Alex Storako – Page 6 – Syndication Server

Pair of Oklahoma Sooners among Softball America’s freshmen to watch for 2023

Pair of Oklahoma Sooners’ freshmen among Softball America’s players to watch for the 2023 season.

What [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] has created in Norman is nothing short of extraordinary. Not only do they have an incredible lineup returning to defend their back-to-back national championships, but they brought in an incredible recruiting class as well.

The Sooners have one of the best pitchers in the game with [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag]. They also have a pair of pitchers that were third-team preseason All-American selections in [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag]. Then they added the No. 1 player in the country, left-hander [autotag]Kierston Deal[/autotag].

Deal and Jocelyn Erickson were mentioned by Softball America’s Breanna Bryant as true freshmen to watch for the 2023 season.

Deal is a left-handed pitcher for Oklahoma. She was originally committed to the University of South Carolina, but decided to decommit during her recruiting process. Deal had a very successful high school and travel ball career. She was named the Gatorade North Carolina Softball Player of the Year as a senior after posting a 23-3 record with a 0.79 ERA and 305 strikeouts in 150.1 innings pitched. – Bryant, Softball America

The Sooners have a tremendous rotation even if they don’t utilize Deal much in 2023. However, she’ll get opportunities to contribute, which will not only serve her well in the future but take some of the workload off of the shoulders of the Sooners’ top three pitchers. Throwing from the left side gives Gasso and assistant head coach Jennifer Rocha the ability to play matchups if they want to.

Like Deal can be for the Sooners’ pitching rotation, Jocelyn Erickson’s hitting ability adds another powerful option for Patty Gasso and J.T. Gasso.

Erickson is a catcher and first baseman for Oklahoma. About Erickson, Sooners head coach Patty Gasso said, “She can do special things for us.” Erickson is going to help an already dominant lineup at Oklahoma. She led the state of Arizona with 25 home runs and batted .624 with 58 RBIs during her senior season at Sandra Day O’Connor High School. Erickson was also named the Gatorade Arizona Softball Player of the Year. – Bryant Softball America

Patty Gasso hasn’t been shy about inserting freshmen into the lineup if they prove to be ready for big-time at-bats. That was the case with Jocelyn Alo, Jayda Coleman, and Tiare Jennings, and it sounds like Jocelyn Erickson could be the next great true freshman in Oklahoma’s lineup.

She has a shot to be involved at first base, to spell Kinzie Hansen behind the plate, and hit in the designated player role vacated by Alo.

The Oklahoma Sooners are easily the deepest team in the country. From the circle and at the plate they feature a host of preseason All-American selections and some of the top players from the 2022 signing class.

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10 Oklahoma Sooners named to Softball America’s Preseason All-American teams

Led by five first-team selections, 10 Oklahoma Sooners were named to Softball America’s preseason All-American teams.

The Oklahoma Sooners begin their quest for a third-straight national championship at the Mark Campbell Invitational on Thursday, February 9, against Duke.

The unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the country, and back-to-back national champions, the Sooners, are expected to make another run despite the loss of Jocelyn Alo and Hope Trautwein. Patty Gasso has assembled another talented group to take on all comers in the 2023 season.

It won’t be easy, it never is, but the Oklahoma Sooners will be the team to beat for the 2023 national title. With the season under two weeks away, Softball America released their preseason All-American teams. 10 Sooners were selected, including five to the first team. UCLA was the only other team with multiple first-team selections with three and they had just five total selections to the three All-American squads.

Here’s a look at the Sooners’ selections.

8 Sooners named to USA Softball Player of the Year watchlist

Eight Sooners named to USA Softball Player of the Year preseason watchlist

Jocelyn Alo has won the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award the last two seasons, and deservedly so. On Wednesday, USA Softball released their preseason watch list, a list featuring 50 players across the country.

Needless to say, head coach Patty Gasso’s bunch was very popular on the list. A total of eight Sooners made the cut, nearly one fifth of the 50 names mentioned. No other school has more than three names on the list.

While Alo’s departure is sure to be felt by Oklahoma at some point, it will be interesting to see just who ends up pulling away from the rest of the pack for this prestigous award. The Sooners have a talented lineup and a deep group of pitchers. They’re talented enough to win their third-consecutive national championship, which will put someone in line for yet another national player of the year honor.

Projected lineup for the Oklahoma Sooners as they prepare for national title defense

What could the Oklahoma Sooners lineup look like when they begin their 2023 NCAA title defense?

The Oklahoma Sooners will begin their quest for three-straight national championships in 16 days when they face off with the No. 19 Duke Blue Devils for the first of five games in the opener of the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, California.

The Sooners lost key pieces to their 2022 squad, like [autotag]Jocelyn Alo[/autotag], [autotag]Hope Trautwein[/autotag], [autotag]Lynnsie Elam[/autotag], and [autotag]Taylon Snow[/autotag], but they looked locked and loaded for 2023. With transfer additions like [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag], Cydney Sanders, [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag], and [autotag]Haley Lee[/autotag], the Sooners could be as good or better than they were a year ago.

