The Elephant in the Room

[MsProudSooner]

I'm not a softball expert by any means but here is my theory:

Obviously, Jordy leaving left us in a huge bind as far as pitching goes.  I know you recruit pitchers every year just like you should recruit quarterbacks every year.  But when you have a pitcher like Jordy on your staff, it's only logical that the great pitchers a year behind her might decide to look elsewhere.  You'll get a good pitcher but probably not a great pitcher.  While your great pitcher is dominating, the other pitchers have a chance to get better out of the limelight.  By the time your great pitcher is a Junior or Senior, the next great phenom will look at playing for your team. It's like an assembly line with different pitchers at different stages of development.  A wrench was thrown into our assembly line.  Maxwell is very good and we were fortunate to get her but she's not as good as Jordy.  We have a good pitching staff but none of them are great.  You need at least one great pitcher.  Perhaps that explains the performance of some of the other players.  They feel more pressure to make great defensive plays which results in mistakes.  They feel more pressure when they are at bat and haven't produced like they are capable of producing.  In turn, when the defense and hitting isn't as good as usual, it puts more pressure on the pitching to be dominant. All of this results in everything being out of synch.

[jmac11]

Yep, jordy leaving left us in a bind. Losing her and storako in the same year- hard to fill those shoes. And in Jordy's case, those shoes may never be filled. She's one of the very best pitchers I've ever seen.

[TN Sooner]

I get the Jordy conversation and I wish she hadn’t left. And, to a certain extent, it’s the classic “what happens if the road takes a different fork”.

But, had she stayed, it is unlikely Maxwell would have considered OU. OU would have still played on the same field in Mexico that Nebraska played on. If Jordy’s knee was going to go, It would have gone on that field in Mexico, whether in Husker or a Sooner uniform. Then where would the Sooners have been in the circle?

Given what happened to Jordy, it is hard to say she remaining a Sooner would have made any difference.

[SoonerGirl1201]

I get the Jordy conversation and I wish she hadn’t left. And, to a certain extent, it’s the classic “what happens if the road takes a different fork”.

But, had she stayed, it is unlikely Maxwell would have considered OU. OU would have still played on the same field in Mexico that Nebraska played on. If Jordy’s knee was going to go, It would have gone on that field in Mexico, whether in Husker or a Sooner uniform. Then where would the Sooners have been in the circle?

Given what happened to Jordy, it is hard to say she remaining a Sooner would have made any difference.

I agree. And even after this weekend it isnt pitching that is our biggest issue. It is hitting and we have the majority of that back from last year.

[TropicalSooner]

Thinking back 2 1/2 years ago when we were looking for the next pitcher to understudy w Jordy, I believe our pitcher commitment (we thought) at that time was Ella Parker--an outstanding pitcher getting ready for her Junior year in HS. Ryan Maddox was another one we were considering, I think, but when Parker committed, Maddox signed on with Arizona. It seems like there wasn't a lot of big name pitchers to go after that year and the ones that were went to other places--Rothrock (and Ava Brown) went to Fla--I think Rothrock was going there all along anyway.....I don't think Sidne Peters (now at Wash) or Kaitlyn Terry (UCLA) were even on our radar.....and I don't know for a fact, but I suspect Kavan was always going to be a longhorn. All our eggs were in Ella Parker's basket, so to speak. And then during her Junior HS year, she made the decision to go to the outfield and hit--instead of pitch. If Jordy had stayed, we probably could have survived that bump in the road, although TN Sooner has a point, if we had Jordy while going to PV, and she got injured with us, where would we be this year? We might have still picked up Monticelli as a project for the '25 season, but not Maxwell. Parker's decision to change positions put our pitching staff in a pinch with the transfers and graduations. Thankfully getting Maxwell and Keeney changed our fortunes for this year. But we really still have a hole in the staff come next year, even with the arrival of Lowry, assuming none of our pitchers transfer after the season is over.

[AustinTXSooner]

If Jordy had stayed, I'm not sure that we would have picked up Keeney. Maybe, maybe not. If not, we still would have picked up Maxwell.

