Tag: Kierston Deal

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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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?

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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