The notion of covering year-to-year personnel losses by reloading with top talent as opposed to rebuilding is something the Oklahoma softball program is thriving on right now.
That also another way of saying success breeds success, and there is nothing hotter in the college softball world than the recent run of success head coach Patty Gasso has been able to achieve over the past six seasons with Oklahoma softball.
The Sooners are coming off their fifth national championship in the last five seasons the Women’s College World Series has been held.
As happens every year in college sports, rosters change with players moving on and new faces coming in. That process also opens up opportunities for returning players to step up and fill any voids.
Back with my best friend ❤️ @alyss_33 https://t.co/Vh9M3pyT1D
— Tiare Jennings (@_tiarejennings) July 2, 2021
Or, if you’re afforded the luxury of returning nearly 70 percent of your record-shattering 2020 offense for next season, like Oklahoma is, you just keep adding on.
The Sooners do lose some key players, most notably starting pitchers Giselle Juarez and Shannon Saile, who combined for 35 of OU 56 wins this past season, but the core of the Sooners’ national championship roster remains in tact.
On Friday, Oklahoma picked up its second transfer since winning the 2021 Women’s College World Series. Oregon infielder Alyssa Britto announced on Friday that she was transferring to OU.
As an Oregon freshman this season, Britto hit 10 home runs and collected 31 runs batted in. That earned her a spot of the All-Pac 12 second team as well as the conference’s All-Defensive Team. She played this season for former Oklahoma assistant Melyssa Lombardi.
Britto still has three years of eligibility left, and her versatility in being able to play multiple positions was a great attraction to the Sooners.
“We were in search of a player who could play multiple positions and play them all well, in addition to someone who can bring additional power to our lineup,” Gasso said in a press release issued by the OU athletic department.
Britto is the second player the Sooners have landed this offseason through the transfer portal. Several weeks ago, former North Texas pitcher Hope Trautwein as a graduate transfer. She is the North Texas career leader with an earned run average of 2.05.
And it gets even better. Oklahoma’s incoming recruiting class consists of seven prospects who all rank in the top 22 of the 2021 national class. Jordyn Bahl, a pitcher from Nebraska, is the No. 1 player in the class, according to Extra Inning Softball, Sophia Nugent, and infielder/catcher from California ranks No. 3, and Quincee Lilio, a utility player from California is No. 5 in the class.
It appears the only problem Gasso and the Sooners are going to face next season is finding playing time for all the talent on the roster.
Oh, and to add insult to injury if you are one of the teams on OU’s schedule next season, Jocelyn Alo, who lead the country in home runs this year with 34 and is closing in on the all-time NCAA record, is back next year for a fifth season.
If the 2021 Oklahoma softball team wasn’t the greatest in program history, next year’s Sooner team certainly has all the experience and talent to assume that mantle.