Women's College World Series NCAA Softball
Getty Images

James Madison University stunned the college softball world on Thursday with a win over top-seeded Oklahoma in the team's first-ever appearance at the Women's College World Series. The unseeded Dukes defeated the Sooners 4-3 in extra innings.

Leading the Cinderella story was pitcher Odicci Alexander, who racked up eight strikeouts against Oklahoma -- a team that had only struck out 12 times total in this tournament. Defensively, JMU also held a team averaging 12 runs a game to just 3. To give you an idea of just how incredible this moment was, check out the reactions from the team after the final out was recorded.

The two sides were knotted up at three runs a piece until the top of the eighth when senior Kate Gordon hit her 69th career home run to give the Dukes the lead entering the final frame. Gordon's homer also set a CAA career record for dingers.

"That was fight, that was grit, that was heart, that was passion and, the big hits," Alexander told ESPN after the game.

While the win itself was a huge upset -- a term that, as Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch notes, the team has "bristled" at -- it's no surprise that such a concoction of factors that the Dukes ace listed was needed to defeat a team many consider the best in college softball history, but also to be a part of history. This is just the second time that a No. 1 seed has lost its opening game in the WCWS.

The next time the Dukes take the field, it'll be against the winner of Georgia-Oklahoma State on Friday.