Watch Now: Jocelyn Alo’s college career will end against Mike White, the coach who took away a scholarship offer from her | OU Sports Extra

The 13-year-old from Hawaii was already drawing recruiting interest when she visited a camp run by the Pac-12 school. She was extended a scholarship offer from the Oregon head coach, but wanted to make one more trip to another camp at Arizona, where no offer was provided.

“I’m ready to make my lifelong decision at 13, and I called Mike White and said that I had wanted to be a Duck, and the offer wasn’t on the table anymore,” Alo said. “I don’t know what happened. Yeah, didn’t go to Oregon.”

White, who is now the Texas Longhorns head coach, said pulling back an offer to Alo was “probably the worst day of my coaching career” during Tuesday’s Women’s College World Series news conference.

OU and Texas will meet for a national championship this week. The best-of-3 series begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.

Of course, Alo’s plans changed and she committed to Oklahoma on her 18th birthday. She has gone on to hit 120 home runs, which is an NCAA Division I record, and has become the most feared hitter in the sport.

Levi Alo explained his daughter’s recruiting process, which almost linked her to the current Texas coach.

“Oklahoma wasn’t even on our radar. We were coming from Hawaii and I was just looking at the West Coast,” Levi Alo said, who also added UCLA as an early target. “I didn’t open up the recruiting any farther than that.”

After visiting Arizona with her good friend Dejah Mulipola (who would later play for the Wildcats), Alo had a talk with her father.

“She said ‘I want to go to Oregon’, so I said ‘OK, let’s do it,’” Levi Alo said. “She called (White), and he told her I don’t have the offer for you anymore.

“Then she told me ‘I want to go to Cal because I want to beat them every year.’”

White, who moved from Oregon to Texas prior to the 2019 season, smiled when saying it was probably the worst day of his coaching career.

“At the time what happened was we were looking for a catcher, and Jocelyn wasn’t catching at that time. She had been moved from that position … she said ‘I want to commit to you.’ I said, ‘Well, we’ve kind of changed our priorities and what we want to do,’” White said.

“Bad move. Everything happens for a reason, and Jocelyn found the place that was best for her. Obviously, the rest is history, and she’s just been a tremendous ballplayer. She’s great for the sport, and I’m sure she’s going to have a great career going forward.”

Jocelyn Alo would later decommit from Cal because she wanted to win a national championship, Levi Alo said.

The recruiting door was reopened and the Alos considered Florida and Auburn.

“Oklahoma was coming off a national championship,” Levi Alo said. “I thought she could play with (former OU players Falepolima Aviu and Sydney Romero) with the (travel team) Batbusters. She could play with the best of them.

“We took a trip out to Oklahoma. We loved Coach Patty. It was a great program. The key, to me, was Patty was so honest. She didn’t have 100% (funding) for her. She didn’t have a full ride for her. But she said ‘things change, Levi. I can’t promised you anything I don’t have right now,’” Levi Alo said.

“Sure enough, before we stepped on campus, she called her and said ‘I got you. You don’t have to worry about it.’”

Alo has since become one of the most beloved players in OU history.

“She’s special,” Gasso said. “I like to use the phrase she’s made differently and quite in her own mold.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to have her wearing the Sooner uniform.”