Tag: Jennifer Rocha

‘This was my dream school’: Kelly Maxwell on growing up an Oklahoma Sooners fan

While most of her career was spent at an in-state rival Oklahoma State, Kelly Maxwell admits Oklahoma was always her dream.

Not everyone’s path to the University of Oklahoma is the same. Some people come there right out of college, but others make it through the transfer portal.

The latter is how [autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag] found herself playing for the Sooners.

Maxwell spent five seasons with the Sooners in-state rival, the Oklahoma State Cowgirls. She received several accolades while playing for the Cowgirls, including selection to the USA Softball Women’s National Team in 2022 and 2023, 2023 NFCA Second Team All-American, 2023 All-Big 12 First Team, 2022 NFCA Unanimous First Team All-American, 2022 Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Year and 2022 All-Big 12 First Team among many others.

Maxwell did an interview with KREF in Norman, in which she said while she spent five years at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma was always her dream school.

“Actually, from a young age, I was an OU fan,” Maxwell said. “My dad’s family actually all went to school here, and this was my dream school. I had always admired watching OU football and Adrian Peterson. So whenever 27 was taken (on her travel ball team) my coach at the time, he was an OU fan, he was like, ‘Hey why don’t you wear 28, it’s Adrian Peterson’s number and it’s just one above 27?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure!’ So, then it kind of stuck and I’ve been 28 ever since.”

That is just another example of how everyone’s path is different in how they come to Oklahoma. Maxwell was once a feared pitcher for the rival school but now is helping her “dream school” win another national championship.

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‘Having this new knowledge has really elevated my game’: Kelly Maxwell enhancing her game with the Sooners

Kelly Maxwell is showing early on why she was a hot commodity once she hit the transfer portal.

What a career it has been for [autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag] to this point. Maxwell started her career at Oklahoma State playing for the Cowgirls before transferring a little further south to Norman to play for the Sooners in her final season.

She has done just about everything in her career so far. She’s been a part of the USA Softball Women’s National Team, she’s a two-time All-American, she’s been All-Big 12 First Team the last three years and she even was named Co-Pitcher of the Year in 2022. Needless to say, she was a major pickup for the Sooners, especially after the loss of [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag].

Although she hasn’t been in Norman that long, Maxwell talked about some of the stuff she’s learned from pitching coach [autotag]Jennifer Rocha[/autotag].

“It was very different, I would say, from where I came from,” Maxwell said. “I’ve never really watched much film. Never really took the time to study other hitters. So, having this new knowledge has really elevated my game. I think it’s going to help me in the long run.”

Maxwell said she also watched film of herself and learned new things about how to handle things better.

While it’s been an illustrious career for Maxwell, she’s still missing one thing. She’s still trying to take home a national championship at the end of the season. What better place to try to do that than for the team that has won three straight?

More: How to watch, key players for No. 1 Sooners in the Cowgirl Classic

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Patty Gasso reacts to Jordy Bahl’s season-ending injury

Patty Gasso says “it’s sad” to learn about former Sooner Jordy Bahl’s season-ending injury.

While the Oklahoma Sooners were extending their record-setting win streak, a former Sooner went down with a season-ending injury. During the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ first game, star pitcher [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag] went down with a torn ACL, ending her season.

Bahl spent two seasons in Norman, where she won two national championships. She finished with a 0.99 ERA, a 44-2 record, and 397 strikeouts during her time in Norman.

Her former coach, Patty Gasso, was asked about Bahl’s injury. “It’s sad,” Gasso said. “It’s horrible for anybody really. Jordy went through injuries as a freshman, but you wish her well. She was sitting at the airport with our team, talking with our team. There are still the memories. The last memory they had was singing on stage with Toby Keith. That’s something they will cherish, especially now, forever. There’s this bond that they still have. You’re in the battlefields together.”

Bahl posted on her Instagram that she would be redshirting this season and is “looking forward to a season of growth and learning from a different point of view.”

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She ended it by saying she would be back in 2025 playing for her home state team.

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‘We’ve got six very viable pitchers’: Sooners have a loaded pitching staff once again

The Sooners pitching staff might be as deep as it’s been in recent memory.

Softball season is finally here, and the Oklahoma Sooners are looking to make history once again. The back-to-back-to-back national champions are looking to win their fourth championship in a row. A feat that has never been accomplished in the sport of softball.

