Emily Carosone walk-off grand slam completes historic comeback

Auburn completed a historic comeback at the WCWS on Tuesday by beating Oklahoma 11-7 in eight innings on a walk-off grand slam by Emily Carosone, coming all the way back from a 7-0 second inning deficit.

Here’s the walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the eighth by Carosone:

Oklahoma took a risk in starting No. 2 pitcher Kelsey Stevens over Paige Parker in the game, and it seemed like they were in good shape after jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the second. However, Auburn made a pitching change to Rachael Walters that quieted the Sooners, and then they turned it over to Makayla Martin for the seventh and eighth. Those two yielded no runs in seven innings of relief.

On the other hand, Oklahoma freshman Jayden Chestnut came in to relieve Stevens and allowed six runs on 11 hits over 5.2 innings, including the walk-off shot. Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso had the option of bringing in freshman pitcher Brittany Finney or even Parker into the tie game but elected not to do so, and Auburn ended up coming back for the victory.

Now they’ll have to count on Parker to be at her best in Wednesday’s clincher.