Did Jennifer Rocha Unlock Something With Oklahoma Pitcher Kierston Deal?

Deal, the Sooners' senior pitcher, has struggled but Patty Gasso believes better times are ahead.

Oklahoma starting pitcher Kierston Deal (11) pitches during an NCAA softball game between Oklahoma (OU) and Texas at Love’s Field in Norman. Okla., on Saturday, April 26, 2025. | NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Kierston Deal has been a major piece of Oklahoma's pitching staff over the last four seasons.

Deal has won 27 games during her Sooners' career.

So far this season, though, Deal has struggled, allowing eight earned runs, eight hits and five walks in just three innings across four appearances.

Patty Gasso believes Deal won't take long to turn things around, and Jennifer Rocha is to thank for that.

While Rocha is away from the team to handle a "health matter," the Sooners' longtime pitching coach is far from disconnected.

She gave Audrey Lowry some words of encouragement during her dominant opening weekend performances, and then noticed something in Deal's delivery last weekend.

"If there's any good thing about what's going on with Coach Rocha is she can watch us from the comfort of her lounge chair and be able to see what's going on," Gasso said Tuesday. "It sounds like there's a mechanical glitch that we need to work on that we did today."

Struggling against Arizona the first weekend was one thing, but last week's struggles came against New Mexico State and Utah State.

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That's a hard pill to swallow for a pitcher that, while she hasn't been the Sooners' ace, has been in the mix since emerging late in her freshman season.

Last season, Deal was the winning pitcher in OU's Super Regional victory over Alabama that sent the Sooners to the Women's College World Series.

"She's a competitor and she's going to keep competing," Gasso said. "It doesn't maybe look effective but I know KD. I know she's going to get there. I know she is that good of a pitcher. I know she knows how to compete. So it's just trying to fix in the bullpen a fundamental issue."

Rocha didn't reach out to Gasso and her staff over the weekend but waited until the action was through.

"She waits for us to come to her sometimes," Gasso said. "As soon as I called her after, she was talking a little bit about that to me and to Karlie (Keeney, the Sooners' interim pitching coach). She's trying to do some work from home. That's allowing her mind to stay free and just stay in softball."

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Ryan Aber

Ryan Aber has been covering Oklahoma football for more than a decade continuously and since 1999 overall. Ryan was the OU beat writer for The Oklahoman from 2013-2025, covering the transition from Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley to Brent Venables. He covered OU men's basketball's run to the Final Four in 2016 and numerous national championships for the Sooners' women's gymnastics and softball programs. Prior to taking on the Sooners beat, Ryan covered high schools, the Oklahoma City RedHawks and Oklahoma City Barons for the newspaper from 2006-13. He spent two seasons covering Arkansas football for the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas before returning to his hometown of Oklahoma City. Ryan also worked at the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Muskogee Phoenix. At the Phoenix, he covered OU's national championship run in 2000. Ryan is a graduate of Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City and Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.