The reigning national champions are back in action for another season, and hard to imagine, but Oklahoma softball is better than ever.
Rewind to last June: Senior pitcher Giselle Juarez tossed her glove down after making the final out for Oklahoma in Game 3 of the Womens College World Series final against Florida State. Her Lady Sooner teammates then dogpiled on top of her in the pitcher’s circle in celebration!
Oklahoma softball is used to competing for national championships under head coach Patty Gasso, who has led them to five. The championship run for OU in 2021, was record breaking, particularly on the offensive side.
The Sooners set eight NCAA single season records: team batting average (.405), home runs (161), on base-percentage (.490), total bases taken (1,279), runs scored (638), slugging percentage (.778), runs per game (10.63), and home runs per game (2.68).
The 2021 Sooner softball team dominated its competition so much so that all four of its losses were avenged and three of them twice over.
Jocelyn Alo was named national player of the year, and Tiare Jennings was honored as the top freshman player of the year, after setting a national freshman record with 92 RBI. OU in 2021 also boasted a top-three defense among Division I teams, The Sooners were among the leaders in shutouts, fielding percentage and just about any measure you could imagine.
Pretty hard to top last season’s accomplishments. One key component, however, that makes the Sooners even better this time around than last season, is top-shelf pitching.
Oklahoma loses two primary starters from 2021 national championship team
Last season’s OU’s WCWS pitching star Juarez missed most of the 2020 season after suffering a bicep injury that actually occurred prior to the season. Returning to action at all, let alone at a top level, in 2021 was pretty incredible. And her performance in the WCWS was beyond epic, it was like seeing an old friend again after she had been gone for so long.
Oklahoma would not have won the 2021 WCWS and national title without Juarez’s career-topping performance. So, this is not meant as a slight whatsoever, but she was just not herself during much of the season last year. Statistically speaking, Juarez was being hit more often, gave up homers at an unusually high rate, and her strikeouts were down significantly from her previous complete seasons at both OU and Arizona State.
That’s not to say that Juarez was not a good, but she wasn’t elite, and she was the only ace-caliber pitcher on the Sooner staff. The Sooners also lose right-handed starter Shannon Saile. In 18 starts and 30 game appearances, Saile posted a 17-1 record with a 1.33 ERA.
As good as OU’s pitching was last season, the 2022 staff should be even better
This season, however, Oklahoma boasts three elite pitchers. Through the first five games of the new season, none of the three has given up an earned run.
Freshman pitcher Jordy Bahl has given up one unearned run, five hits and struck out 24. This includes a 14-strikeout performance against No. 3 UCLA at the Mark Campbell Invitational held last weekend in Irvine, California.
That performance by the No. 1 recruit in the 2021 class nationally led to Bahl being named the NFCA Pitcher of the Week.
Hope Trautwein, the senior transfer from North Texas, struck out 16, in 11 innings pitched this past weekend, allowing no runs and only five hits. Trautwein has been a second team All-American, and once pitched a perfect game, retiring all 21 hitters she faced at her former school. The cherry on top, however, is sophomore Nicole May, she was, of course, on the team last season, but played sparingly, until the WCWS, where she gained valuable experience. May fanned 11 in her five-inning complete game in the Sooner’s 9-0 romp of Mississippi State.
Oklahoma only lost one position player — right fielder Nicole Mendes — from last year’s starting lineup.
OU returns several key pieces to last season’s power-laden lineup: In addition to Alo and Jennings, the Sooners return center fielder Jayda Coleman, shortstop Grace Lyons, left fielder Mackenzie Donihoo, third baseman Jana Johns, first baseman Taylon Snow and catcher Kinzie Hansen. There are several other key veterans that return to the team, that would likely be superstars in other situations. OU also added Alyssa Brito in the transfer portal, who batted .299 at Oregon, and was named second team All-Pac12.
In sum, Oklahoma is fully loaded for another deep historic run. This time around, however, the Sooners boast one of the best starting rotations and bullpens in the nation, while maintaining a unique and unheard-of offensive onslaught designed to bury opponents.
Through the first five games, this is holding true as only No. 3 UCLA has managed to score on the Sooners, and they only scored once. Meanwhile the OU bats produced a .664 slugging percentage, .360 batting average, and nearly two home runs per game. Oklahoma softball doesn’t rebuild, and pitching newcomers Trautwien and Bahl, along with returning starter May, have been loaded into the chamber.