Coming off a national championship three-peat, there’s an expectation the Oklahoma Sooners will continue to stockpile talent in an attempt to be the first team to win four consecutive titles.
That journey was made more difficult by some offseason departures. Grace Lyons, Alex Storako and Haley Lee were significant contributors to Oklahoma’s title run in 2023. Lyons was the best shortstop in the game during her tenure at Oklahoma.
Those losses were magnified by the departure of [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag], who opted to return to her home state to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Though Oklahoma’s in good shape with Nicole May and Kierston Deal in the circle, there’s a chance the Sooners will bring in a veteran pitcher as they’ve done the last couple of seasons. In 2022, Hope Trautwein transferred in and made a huge impact. In 2023, Alex Storako arrived after a successful career for Michigan.
One name to keep an eye on is Stanford transfer Alana Vawter. Vawter, an All-American in 2023 has a career ERA of 1.75 with 77 wins and an opponents batting average of .220.
In the Women’s College World Series, Vawter allowed four earned runs across four appearances and 14.1 innings. Two of those runs came in a four-inning start against the Oklahoma Sooners. She kept the Sooners’ offense off balance early in the game with her ability to mix speeds.
Vawter is an experienced starter with 679 innings pitched and 527 strikeouts. She would make a great option to take over the Alex Storako role on Oklahoma’s pitching staff.
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