They have a deep lineup that features seven players with a season of 14 home runs or more and four players with a 20-home run season in their careers. You can’t replace a Jocelyn Alo, but the Sooners lineup looks incredibly deep heading into 2023. Are there enough at-bats for the talented hitters that Patty Gasso has assembled?

Oklahoma Sooners top Big 12 softball preseason poll

Oklahoma pulled six of seven first places to land atop the Big 12 preseason poll for the 11th straight season.

The Oklahoma Sooners softball team is gearing up to defend their national championship and work toward a three-peat. The 2021 and 2022 national champs look to be the favorite yet again with the 2023 season just a few weeks away.

For the 11th straight season and the 14th time in the last 15 seasons, the Sooners landed atop the preseason Big 12 poll. Oklahoma received six of the seven first-place votes given out by the coaches, with Oklahoma State garnering the remaining first-place vote. The Cowgirls, who won the Big 12 tournament title in 2022, are second in the preseason poll. They’re followed by Texas, Baylor, Iowa State, Texas Tech, and finally the Kansas Jayhawks.

While there’s no replacement for home run queen Jocelyn Alo, Patty Gasso and her staff have done a tremendous job in the transfer portal to mitigate the loss. This offseason, Oklahoma welcomed Cydney Sanders and Alynah Torres from Arizona State and Hayley Lee from Texas A&M. To mitigate the loss of Hope Trautwien, Oklahoma added [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag] from Michigan.

Even without those additions, the Sooners would have been the prohibitive favorites in the Big 12 and in the national title conversation with [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag], [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag], [autotag]Grace Lyons[/autotag], [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag], [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag], and [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag]. But those portal reinforcements put Oklahoma in a position to replicate their offensive production over the last two seasons and match their pitching prowess from the circle.

The Sooners will open the season February 9 in Irvine, Calif. for the Mark Campbell Invitational. They’ll face four teams that made the NCAA tournament in 2022, starting with Duke. They’ll open the season at home on March 3 vs. Incarnate Word and Kentucky.

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10 Oklahoma Sooners named to D1 Softball’s top 100 for 2023

10 Sooners land inside D1 Softball’s top 100 players as Oklahoma prepares for their NCAA title defense.

One would think that losing the best player in the history of college softball would create a huge hole in the Oklahoma Sooners’ lineup. Yet, the two-time defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners are looking fully loaded and ready for the three-peat.

Jocelyn Alo will be missed, but OU has more than enough firepower to make up for her absence. Since departing after the 2022 season, Alo signed with the OKC Spark of the WPF and was named Sports Illustrated’s 2022 Athlete of the Year.

Oklahoma recently broke ground on Love’s Field, the future home of Sooners Softball. According to the Sooner Club website, the ballpark will be ready for the 2024 season, which could be the Sooners’ first in the SEC.

With so many stars on the roster, the new ballpark will be a fitting home for the back-to-back (to-back?) defending national champions. Here’s a look at the 10 Sooners in D1 Softball’s top 100 (subscription required).

Oklahoma Softball lands Texas A&M All-American Haley Lee via the transfer portal

The Oklahoma Sooners continue to stockpile talent with the addition of catcher Haley Lee via the transfer portal. That’s now a combined 52 home runs via the transfer portal that Patty Gasso has added this summer.

The two-time defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners continues to reap the benefit of being the most dominant force in college sports. After landing transfer additions Alex Storako, Alynah Torres, and Cydney Sanders in the last couple of months, Patty Gasso and the Sooners landed former All-American Haley Lee from Texas A&M.

Joey Helmer of OUInsider at 247Sports was the first to report that the Sooners are continuing to load up their 2023 squad for another national title run with the addition of Lee.

The Aggies’ slugger led the Aggies hitting .405 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs for a team that went to the NCAA tournament. Ultimately, the Aggies were eliminated by the Sooners in the Norman regional after a 20-0 win in the deciding game.

Lee put her power on display in the Aggies’ first matchup with the Sooners to end Hope Trautwein’s shutout bid in the sixth inning to eliminate a 3-0 deficit and make it 3-2. Oklahoma would hold on to win, but Haley Lee certainly made her presence felt.

The addition of Lee, along with Torres and Sanders, brings a combined 52 home runs from the 2021 season to Norman to help replace the NCAA’s all-time home run queen, [autotag]Jocelyn Alo[/autotag].

A team with [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] and [autotag]Grace Lyons[/autotag], who each hit more than 20 home runs last season, will have a ton of power at the plate for opposing pitching staffs to work around next season.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

Oklahoma Sooners receive commitment from Arizona State transfer Cydney Sanders

The Oklahoma Sooners continue to stockpile talent for the 2023 season with the addition of Arizona State transfer Cydney Sanders.

The rich get richer in Norman, Okla. as the Sooners landed a commitment from Arizona State slugger [autotag]Cydney Sanders[/autotag] for the 2023 softball season.

Just weeks after [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] and Oklahoma added pitcher [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag] and shortstop [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag], the defending national champion Sooners bring in another big-time player to add to their lineup.

