We'll never know whether the Oklahoma softball team would have preferred facing SEC compatriot Tennessee or former Big 12 rival Nebraska as its first-round opponent in the 2025 Women's College World Series.
There are pros and cons associated with both of those potential matchups. What we do know, though, is the prospect of going against Nebraska double-duty superstar and former Sooner Jordy Bahl and the Cornhuskers will not happen as a result of Tennessee squeaking by Nebraska 1-0 in the third and deciding game of the Knoxville Super Regional on Sunday.
Bahl was one of four former Oklahoma players who were on teams competing in the NCAA Super Regionals this past weekend for the opportunity to advance to the WCWS. Two of those former Sooners in Jocelyn Erickson at Florida and Sophia Nugent at Tennessee are on teams that did in fact make it the the WCWS. Both were teammates of Bahl's at Oklahoma.
Bahl and the 20th-ranked Cornhuskers put up a gallant fight on the road against No. 7 Tennessee in the Knoxville Super Regional, but came up just short of advancing to the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2013 and just the third time this century.
Jordy Bahl, Nebraska knocked out before WCWS meeting
Many Sooner fans were hopeful of a dream WCWS matchup between Bahl, who pitched the Sooners to back-to-back national championships in 2022 and '23 and is a two-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, and her former team. Instead, Oklahoma gets a not-so-inconsequential rematch against a Tennessee team that beat the Sooners twice in three games earlier in the season.
As fans who follow Sooner softball know, the Cornhuskers not only are a longtime former conference foe, but are led by former two-time former OU First-Team All-American Bahl.
The redshirt junior posted a 44-2 record as a starting pitcher at Oklahoma in 2022 and 2023. After the 2023 season, however, the native of Papillion, Nebraska, decided she wanted to play closer to home and headed back to her home state via the transfer portal.
Bahl suffered an ACL injury in Nebraska's opening game of the 2024 season and missed the entire year. But she returned with a vengeance this season, leading not only the Cornhuskers, but the Big Ten, as well, both in the circle and in the batter's box.
The former Sooner has become a dual-threat star at Nebraska. She has a 26-8 record in 32 pitching starts this season and leads the Big Ten with a 1.92 earned run average. Bahl's contribution has been equally outstanding on the offensive end. She ranks second in the Big Ten with an impressive .472 batting average with 23 home runs and 66 RBI.
She was the 2025 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and the Player of the Year, the first softball player in that conference to receive both honors in the same season. She's also one of three finalists for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
Bahl was one of six former Oklahoma softball players who were still active in the 2025 season but with other teams, and easily represents the biggest loss of the six.
While at Oklahoma, Bahl had an 8-0 record over two seasons in postseason NCAA Tournament play with an 0.74 ERA. She was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 WCWS. The hard-throwing right-hander ranks second in three different OU career pitching categories: winning percentage (.956), ERA (0.99) and opponents' batting average (.153).
Interestingly, only one player remains on the Oklahoma roster since the 2023 national championship team that Bahl played on, redshirt junior Hannah Coor.
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