Oklahoma Softball 2022 Season Preview: In the Circle
SI Sooners’ five-part series counting down the days until OU softball returns to action starts today with the pitching staff as the Sooners look to repeat as National Champions.
Oklahoma’s record-setting offense took a back seat to outstanding pitching performances in Oklahoma City.
Battling all year to achieve her previous form after an offseason surgery, Sooner pitcher Giselle Juarez saved her best stuff for when her team needed her most, helping OU stave off elimination game after elimination game and firing the program to its fifth National Championship.
Juarez was named the WCWS MVP for her work at Hall of Fame Stadium, and flamethrower Shannon Saile was also an essential member of the Sooner pitching staff all year long, helping lead OU through the NCAA Regionals and Super Regional play.
Patty Gasso’s team will have to do without both senior leaders in the circle after the pair graduated last season, but the cupboards are far from barren.
Talented freshman Nicole May is now a year older, fresh off of anchoring the OU pitching staff through the home stretch of the regular season.
“What (May) experienced last year, most of it good, some of it not so good,” Gasso said during a preseason Zoom press conference, “but the not so good experiences is what changed her.
“And I think she is going to be a powerhouse here.”
Nicole May
Ty Russell / OU Athletics
An All-Big 12 Freshman Team selection, May’s standout performances helped seal the Bedlam Series win for the Sooners, wrapping up Oklahoma’s ninth straight Big 12 title.
May registered 96 strikeouts during her freshman campaign, and she’s poised to take an even bigger role this season as a sophomore for pitching coach Jennifer Rocha.
A pair of new faces to the program will join May in the circle to round out a talented pitching staff.
Looking first at a major transfer portal addition, Hope Trautwein joined OU’s program from North Texas this past offseason as a graduate transfer.
A two-time Conference USA Pitcher of the Year, Trautwein rewrote the record books last year in Denton.
During her preseason Zoom press conference, Gasso said the coaching staff knew the significance of helping to beef up the rotation via the portal.
“It might be unique, but it’s extremely important,” Gasso said. “We knew that pitching was something that we had to have with such a loaded team of hitters.
“… Anytime we faced Hope at North Texas, we had a hard time with her. She’s got a presence on the mound. She’s tall, she’s strong. So if we have a hard time with you, then that means you could probably beat a lot of teams.”
Headlined by her perfect game against Arkansas Pine Bluff, where she became the first pitcher in NCAA history to register 21 strikeouts in a game, Trautwein set program records with 450 innings pitched and 693 strikeouts over the course of her Mean Green career.
Trautwein will step in as a veteran presence amongst OU’s talented pitching rotation, as she’ll have plenty of competition within her own dugout for the title of Oklahoma’s ace pitcher.
Joining May and Trautwein will be highly touted recruit Jordyn Bahl.
Jordy Bahl
Pool photo used with permission from OU Athletics
The consensus No. 1-overall player in the 2021 recruiting class, the true freshman from Papillion, NE, is poised to make an immediate impact in Norman.
“She's very calculated very smart for freshmen,” Gasso said. “… She is wanting to win, wants to win, wants to win.
“… I am just very excited to see her start her collegiate career because I think she's going to be very special.”
Another hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, Bahl impressed over the course of Oklahoma’s Fall Ball slate, appearing to settle in just fine in the pitching circle.
More than just a pitcher, Bahl will hope to contribute to OU’s record setting offense, as she got work in the batter’s box during the fall exhibition games as well.
Macy McAdoo and Emmy Guthrie expect to round out the staff, competing for innings with May, Trautwein and Bahl.
After missing a portion of last year with an injury, McAdoo will look to add to her 29 and 1/3 career innings pitched where she has struck out 20 batters and held opponents to a .212 batting average. The Tuttle, OK, product will be joined by Guthrie, who joins the team as a true freshman from Lone Grove, OK.
Guthrie won a pair of state titles in high school, and was named the 2021 Gatorade Oklahoma Softball Player of the Year, and Guthrie was ranked as a top 20 recruit in the country.
Oklahoma returns plenty of offensive production, but as Gasso and the Sooners know, to get across the finish line in June, they’ll need a robust pitching staff firing on all cylinders.
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