In 2022, Sanders hit .425, second on the team, and led the Sun Devils with 21 home runs and 63 RBIs. Oh, and Sanders was just a freshman last season.

The Sooners add another big bat to a lineup that already featured [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] and [autotag]Grace Lyons[/autotag], who each hit more than 20 home runs in 2022, with [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] setting the table at the top of the lineup for the No. 1 offense in the country.

Though the Oklahoma Sooners lost [autotag]Jocelyn Alo[/autotag] and [autotag]Hope Trautwein[/autotag] to graduation, they’ve restocked the rotation and the lineup with players that can hit. Patty Gasso has her crew once again in a position to be the favorites to win the national title in 2023.

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All-American Texas A&M catcher Haley Lee enters the transfer portal

Looking to reload for the 2023 season, should the Sooners target Texas A&M catcher Haley Lee, who recently entered the transfer portal?

The Oklahoma Sooners softball team has already made a couple of splashes in the 2022 transfer portal as they reload for the 2023 season. They’ve added former Michigan pitcher [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag] and shortstop [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag] from Arizona State.

Storako will fill the void felt by the departure of [autotag]Hope Trautwein[/autotag] while it’s likely Torres moves from shortstop to third base with reigning defensive player of the year [autotag]Grace Lyons[/autotag] expected to return to OU.

Those additions will be impact players for the Oklahoma Sooners, but why stop there? Oklahoma could add another player to their ranks and one that could help fill the void left by the departed home run queen, [autotag]Jocelyn Alo[/autotag]. And that player is [autotag]Haley Lee[/autotag] from Texas A&M.

According to Extra Inning Softball, Lee has entered her name into the transfer portal.

Lee, a 2022 second-team All-American, led the Aggies in batting average, home runs, and RBIs in 2022, hitting .405 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs. She also added 50 walks to her ledger, displaying discipline at the plate. She helped the Aggies reach the regional round of the NCAA tournament.

In the first regional matchup between Oklahoma and Texas A&M, Trautwein was dealing as the Sooners led 3-0. Things got a little tighter with one swing of the bat as Lee launched a two-run home run to cut the lead to one in the sixth inning. Oklahoma won the game, but Lee made her presence felt with the two-run bomb.

Lee plays catcher for Texas A&M but could also slide into the designated player role departed by Jocelyn Alo. Kinzie Hansen returns for the Sooners at catcher, but Patty Gasso platooned her and Lynnsie Elam in that role in 2022.

Haley Lee is a player to watch in the transfer portal and with her credentials could land anywhere in the country. You can never have too much hitting in your lineup and Lee would bring another formidable bat to the Sooners.

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By the Numbers: A look at the Oklahoma Sooners’ addition of Michigan transfer P Alex Storako

Not slowing down after a national title, the Oklahoma Sooners added grad transfer Alex Storako, let’s by the numbers look at her career.

Fresh off the heels of their 2022 national championship, the Oklahoma Sooners made a splash in the transfer portal with the addition of Michigan transfer Alex Storako. Storako joins arguably the best pitching rotation in the country from 2022 to replace Hope Trautwein, the big-time transfer addition from a year ago.

Storako, like Trautwein, comes in having had a lot of success in her time with the Michigan Wolverines. She’s won 69 career games and thrown over 900 strikeouts against the Big 10.

It’s a step-up in competition for Storako, coming to a Big 12 conference that sent all three NCAA tournament qualifiers to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma, Texas, and Oklahoma State. At the same time, she’s joining the back-to-back national champions, so the talent around her has improved from a Wolverines squad that was 38-18 and finished fourth in the Big 10.

The Wolverines were eliminated in the Orlando regional, dropping both games to Regional champ UCF, who the Sooners eliminated in the Super Regionals. Storako pitched 11 innings in three games, including a complete game 4-1 win over South Dakota State. The 25-game-winner pitched in relief in both appearances against UCF, allowing three runs in 4.2 innings, all three coming in the 9-4 loss that knocked them out of the tournament.

Storako is an electric pitcher, recording 300 strikeouts, which was sixth in the nation in 2022. She averaged 10.5 strikeouts per seven innings. However, if there’s an area where she can improve, it’s in home runs allowed and walks allowed. Her strikeout to walk ratio of 4.69 was 49th in the country in 2022.

In 2022, she allowed 22 home runs. By comparison, the Oklahoma Sooners allowed just 15 as a staff last season.

As the Oklahoma Sooners transition into the post-Jocelyn Alo era, it’ll be important not to allow free base runners or many home runs. The Sooners’ offense will still be dynamic, but one can’t deny that the loss of the NCAA all-time home run leader will impact the Oklahoma Sooners’ run production.

However, with Jordy Bahl leading the way, Oklahoma won’t need Storako to be the ace in the rotation. And like Tratuwein experienced, perhaps a lighter workload will allow her to be an even more efficient and dynamic pitcher for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023.

Let’s take a by-the-numbers look at Alex Storako’s career thus far with the Michigan Wolverines.