The Sooners return a number of players from last year’s national championship team, including [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag], [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag], [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag], [autotag]Rylie Boone[/autotag], and [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag] who have been a part of all three.

The Sooners’ pitching staff may have the biggest question marks. Simply because they lost [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag] from last year’s team. But they added an All-American in [autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag], [autotag]Karlie Keeney[/autotag], and [autotag]Paytn Monticelli[/autotag] to go along with May and sophomores Kierston Deal and S.J. Guerin.

Patty Gasso spoke about how deep she feels her pitching staff is this season. “We’ve got six very viable pitchers,” Gasso said. “All of them could help us in some way shape or form. It may be very likely you see Nicole May get things started because she’s like the matriarch of this pitching staff. She’s earned it and deserved it. But you are going to see a lot of looks this weekend as well. We’ve got to get this figured out as to who is going to be a game-changer for us in the first three weeks.”

The Sooners start their season with two top-10 teams in their first three games. If they can get past both of those, they’ll have plenty of time to play with their pitching rotation to be prepared for conference play.

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Oklahoma Sooners add Liberty transfer pitcher Karlie Keeney

The Oklahoma Sooners added another arm to their pitching arsenal earning a commitment from Liberty transfer Karlie Keeney.

The Oklahoma Sooners added another arm to their pitching staff via the transfer portal. Though some other names have received a lot of buzz, [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] and [autotag]Jennifer Rocha[/autotag] are bringing in Liberty transfer pitcher Karlie Keeney. Keeney announced her commitment to Oklahoma via Instagram.

As a junior in 2023, Keeney was an iron woman for the Flames, appearing in 48 games and throwing 261.2 innings. She was 27-12 with a 2.03 ERA and an opponents batting average of .229. Keeney threw 27 complete games, including five shutouts last season to help lead Liberty to the NCAA tournament.

Beyond the stat line, the name might be familiar. In Oklahoma’s second game of the 2023 season, Keeney shut out the Sooners for seven innings before allowing the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth inning when Jordy Bahl scored from second on an error.

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On the season, Liberty ranked 105th in fielding percentage, committing 66 errors. For reference, the Oklahoma Sooners led the nation in fielding percentage, committing 19 errors on the year.

Keeney’s other most memorable start on the year came in the NCAA tournament, where again she was put to work. After losing to San Diego State (a game Keeney didn’t start), the Flames drew the unfortunate task of facing the UCLA Bruins in the losers’ bracket. Keeney was up to the task.

After allowing a solo home run to open the game to Megan Grant, Keeney settled in to shut the Bruins down. She scattered six more hits and allowed one walk the rest of the way to eliminate the No. 2 nationally seeded Bruins from the NCAA tournament.

She kept Liberty’s season alive with another one-run performance over seven innings against Grand Canyon before the Flames were eliminated by San Diego State in the final of the Los Angeles Regional.

So against Oklahoma and UCLA, the two teams that were ranked one and two for a vast majority of the 2023 season, Keeney allowed two runs, one earned, in 14 innings of work.

Keeney ranked No. 50 in D1Softball’s top 100, and here’s what they had to say.

Keeney was a true workhorse for Liberty. Her 261.2 innings pitched was the second-most in the entire nation. That translated into 27 wins last season, including victories against Alabama, Clemson and UCLA. Keeney’s heavy screwball and curveball approach led to a 52 percent groundball rate. Keeney is currently searching for her home for her last season via the transfer portal. – Brady Vernon, D1Softball

Keeney is an experienced starter that will benefit from not having to throw so many innings in Oklahoma’s rotation. [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] has worked to create a pitching system that minimizes the workload on her starters to keep them fresh later into the season and prepared for the NCAA tournament.

Oklahoma has a pitching rotation that can go four deep with [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag], [autotag]Kierston Deal[/autotag], [autotag]Peytn Monticelli[/autotag] and Karlie Keeney. Oklahoma also has [autotag]S.J. Guerin[/autotag] who can operate in the relief role Deal did in 2023.

Though the Sooners add an experienced arm in Keeney, it shouldn’t necessarily take them out of the mix for pitchers [autotag]Alana Vawter[/autotag] or [autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag]. While Monticelli, Deal and Guerin all have really good upside, the experience and success that Vawter and Maxwell bring to the table is some of the best in the country.

But, if the Sooners don’t look to add another arm to their pitching staff, they’ll be in great shape to defend their national title in 2024.

