When the curtain finally fell, Odicci Alexander left behind a show that won’t soon be forgotten.

The brilliant James Madison University softball pitcher carried the underdog JMU Dukes to the NCAA Women’s College World Series before finally running out of gas.

In Oklahoma City, the 5-foot-7 Alexander hurled the unseeded JMU to wins over the top seed Uni- versity of Oklahoma (4-3) on June 3 and No. 5 seed Oklahoma State University (2-1) on June 4 before losing to Oklahoma twice, 6-3 and finally 7-1, in the series semifinals.

The right-hander from South Hill threw a total of 1,076 pitches combined in three games in the Knoxville Region, three games in the Columbia, Mo., Super Regional and four more at the World Series in front of a national ESPN audience.

She finished with a record of 18-3, with an earned run average of 1.93 for a standout JMU squad that posted a 41-4 overall record.

Finally, the workload caught up with her in the decision showdown with Oklahoma on Monday.

Before being relieved after four 2/3 innings and 92 pitches, she allowed seven hits and six runs. And even then she was kept in the game for one final at-bat.

Located in Harrisonburg, JMU was billed as “Cinderella” throughout the World Series, but JMU ranks among the strongest programs in America.

Since 2016, the Dukes have gone 50-6, 52-8, 43-14, 51-10, 13-6 and finally 41-4.

Alexander has had much to do with that suc- cess during her five seasons. She was granted what amounted to a “second senior season” because of the pandemic-shortened season in 2020.

For her career wearing the JMU purple and gold, Alexander was 81-17 as a pitcher with a 2.13 ERA and 709 strikeouts.

Batting third in the lineup, she posted a career average of .338, with 39 homers and 164 RBIs.