Oklahoma’s Deiten Lachance hits game-changing HR despite badly sprained ankle
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Oklahoma catcher Deiten Lachance ignored an ankle injury, as much as he could anyway, and gave Sooners baseball fans a moment to cherish forever on Saturday afternoon at the College World Series.
After rolling his ankle during the first inning of the all-SEC battle against Alabama in Omaha, with Lachance reaching base on an innocent fielder’s choice, things turned dicey for the junior from far away Quebec. Shortly after reaching in the first, Lachance appeared to roll his ankle while running to second base on a single by Jaxon Willits.
Then fate took over, as Lachance was forced to run on that suddenly bum ankle while scoring along with Willits on a 2-out, 2-run double by Trey Gambill. The Sooners had an early 2-0 lead, but Lachance also now had a problem. How was he going to survive for the rest of Saturday (and possibly beyond) on that injured ankle?
Well, Lachance might be hobbled, but he wasn’t backing down from the moment with Oklahoma playing its CWS opener and playing for a national title. Lachance met the moment with authority in the sixth inning, coming up to the plate with that ankle issue and promptly turning on a pitch with a vengeance. It was a line-drive bullet that sailed over the left-field wall, a most unlikely 2-run home run that gave Oklahoma a 5-0 cushion.
According to the ESPN broadcast, the exit velocity on Lachance’s heroic homer was 110.0 miles per hour, and the blast went 409 feet, with Lachance laboring around the bases in pain but with massive pride.
Lachance had yet another trip around the bases in Oklahoma’s 4-run eighth inning. He singled and scored a run, testing that ankle yet again, as the Sooners took a massive 9-0 lead.
While Oklahoma fought to finish off Alabama on Saturday, there are also 6 other elite teams that are trying to get to the promised land in Omaha and carry that national title trophy back home. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the chances for all 8 teams to be the last one standing at the College World Series:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