[BudaSooner]

Question for the board:


Has it occurred to anyone else what the impact would be/was of Kelly Maxwell having to pitch against her erstwhile teammates? The mental aspect of it?
Obviously, there isn't NEARLY the mental aspect of trying to knock the socks off of a teammate who (from their perspective) deserted them and went over to the Dark Side.
Bringing Kelly into Saturday's game in relief was probably a bad move, which, when Maxwell served up the 3 run dinger, validated that it was a bad choice.

Our coaches made another questionable choice tonight (IMO) when they relieved Karlie with Kierston. Karlie was sailing along throwing a 3-hitter through 5 innings. Deal relieved in the top of the 6th and promptly loaded the bases with one out, a shallow blooper that Jayda almost didn't get to!
Fortunately, one of our coaches decided to bring Karlie back to relieve Kierston. She gave up the tying RBI single, but was nails after that! 6 outs later, OU finished off the Pokes 8-2, thanks to OUr bats finally *FINALLY!!!* waking up.

What I am saying is that win or lose, it's a TEAM effort. TEAM including the coaches.

[SoonerGirl1201]

Question for the board:


Has it occurred to anyone else what the impact would be/was of Kelly Maxwell having to pitch against her erstwhile teammates? The mental aspect of it?
Obviously, there isn't NEARLY the mental aspect of trying to knock the socks off of a teammate who (from their perspective) deserted them and went over to the Dark Side.
Bringing Kelly into Saturday's game in relief was probably a bad move, which, when Maxwell served up the 3 run dinger, validated that it was a bad choice.

Our coaches made another questionable choice tonight (IMO) when they relieved Karlie with Kierston. Karlie was sailing along throwing a 3-hitter through 5 innings. Deal relieved in the top of the 6th and promptly loaded the bases with one out, a shallow blooper that Jayda almost didn't get to!
Fortunately, one of our coaches decided to bring Karlie back to relieve Kierston. She gave up the tying RBI single, but was nails after that! 6 outs later, OU finished off the Pokes 8-2, thanks to OUr bats finally *FINALLY!!!* waking up.

What I am saying is that win or lose, it's a TEAM effort. TEAM including the coaches.

Hey Buda - I totally concur that Kelly having to face her teammates was a HUGE factor in her performance. From what I can tell Kelly is genuinely a kind and considerate person. The way she chose to not respond to her previous coach in any negative way whatsoever says it all. I think she is a great person, and she does not appear to be a "antagonist". I think that put her at a huge disadvantage mentally on Friday. It was way more for someone like her to overcome then her previous teammates who had so much to prove and were already familiar with her pitching. I was hoping it would have gone differently and she really didn't do all that bad. But I have zero doubt that it did play a role.

Who knew Keeney was the secret weapon? I do think our staff has been guilty of out-smarting themselves. Last year it was Kenny G, the Tennessee coach and so many others that outsmarted themselves when playing us - this year it appears we have been the ones making those coaching decisions mishaps. Not saying that the coaches could have done anything differently, but who knows, maybe Rocha should have pulled a wild card and had someone like Keeney or Deal start out pitching the Friday game to Kelly a slower ramp up. Might have been just enough to make a difference.

[Raul]

It’s been a very strange season for OU, particularly on the clutch hitting side. I feel that the upperclassmen have underperformed. Maybe the hunger and drive have been depleted. Maybe whosoever were the locker room spark plugs either graduated or are now kinda burned out. Maybe other life goals have taken higher priority.
We knew the pitching side was going to more of a challenge this year, but the hitting took a surprising hit.

[SoonerGirl1201]

I think you hit it Raul - other life goals may very well be setting in for the seniors. I keep seeing posts of Jayda and Billy Bowman's engagement. Also, Brito is dating Gavin Sawchuck. I have a feeling that at least some of the seniors are well on their way to the next stages in life.

I can't really blame them, but I am interested to see if starting in post-season they try and focus it all back in to win #4 and make history.

[OUBeliever56A]

C'mon fans.

Reality is this.

