our goal all year be better in the next game turn the page so we will except these are the Florida Panthers and just like the Miami Heat they don't do anything easy they absolutely do not it's kind of fun to think about how these two eight seeds have at least taken one game right so different circumstances of course the Miami Heat have now given back that home court advantage to the Denver Nuggets they've got game number four coming up tonight why NBA why the first three games just random it's almost like a computer spit it out or or a five-year-old decided just taking a crayon and circling a day on the calendar and now they're going two games in three days I don't I don't understand it at all oh my god is there a Taylor Swift concert that I don't know about is that what's happening right now is she still going of course it's the shoot people are gonna yell at me if I get it wrong the eras tour right it's the eras tour something like that you're not a Swiftie no no I'm not a hater but I'm not a Swiftie no I mean can you be something other than a Swiftie and a hater I kind of feel like you can you can just be blase about it I mean I'll be honest I don't like her music like I don't but what okay well then so you're not a Swiftie you don't like her music but you're not a hater you just want to clarify so there's no piling on a producer jay right I'm not gonna go there to the show outside and say don't go to Taylor Swift don't spend the money or tell people not to listen to that who has the energy or the time to do that I feel like people might really I don't know people what a waste people will definitely criticize music opinions but you know I'm just not for me well for that reason you have to come out with my favorite Taylor Swift song after the update are you ready yes we are never ever ever ever getting back together that's my favorite and we'll hear it next actually I do really like her original song that put her on the map which is the song about Tim McGraw just because I love Tim McGraw but yeah my favorite Swiftie song I'm not a Swiftie either if that means I wouldn't pay thousands of dollars to go to one of her concerts yeah that's that's what it means but I do think she's certainly a phenomenon I mean she is that whether you like her music or you don't she's now a pop culture icon no doubting that so back to the original question is Taylor Swift in Miami this weekend no I don't think she plays basketball arenas that's too small for her too small honestly so at least know that that's not the case all right we're asking you and it's gotten a great response so far we love it where are you listening and how on this freaky funky Friday that also features payday for us and I hope payday for you too it's a free-for-all baby on Twitter a law radio on our Facebook page too I mean you're blowing it up so good to hear from many of you as we head up toward the top of the hour and we set you free fly fly away on your Friday there might be something wrong with me maybe I'm just excited about the weekend also producer Jay and I got a gift in a box from a man who we assume is a listener okay first of all I'm a little freaked out by the gift Jay is all about it you should see the grin on his face right now we're going to let you hear from our gift coming up next plus magical season for Oklahoma softball the two things have nothing to do with each other a pickle and some nothing to do with each other but we got time it's after hours CBS sports radio baby I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change trust me you remember how that lasted for a day I say I hate you we break up you call me I love you we called it off again last night but this time I'm telling you I'm telling you we are never ever ever getting back together we are never ever ever getting back together this is after hours with Amy Lawrence how can you not like this song ever ever ever I'm really gonna miss you picking fights this is my favorite Taylor Swift song I will confess that I probably don't even know half of them but this is my favorite and let me just tell you when it shuffles through on my well whether it's my iPod or my Spotify or whatever else it is you have to sing out loud Jay you have to even you I you have to I don't like that song hmm what if you're the one who offered that we would cover another song when we reach 50,000 followers on our followers or likes or whatever on our Facebook page that we would cover a song now I originally thought Backstreet Boys because I'm definitely a BSP groupie but maybe we need to do Taylor Swift I'd much rather do Backstreet Boys okay that's that's okay with me yeah but you wouldn't let me pick the song no you could pick it I just didn't like want to do um what was one one I wanted that way I want it that way that was just it's not my range like I said that one's just a little too soft I don't know if I could do that one Taylor's your range that's that song's everybody's range it's a little bit like the oh shoot what's the song where you're supposed to sing off-key um oh my gosh you you got what I need is that Biz Markie yep yeah so that's the song you're supposed to sing off-key right we could do that one if you want but Taylor Swift with we're never getting back together you're supposed to just sing it loud and proud and not really care maybe a different Taylor one why that's my favorite I'll think about it it's a strike a chord no no no absolutely not um me thinks he doth protesteth too much it's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS sports radio maybe at some point we'll do a show question asking people which song we should cover but we got to get to the 50,000 on our Facebook page first we still got a ways to go we're at 44 now I think we are hearing from so many of you tonight this morning about where and how you're listening it's awesome I'm going to try to get to some more before the top of the hour but I can't make a ton of promises I just know all over the country lots of apps we've even had a couple from the British Isles a bunch from Canada many of you of course dealing with the wildfires who are thinking of you so a lot of people that tune into our show and then many more via the podcast and we're just so so thankful I'm so thankful I won't speak for Jay I'm so thankful that you make us a part of your daily routine whether it's middle of the night or first thing in the morning you're working out you're driving you're getting home from work maybe you just listen because you have insomnia or maybe just maybe you're up because you want to be because you want to listen to the show so however it is we know we have a wide range of not just regions sports fans we certainly have a wide range when it comes to our affiliates you're all over the country amfm and then we recognize that so many of you listen digitally as well we're just glad to keep the company after hours here on CBS sports radio we were talking about this earlier certainly this time of the year people get pretty excited about the college world series and they're into super regionals now and the men and then the women's college world series but a little bit different buzz this year coming out of Oklahoma City and the women's college world series because of the history on the line for patty gasso and the oklahoma sooners sander koch reading the signs from edenfield lions crouches in here's the pitch off speed high fly ball left field budges back on the track at the wall leaping up it