Tag: Alex Storako

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.

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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.

Former Michigan Pitcher Alex Storako announces transfer to OU

Oklahoma Softball lands Michigan transfer Alex Storako. Storako was the unanimous Big Ten Pitcher of the Year in 2021.

The best pitching staff in the nation may be losing Hope Trautwein, but they’ll be gaining yet another star.

Former Michigan Wolverines ace pitcher Alex Storako will be transferring to the University of Oklahoma for her Master’s Degree and final year of NCAA eligibility.

The righty went 25-8 with a 1.71 ERA in 2022. She also struck out 300 batters in 200.l innings of work.

She doesn’t have the numbers of Hope Trautwein, but in her defense, not many pitchers do. She will fit right in with Nicole May and Jordy Bahl.

While at Michigan, she was a unanimous Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and second team All-American in 2021.

Storako announced her transfer on her twitter account on Monday afternoon. Needless to say, the crimson and cream suits her very well.

The OU rotation is suddenly looking very crowded with the additions of Storako and no.1 recruit Kierston Deal.

OU pitching’s dominance is a big reason why they just finished the greatest season in college softball history. While the bats were excellent, the pitching did need to bail them out a few times during the season.

Jordy Bahl’s health will also be a massive boost for the rotation come next season.

Too bad Oklahoma fans will have to wait until next year to see Storako pitch at Marita Hynes field.

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