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Oklahoma’s Jennifer Rocha named NFCA Assistant Coach of the Year

After a phenomenal season for Oklahoma’s pitching staff, Assistant Head Coach Jennifer Rocha was named the NFCA Assistant of the Year.

After a phenomenal season in the circle for the Sooners, Oklahoma assistant head coach and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha was named the Easton/NFCA Assitant of the Year for 2023.

It’s Rocha’s second award in her career and first since joining the Sooners, according to SoonerSports.com. It’s the second time an OU assistant taken home the honor, but the first since Melyssa Lombardi won the award in 2017.

Oklahoma’s pitching staff achieved great success in 2023, helping the Sooners secure their third straight national title and seventh overall. Oklahoma led the nation with a 0.96 ERA, more than a half a point better than Central Arkansas at 1.50.

[autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag], [autotag]Kierston Deal[/autotag], [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag], and [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag] held their opponents to a .162 batting average and set a school record with 35 shutouts in 62 games. They allowed four or more runs in a game just four times this season and allowed just 53 earned runs on the season. The group of stellar pitchers recorded 460 strikeouts on the season to become a key x-factor for the Sooners.

It was a phenomenal season for Oklahoma’s pitching staff. Led by Jennifer Rocha they put together an incredible performance to help Oklahoma capture the 2023 national title.

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Oklahoma Sooners coaching staff receives big honor

The accolades for the Oklahoma Sooners softball team continue to pour in.

The accolades for the Oklahoma Sooners softball team continue to pour in after a historic season.

Grace Lyons (Softball America) and Jayda Coleman (D1Softball) earned defensive player of the year awards, and Jordy Bahl was recognized as D1Softball’s pitcher of the year, but the coaching staff was recognized as well.

They were named D1 National Coaching Staff of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

The staff consists of head coach Patty Gasso, associate head coach Jennifer Rocha, assistant coach JT Gasso and volunteer assistant Hannah Sparks.

Under the guidance of head coach Patty Gasso, along with associate head coach Jennifer Rocha, assistant coach JT Gasso and volunteer assistant Hannah Sparks, the Sooners (61-1) became just the second team to win three consecutive national titles (UCLA 1988-90) and finished 2023 with a program and NCAA Division I-record 53-game winning streak. They have won five of the last seven national championships and seven overall. Their .984 winning percentage also eclipsed UCLA’s Division I record of .964 (54-2), which stood since 1992. – NFCA

They helped lead the program to its third straight and seventh overall national title in 2023.

According to soonersports.com, this marks the second straight and sixth overall honor for Gasso and her staff. They also received the award in 2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2022.

They also claimed the NFCA’s regional honor for the 15th time in Gasso’s 29 years at the helm.

This comes after a record-breaking season that saw the Sooners go 61-1 and end the year on a 53-game winning streak. The dominant run included a nation-best and program-record 35 shutouts, 29 wins by run rule, and a 28-0 record versus ranked opponents.

It also resulted in the best win percentage in NCAA Division I softball history and Big 12 regular season and tournament titles.

They also led the country in a number of categories, including ERA, batting average, home runs per game, runs per game, and fielding percentage.

This comes after Gasso was named the Big 12 conference’s Co-Coach of the Year with Baylor Bears coach Glenn Moore.

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Oklahoma Softball named NFCA Coaching Staff of the Year

After another incredible run to the national title, led by Patty Gasso, the Sooners were awarded the NFCA Coaching Staff of the Year.

After another dominant run and a second-straight national championship, the Oklahoma Sooners softball program received another honor as the NFCA coaching staff of the year.

The Sooners coaching staff of head coach Patty Gasso, associate head coach Jennefer Rocha, assistant coach J.T. Gasso, and volunteer assistant Kristin Zaleski were instrumental in Oklahoma’s season-long run as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Known for their offensive prowess, the Sooners dominated from the circle in 2022 as well, leading the country in earned run average and shutouts. From the plate, the Sooners finished the season ranked first in home runs, batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, and runs per game according to SoonerSports.com.

They were simply dominant in every facet of the game as they jumped out to an NCAA-record 38-0 start to the 2022 season. Jordy Bahl, Hope Trautwein, and Nicole May combined for 33 shutouts and eight no-hitters on the season.

Oklahoma’s offense dominated leading the Sooners to 41 run-rule wins on their way to a 58-3 record and their sixth national championship.

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