OU Softball: Dynasty? Four-Peat? Here's How Oklahoma’s Roster Stacks up Heading Into 2024
Patty Gasso’s softball dynasty continues to reach new heights.
Oklahoma this season became just the second program ever to win three straight national titles, matching UCLA’s dominant run from 1988-1990.
The Sooners masterfully navigated an intense spotlight all season, only dropping one game to the Baylor Bears and responding by finishing the year on an all-time record 53-game winning streak.
Still, there are no signs of the Oklahoma machine slowing down.
OU will graduate key pieces in captain shortstop Grace Lyons and utility player Grace Green, as well as a pair of super senior transfers in designated player Haley Lee and right-handed pitcher Alex Storako.
Otherwise, although the transfer portal will have the final say, the rest of the Sooners' roster is eligible to return in 2024.
Behind the plate, veteran catcher Kinzie Hansen will take on an even larger role.
She enjoyed a resurgent 2023 season after battling injuries in 2022, delivering 13 home runs and 57 RBIs including the dramatic game-tying three-run shot against Clemson to help OU break Arizona’s all-time winning streak.
Hansen will be joined by three-year starters Tiare Jennings and Jayda Coleman, as well as a pair of two-year starters in Alyssa Brito and Rylie Boone to return the bulk of OU’s offense.
Key pieces in Tiare Jennings and Jayda Coleman are both set to return for the Sooners.
John E. Hoover / AllSooners
Gasso will have all of the options she used in right field, Alynah Torres, Jocelyn Erickson, Sophia Nugent and Avery Hodge, as well as Cydney Sanders at first base.
And while Oklahoma will have to replace the big-play ability of both Lyons and Lee, further offensive development could help the Sooners offset the lost production.
Sanders took a good portion of the year to find her stride, adjusting to OU’s hitting style and the pressure of slotting into a new lineup after blasting 21 home runs as a freshman at Arizona State.
“Cyd came here, had to learn a whole new hitting system,” Gasso said. “That's not easy. She was trying to prove herself. There was a lot going on where she just wasn't really comfortable trying to learn so much, wasn't quite as free.
“Then they started getting hot. Then it was fun. It was seeing the real Cyd. I'm really proud of how good her defense got. I'm really happy with how she improved in that way.”
Cydney Sanders hit a key home run in Game 2 of the WCWS Championship Series against Florida State.
John E. Hoover / AllSooners
Nugent should get more plate opportunities as well, as she belted seven home runs despite only making 18 starts this year.
One of the strengths of Oklahoma’s lineup in 2023 was its depth top to bottom, something that made for a much different challenge for Florida State head coach Lonni Alameda than the record-setting offense the Seminoles faced in the 2021 WCWS Championship Series.
“I would say (the 2023) lineup was a little bit deeper lineup-wise as tougher outs,” Alameda said. “They may have more power in the lineup in '21. I think we had a little deeper pitching probably in '21. Jordy was pretty good.
“It's hard to say. They play the game hard. I think the one thing Oklahoma does, and we all try to do, is they keep getting better every year. What they were in championships a couple years ago, they're a better version of themselves now. We all have to do that. As coaches we have to go back and figure out how do we get better to get back here.”
Replacing Lyons at shortstop will be a difficult task in 2024.
Brito has collegiate experience at short from her freshman season at Oregon, and Jennings slotted over for Lyons during the super senior’s brief absence this season.
Gasso could also turn to the transfer portal to add a middle infielder, just as she filled the hole at first base left by Taylon Snow with Sanders last offseason.
Fresh off Jordy Bahl’s thrilling performance at the World Series, which saw her named the WCWS’ Most Outstanding Player, Gasso and pitching coach Jen Rocha will have a veteran right-hander in Nicole May and a young lefty in Kierston Deal ready to take on a larger role.
May lived up to Gasso’s preseason expectations, posting the best season of her career in the Crimson and Cream.
She finished with a 0.91 ERA, which was third in the country behind only Bahl (0.90) and Stanford’s NiJaree Canady (0.57).
Deal dipped her toes into the water this year, pitching 27 1/3 innings and posting a 0.77 ERA.
She got valuable experience, however, including closing out the Sooners’ comeback victory in Game 2 of the Bedlam Series, and a cameo against Clemson in Oklahoma’s Super Regional. She even got a brief appearance against Tennessee in the WCWS.
The portal is again an option for the Sooners to restock the pitching staff.
Hope Trautwein enjoyed plenty of success in 2022 as a one-year graduate transfer, and Storako repeated the feat joining OU from Michigan out of the transfer portal last offseason.
A dynasty the likes of Gasso’s at Oklahoma doesn’t rely purely on the portal, however.
While detractors around the country rage at OU’s aggressive approach to replenishing lost talent from the ranks of transfers, Gasso quietly has assembled another talented recruiting class.
The Sooners signed four freshman in Maya Bland, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas, Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering that will join the team in 2024.
“They all will have an opportunity to get in the lineup immediately because of their athleticism,” Gasso said back on Signing Day. “We look forward to bringing them into our culture and growing them into elite student-athletes and women off the field.”
Not only are the signings talented — all four rank inside the top 15 of Extra Inning Softball’s 2023 Elite 100 — but Gasso will have more balance in the batting lineup with the additions of Bland and Parker’s left-handed bats.
Gasso identified Bland as a “Rylie Boone-style player”, adding depth to the outfield along with Pickering.
McEnroe-Marinas has the ability to play in the infield at either first or third base, Gasso said, and Parker is initially being scouted as either a future first baseman or outfielder for the Sooners.
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