Oklahoma Softball: OU and Northwestern Walked Two Very Different Paths to the WCWS

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma and Northwestern have taken very different paths to the 2022 Women’s College World Series — especially in the circle.

Patty Gasso’s top-seeded Sooners successfully platooned three elite pitchers all year.

Jordy Bahl, Hope Trautwein and Nicole May have carried the load for OU this year, as all three pitchers are currently ranked in the top five in the country in ERA.

They’ve been efficient too, as Bahl leads the team only having thrown 132 1/3 innings this year.

How to Watch:

Oklahoma vs. Northwestern: Thursday, 1:30 p.m., ESPN

Having three capable pitchers on staff helps spread the load, but the sheer number of run rule victories this year has also kept pitch counts down.

The Sooners have won a program record 38 of their 56 contests in 2022 via run rule, lopping a massive number of innings off the arms of the pitching staff.

Throughout the season, Gasso has pointed out the loss of innings could have been a detriment to the pitching staff, but as the team heads into the home stretch of the season, Oklahoma’s head coach acknowledged that the lack of innings has flipped into her team’s favor.

“I was very concerned and talked about it (in press conferences) quite a bit,” Gasso said in a press conference ahead of the WCWS on Wednesday. “… But this pitching staff has been tested.

“Looking back, I think it is an advantage now that we're in postseason. They got significant innings in postseason. They felt it. So I feel that we are in a very healthy space from a pitching point of view.”

In contrast, the 9-seeded Northwestern Wildcats made it back to Oklahoma City on the back of senior Danielle Williams.

She’s been effective, posting a record of 31-4 and an ERA of 1.86, but Williams has also had to throw 241 innings for the Wildcats in 2022.

Williams’ load hasn’t taken a hit at all during the NCAA Tournament, either.

The Northwestern ace has pitched in every game of the tournament so far for the Wildcats, throwing 39 1/3 total innings across regional and super regional play.

In contrast, Oklahoma as a team has only played 29 innings thanks to sweeping through the tournament so far, adding another three run rules to its impressive tally on the year.

With plenty of film out there on Williams for the Sooner hitters to game plan off of, Northwestern head coach Kate Drohan is still confident in her star pitcher to be able to compete at a high level on Thursday afternoon.

“There's been a lot of talk about Danielle and her pitches,” Drohan said on Wednesday. “I think anyone inside of our program really understands what a warrior she is and really what she's done to prepare herself for this moment.

“The thing that I really like about our team is that we know who we are. We know what we're good at. We're going to take the field, and we're going to give everything we have and battle. We'll be prepared. We've played a lot of high-level games, and we'll be prepared for it, and we'll give it our best.”

As Williams prepares to face the Oklahoma lineup in Oklahoma City, she’ll have a familiar face to OU fans in her corner.

Michelle Gascoigne, a former Sooner pitcher who helped OU capture the 2013 National Championship, is the pitching coach for the Wildcats.

“Michelle is tremendous. She's a tremendous teacher of the game,” Drohan said. “I'm not just talking about as a pitching coach. She impacts all parts of our program, and she's just — her wealth of knowledge around the game with her experience playing and also in the pro league has been tremendous for us. That's one part of it.

“The second part of it is she's an amazing woman. She's a tireless worker. She really believes in our system. She really believes in our women. It's just tremendous the impact she's had on our program here.”

Under Gascoigne’s tutelage, Williams will likely get the start on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. against the best offense in college softball. And while the Northwestern star will have to overcome the wear and tear of a long season against the OU offense, May said the Sooner pitching staff is in great physical shape ahead of the WCWS.

“I think we feel good, we feel fresh,” May said on Wednesday. “This week was fine-tuning things and getting our bodies right.

“We do a lot to take care of ourselves, so coming in we're feeling good.”

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