is gone lions leaves the yard oklahoma has gone back to back and the sooners have a two to one lead first it was sydney sanders now it's grace lions and the sooners have gone in front two to one oklahoma top of the fifth inning florida state had a brief lead but oklahoma they got a lot of power and so many all americans pretty much at every position tracking a 53rd win in a row but more importantly closing in on their third consecutive women's college world series championship ball checks the wristband for the sun she's ready now the wind-up the two-two pitch to the plate swing and a miss strike three it's over it's a three-peat for oklahoma in 2023 the sooners sweep florida state and for a third consecutive year the oklahoma sooners are women's college world series champions ryan radke on westwood won with the final call so a two-game sweep over florida state it's best of three but the seminars unable to take that game off the sooners and to end what is a record win streak so i mentioned 53 wins in a row listen to this 61 and one this season best record in women's college softball history and it results in not just a third consecutive title but seven overall for coach patty gasso who gets really emotional and honestly since i know patty personally uh she keeps a very calm demeanor and she's real tough uh she's got that straight face but when the work is done she is someone who lets all that emotion come out i don't know how to explain it i just can tell you the way i feel right now is free because the expectation is overwhelming the pressure is overwhelming and they all have each other to laugh with i'm standing here by myself so that's why you're hearing my voice you hear my voice do this i i'm i know what they're feeling i know what i'm feeling and it's very difficult it's extremely rewarding but like i just want to go to costco and shop and no one care that i'm there and they feel the same you know it's just it's it's so crazy to see how our lives have changed and then the fans in oklahoma are absolutely fantastic but it starts to feel like you're getting smothered a little bit because everybody wants something and everybody and i heard them talking about it it's for all of us it's it's different it's not something i i just want to coach you know i want to just be a regular and then just all of a sudden your life isn't regular anymore something that we talked about early on in the fall is the expectations from the outside of what people expect of us what people what fans but even like opposition what they expect of us and what they're trying to kind of make us think or see on social media and the message off the bat was eyes are on our circle we're going to keep focusing on what we do every single day i mean it doesn't matter what the outside has to say we're going to do the little things we're going to keep grinding as these players are saying it's a grind and we worked so hard to create a cohesive circle to where the outside wasn't that big of an impact on us and our mindset and i think from day one we had to do that and we had to continue that until now and even hearing you know some things now of people trying to get in our circle the focus is eyes on each other and eyes up to keep it as simple as possible and i think that allowed us to have so much fun just celebrating each other's wins the little things because just this team is so unique but so awesome and so great to be part of and historic as well grace alliance who is one of the seniors had the solo home run in the fifth to put the Sooners in front again ryan radke with the calls on westwood one and patty gasso and again i know her i worked with her when i was in oklahoma much earlier in her career but even then uh you knew the focus and the toughness she has very high expectations so it's interesting that she's talking about them because she sets the expectations for her team and it's because she believes in them and she has the highest expectations because she knows who they are not only does she recruit talent but she recruits character that's something that's really important to her and you can hear it with grace eyes up that's one of their mantras is eyes up eyes on each other and eyes up uh and it's a culture like what you would think about with i mean we talk about heat culture for instance and what does that mean but any type of culture where it's an established foundation and there's consistency and there's success and this reminds me the success of ou women's softball reminds me a lot of uconn women's basketball and and how that foundation was built finally and it becomes this machine where you have the best opportunities when it comes to recruiting and the facilities they pay for themselves and the fans are there and yes it does dovetail into extremely high expectations but clearly the sooners are capable of meeting that and they still have five returning all-americans so they lose three seniors where they've got five returning all-americans absolutely expect them to be a contender again next year patty's deserves all the attention that she gets and as i say she is uh tough she's she's one of those that sets a tone right so in college a lot of times it's the coaches who set the tone but also knowing her she's kind she's gracious she's uh so much about family she's got grandkids now remember when her kids were young um and she really is about faith and about family she wants them to have quote-unquote normal lives too right she doesn't expect them to give everything they've got she understands priorities and just yeah i'm so happy for her because i know who she is and what she stands for and what she's all about and she's done it the right way so yeah for florida state it's one of those hey thanks for playing type of things but this was oklahoma season and lonnie alamida says hey we're not going to hang our heads first off congratulations to ou um they're just firing on all cylinders it's it's pretty cool i think a lot of people are texting me throughout you know like a lot of people don't like um that one team's winning all the time and um you know i get a little vibe sometimes of like um you know take down the machine and we gave our best for that um but they're really good and oklahoma does a really good job and they do a good job in all cylinders from you know recruiting to developing to meeting the nil to development of program and team and it's really an honor to compete against the highest level congratulations to florida state for getting there but big up big props and it's just a huge huge admiration for patty gasso and now a 61 in one record and a third straight softball crown it's after hours here on cbs sports radios we're not going to get to a lot of where and how you're listening but oh gosh just go check our show twitter after our cbs and our facebook page and we got a gift we want to end our work week with this we got a gift i have no idea why someone created a yodeling pickle but jay would like to send us out on this friday morning with yodels from a pickle it's a pickle no seriously it's a pickle why why is it a pickle it's beautiful but why is it a pickle why is why not steve sent us a note that said you guys work so hard you're so busy wait i need some more yodeling pickle come on you work so hard you're so busy long hours tough hours we want you to smile and laugh over this pickle are you kidding it's a yodeling pickle it's after hours after hours with amy lawrence cbs sports radio boom