What if…

[TN Sooner]

Bear with me, as this may ramble a bit.

I was listening to the season preview on the In the Circle podcast – in addition to the regular hosts Eric and Victor, they also had Justin McCleod from D1 Softball. It was pretty good (if not WAY too long at 2:45!), but McCleod said some things about OU pitchers that pissed me off. I think his arguments were based on reasonable logic, but he took the negative slant on every single OU pitcher:

May – she can’t carry the staff and he doesn’t see her as an elite, dependable pitcher in a 3 game series. She didn’t pitch in the biggest games, so she’s unproven as an ace.

Maxwell – she wasn’t the ace of OSU down the stretch and her best days are behind her.

Keeney – if you go back and look at last year, the only meaningful game she pitched in that Liberty won or was competitive was the game against us. The other games that Liberty played against top tier competition were other Liberty pitchers.

Deal – he just completely dismissed Deal as a viable option.

Monticelli- I don’t remember exactly what he said, but he doesn’t see her as a reliable option.

It got me thinking “what if”…

I think his view on May is just dead wrong – she has never been the “#1” pitcher on the roster, but she was a solid pitcher as a freshman and got better as a sophomore and then better again as a junior – 107 innings, 0.91 era, .161 batting average against. Was she THE ace? No, but she was probably the best #2 pitcher in the country. What if May gives us another season like 2023 or – imagine she gets better AGAIN as a senior.

All his other positions have some merit, but what if…

What if Maxwell was just fed up with Kenny and the BS that seems to surround OSU. What if the best pitching coach in America can get some more juice out of someone that has been a top 5 pitcher most of her career.

What if Deal pitches like she did in the playoffs last year? I mean, she was a #1 recruit that was given time to work into the best pitching staff in America.

What if Keeney can give you 70-100 innings of pitching like she did the game against OU last year. I don’t think Keeney brings quite the same arm that Hope Trauwein came in with, but their stories have some similarities.

What other “what if” scenarios can you imagine for the Sooners?

What if Tiare goes back into power mode and approaches 30 home runs again?

What if Kinzie enjoys injury free season?

What if Sydney Sanders returns to the form we saw at Asu and the 2022 Battle Series.

What if Coor’s back holds up and she gives us 40-45 games like her Battle Series this fall?

What if even just 1 of the freshman come in like Lauren, Sidney, Shay, Clifton, Jayda, Tiare etc. and establish themselves as a superstar right out of the shoot.

None of my “what if’s” feels like complete lunacy. I think the Sooners without any of my “what ifs” are still the favorites, but what if we have 3-4 good what if’s happen. Even my bane for this rant, Justen McCleod, had OU in his champ series, but losing to Stanford

Obviously, I’m ignoring any negative what if’s…

[TropicalSooner]

i don't listen or read anything from McCleod says or prints.
I lost all respect and/or interest in his product after he ran an unchecked/unverified article saying Paige Lowary was arrested for drug use.
There may be some things he says or prints that have merit.
But he's not getting my time of day.
There's a reason why Tara Henry and Brady Vernon left and went over to Softball America.

[SoonerGirl1201]

The right pitching coach can make all the difference. Look at the history of OU. Some of it was with Lombardi - but I remember watching Paige Lowry who was burned out at Mizzu and scared of playing come to OU and basically win the WCWS for us in relief of Paige Parker. I saw Hope come in from North Texas and win us the WCWS as well. I know I'm missing others - but there is history with pitchers coming into OU and really hitting their stride. I think something about OU is redemptive for them and I fully expect that exact scenario to happen for Maxwell.

I think May is an incredibly strong picture, but I must agree that I don't see her stepping into the "save the game" role that Jordy was last year. I think that is going to have to be Maxwell, Deal or someone surprising like Guerin or even Monticelli this year.

However, I'm not super concerned. History shows that someone always does step into that role. It was Hope when Jordy got hurt her frosh year, it was Jordy last year, my guess is we will have someone do the same thing this year.

[oufanforever]

i don't listen or read anything from McCleod says or prints.
I lost all respect and/or interest in his product after he ran an unchecked/unverified article saying Paige Lowary was arrested for drug use.
There may be some things he says or prints that have merit.
But he's not getting my time of day.
There's a reason why Tara Henry and Brady Vernon left and went over to Softball America.

What you remember was incorrect. Justin did not report Lowry was arrested for drug use. He simply repeated what was included in the arrest report without doing any extra work to find out why that happened. It was a TMZ type article that didn't have any substance.

[inconnu]

McCloud might be the Colin Cowturd of softball reporting? He might be an undisciplined fan of some non-Sooner program, or just a Never-Sooners type of zealot. Thanks for the heads up about his reporting.

[Lasooner11]

I don’t disagree with Justin’s statement. Take Jordy out of the equation as she is once in a lifetime pitcher, Patty has taken ready made pitchers but I don’t remember a freshman to senior pitcher Rocha has developed at OU. Reminder Nicole is a Missy Lombardi recruit along with Guerin. Just a thought. Nothing against Rocha or Gasso but OU is the only program that I know that takes someone else’s work and improves and wins.

[SoonerGirl1201]

I think where Rocha is soo good is at calling pitches to the pitchers advantage while at the same time the batter disadvantage. I think Lombardi was an amazing developer, but I think Rocha may be the better overall pitching coach.