Oklahoma Softball Looking for More Well-Rounded Pitching Staff This Season

NORMAN — Patty Gasso leaned hard on Sam Landry last season.

Oklahoma softball’s ace last season threw 191 2/3 innings, nearly half of the innings thrown by the team.

No other pitcher threw more than 77 2/3 innings.

She also threw 24 of the Sooners 26 2/3 innings at the Women’s College World Series.

Now, with Landry gone, Gasso would prefer things to be more spread out.

“That was hard last year, and she was phenomenal,” Gasso said. “But we need more, and if we can get more, we can rest more and be good for the next game or weekend or what have you. So we’re really trying to blend this and do a better job of that.”

OU added two key pieces to its staff in the offseason, in LSU’s Sydney Berzon and Miali Guachino from Ole Miss.

Berzon was excellent for the Tigers last season, going 18-8 with a 2.46 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 138 1/3 innings.

“She’s a veteran so she likes things a certain way and we’re still working on trying to blen that,” Gasso said. “If she can settle in with us, she’ll be great.”

Read More Oklahoma Softball

Berzon has battled some injuries, but Gasso said the coaching staff worked to minimize those in the fall and so far those efforts have been successful.

Guachino helped lead the Rebels to their first WCWS appearance last season,going 14-11 with a 3.65 ERA and 160 strikeouts in 136 innings as a freshman.

Gasso said Guachino was “really starting to reach her stride.”

The Sooners also return senior Kierston Deal, who went 10-2 with a 3.42 ERA in 77 2/3 innings last season.

Audrey Lowry’s freshman season was strong, though she was limited by an injury for a significant piece of it, going 6-0 with a 3.09 ERA in 43 innings.

Gasso said Lowry had shown significant progress from last season and Deal agreed.

“You can just see the maturity on the mound and just her presence,” Deal said. “We talk about that with just, whether it’s film or scouting, stuff like that, making the hitter feel you as your presence. It’s kind of really strong and really confident in there and you can tell with Audrey it’s always like that. It’s like, ‘Boom,’ she’s throwing the first punch.”

Whether as a starter or as a key arm to get through critical at-bats later in games, Lowry figures to be a big piece of the rotation.

“There’s probably three that are fighting to be the number one, and then there’s three that are trying to find their way into the top three,” Gasso said. “So there’s still battles and matchups.”

The Sooners also signed a pair of high school pitchers, Berkeley Zache and Allyssa Parker. Parker also figures to spend some time in the field as well.

“We’re gonna really use the staff at a different clip this year,” Gasso said.

Behind the plate, the Sooners return redshirt senior Isabela Emerling and bring in freshman Kendall Wells.

Emerling started 55 games behind the plate for the Sooners last season, but hit just .212, though she did belt 12 home runs.

Oklahoma Sooners, Kendall Wells — Oklahoma catcher Kendall Wells | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Wells looks to be both the catcher of the future and of the present, though.

“Kendall Wells is a name that you’re going to remember and you’re going to remember from the first game,” Gasso said. “She’s a solid catcher, big strong freshman and swings like some of the greats in this program.”

That’s high praise coming from Gasso, especially with hitters like Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings and Kinzie Hansen among others in recent years.

Wells was a top 10 players in last year’s signing class and showed off that powerful swing plenty in the fall,

“She’s strong,” teammate Ella Parker said. “She is a tough person to get out. She competes with everything. I think just being able to invest in her at-bats is just so cool to see that she will never let up.”