The Sooners still have the 2nd best record in D1 Softball at 46-6!
Let me type that again. THE 2ND BEST RECORD IN D1 SOFTBALL AT 46-6.

The Sooners are in the #2 position in the RPI.

The Sooners are currently holding these places in team stats:

Batting:
2nd in BA
1st in OB%
2nd in Slug%
2nd in OPS
3rd in Runs Scored
3rd in HRs hit
1st in Walks
16th in Doubles
8th in hits

Pitching:
10th in ERA
5th in BA Against
6th in WH/IP
8th in OB% Against
20th in Slug% Against
T-1st in Shutouts
4th in Runs Allowed
7th in Earned Runs Allowed
27th in Total Ks

Let's just stop all the madness and saying or typing out loud things that we "think" with a wild imagination that could be causing what ever deficiencies the team might have at the moment.

The Sooners are still a very good team and have as good a chance to the win a 4th Natty in four years which is unprecedented since a ball was invented and someone hit with a stick.

C'mon. We have better things to do!

Sorry.....but we are SPOILED. No were a so SPOILED we have turned ROTTEN!

Be thankful you have the best softball program in America in the last decade plus a couple of years. What other Oklahoma sport can say that? None, not even women's gymnastics, but that are close.

If you want to be negative and speculate their are other sports which you can comment on.

Sorry, for my rant. But some perspective is required at times.

Boomer Sooner!

[MsProudSooner]

I completely agree that our fans are spoiled. But I think most of the comments in this thread have attempted to apply some logic to the situation. I haven't seen anything here like the post I saw on Facebook that said Patty needed to learn how to coach.

[ohiosooner#1]

We all need to take a deep breath. We have as good, better chance of winning this year than anyone else. The key to winning is just beat the next team up. We don't have to beat everyone
just the next team up. By my math assuming no losses once the tournament starts we are 10 games/victories
from being crowned national champs. 3 first week, 2 second week, 3 our side of final 8 bracket, then 2 out of 3.

And in the unlikely event we fail what a run we had with this class!!!!! Today the level of competition is deeper so it will be harder, but I still like our chances, and it will be fun to watch us reload with the group coming in this fall, and the super group coming in next year. Not to mention selective transfers.

Watching the rebuild after our 4 in a row, if it happens it will be super. To all of us let's appreciate the ride we have been part of--it has been and will be remarkable.

Note; Some people comment that we are hated nationally, I believe we are hugely respected because of how we win.

[TN Sooner]

56 is 1000% right.

[1KCSoonerFan]

The stats are great!

The wins are terrific!

This is an Historic Run and Moment in all of sports!

No arguments with any of that. However, the stats feel a little hollow right now, to be honest. Not because the stats are meaningless, but because they don't matter anymore for the Ultimate Goal of the Team.

Game 3 with OSU was a reminder of how tough OU can be when they are on their game. Games 1 and 2 was a reminder of how vulnerable OU can be when they aren't. As much as I loved the vibe and electric surge of emotion when Parker hit one out, there will not be a Redemption Game 3 in the postseason, unfortunately. If it were a best of 7 games, it would make for a whole different dynamic, eh?

Hats off to Texas and OSU as teams that took two out of three from our stat-toting ladies. Maybe they helped us see a blueprint of how it is possible to win two out of three against the Sooners....and the team can use that blueprint to plan a strong counter for the future. Or, maybe we got beat because the other team was better that play, that inning, that game, that series ....that happens, too.

Whatever it is that knocks our senior-laden team of All-Americans off the surfboard at times, I'm hoping the Sooners can catch a huge wave of momentum on in to the beach. My honest hope for the team is that they can play free, with focus, and with joy - and love each other all the way.
Personally, I think they have been doing that, and giving their All every game. AND, sometimes, this year, their best is not enough to win. Two things can be true at the same time.

It's gonna be a nail-biter from here on in, IMO. The margins are thin for the win this year. Four-peats in softball deserve no less of an historic long-shot to glory perhaps. We CAN win it all. At the same time, I also feel it is up for grabs. OU is very good. Will they be great? That is the question.