What's your confidence level -- Mark Campbell Tournament === Do we win them all? or take an early loss???

[TropicalSooner]

Softball season 2023 is s l o w l y creeping up on us and the time just seems to drag on forever......rather like when you're waiting for the days to pass before that nice cruise you've been anxiously waiting for....or a Mountain trip--or whatever vacation of your choice....the time just creeps by.....anyway.......

I played around with this thread title over football season and a few of us had a lot of fun with it. Not going to do that here all season, but thought I'd throw it out here for opening weekend.

Just a little over two weeks now and our season starts with the Mark Campbell Tournament. We have some really excellent competition to face here. No 22 Duke comes at us right out of the gate. The Blue Devils had a 44-11 season last year losing to UCLA in the Super Regionals. Then follows Liberty, No 11 Stanford-who had a 39-22 season and making it to the Supers also, then No 21 Washington finishing last year at 31-17 and losing to Tejas (!) in their own Regional, and lastly San Jose State. Three top 25 teams already! And make no mistake, the Liberty Flames will be no pushover having a 44-18 season last year and losing to Georgia and Duke in the Durham Regionals. If we are able to take a breather anywhere during opening weekend, it will be the last game with the San Jose State Spartans that only managed a 22-29 season last year.

Others with a lot more knowledge and experience will give awesome previews in the upcoming days as we grow closer to the start of the season, but I just wanted to get a little early discussion started on our season in general this year, and opening weekend in particular.

So.......with all this in mind, what do you think of our opening weekend competition? Do we win all 5 of our games against very good teams? Or do we stumble somewhere the first weekend out? Do you see any run rules? Will they all be nail biters? And why or why not?

What say you Sooner Nation???

[White River]

My opinion is we sweep the opening weekend. It won't be the end of the world if we don't, but I think we're ready for tough competition right out the gate. What the ladies face in practice is tougher than most of the competition they'll face. You could always run into an ace pitcher that quiets the bats for several innings but the veteran players have shown the ability to learn and eventually get hits. I don’t think they complete the season without some losses, but there is not a single game that I'd pick against them.

5-0 to start with 2 run rules.

I'm really looking forward to this season! It's always fun when your team dominates the game!

Boomer

[Bixby_Sooner]

I'll go along with White River. I think we sweep the weekend; however I can see Patty doing some experimenting with lineups and positions and therefore, not too likely to see a lot of run rule games.

I think with the upgraded competition on the schedule this year, we won't go undefeated and we will see fewer run rule (although I'm hoping not) games, but as in years past, I think the schedule will be used to build depth and strength as the season progresses, so that as we get to the final run in Conference and Post Season play, we will be peaking when it's needed most. Patty just seems to have that down to a fine art.

[inconnu]

I'm cautiously optimistic. We have enough unknowns to trigger the caution part, IMO. Will the players with injuries fully be healed?(Hansen, Bahl, Lyons) How effective will the new pitchers be? Will there be one or more pitchers we play against that stifles us too much?

I'm wildly guessing that we lose one game at the Mark Campbell. You know that our opponents will be in full combat mode when they play us.

[TN Sooner]

These early season games are laboratories for the coaches that expect/hope to be in the WCWS. Often, against a top team, you don’t see the team ace taking the mound. Many coaches don’t want you to see their ace in a “meaningless” game - save the surprise for OKC or regional. Having 3 solid pitchers is a huge luxury for Gasso.

I think we win them all…

[1KCSoonerFan]

I think OU has an excellent chance to sweep the tournament. Reading up on some of the stat-analysis by '56 and others, the Sooners are loaded and out-match every other program in the country. Stats don't mean everything, but if they mean anything, OU is out front by a considerable margin. This fact will show up early and often, IMO.

I also like what I heard from Coach Gasso in a recent interview with Chris Plank. Patty sounded very confident and pleased. The fact she could not settle on a "breakout" player this year, because she has several candidates in mind, bodes well. Everyone is healthy, too!

I'm really excited that the schedule starts out so challenging; no better way to keep the lady's focus and attention!

[TropicalSooner]

I think OU has an excellent chance to sweep the tournament. Reading up on some of the stat-analysis by '56 and others, the Sooners are loaded and out-match every other program in the country. Stats don't mean everything, but if they mean anything, OU is out front by a considerable margin. This fact will show up early and often, IMO.

Well......my confidence level is also pretty high going into opening weekend. I won't say we breeze (Washington!), but I think we come through unscathed at 5-0.
My thoughts:
Duke:
Graduation has hit them hard. They lost a lot of upperclass leadership in 3 Grad Sr's and 5 of 6 Sr's. The seniors all had the covid year they could've come back for but only 1 (Davis) actually did. They lost starters at 1b, 2b, ss, lf, and rf. This accounts for a huge chunk of their hitting power. They lost production of: .398/15HRs, .379/17HRs, .352/10HRs, .341/12HRs, and .263/0HRs off their starting lineup. But that's not all. They also lost their #1 pitcher St.George (22-4/2.07era) and backup pitcher Walters (3-2/2.25era). Plus a bench player. Syd Romero has her work cut out for her. What Syd does bring to the table for them is information regarding our strengths and weaknesses (?). Still, there is a lot to be replaced and I think it will be asking a lot of the remaining players to pull off an upset. The Blue Devils are ranked in the top 25 however, and anyone ranked that high-in spite of what they've lost-deserve our full attention. I'm looking for Bahl to open up the season in the circle for us against the Blue Devils.

Liberty:
In contrast, the Liberty Flames return most of their starters from last year team that did make it to the Regionals, where they lost to GA 7-2, and lost to Duke 5-0. While the Flames bring back a lot experienced players, they did lose a couple of pitchers to graduation, including one of their two starters. But Karlie Keeney returns with a 19-7/2.45 era from last year and 5 of their starters are +.300 hitters. As a team they accounted for 58 HRs so if we are not careful they will put one out of the park. This is one of those times that I think that Liberty probably thinks they won't see us again after this one time match-up so they will throw their best pitcher at us and tell everyone to go to the plate and swing for the fences. I think we see Storako pitch her first complete game for the Sooners here.

Stanford:
The Cardinal also return the team from last year mostly intact that took them to hosting (but losing) the Super Regional at Stanford Calif. They didn't start out hosting, they went to Tuscaloosa Alabama and beat the Crimson Tide 2 out of 3 games to arrive at the unexpected hosting of their own Super Regional. That fact alone tells me that they are for real. They are not, however, particularly noted as a power team, only putting together 24 HRs as a team for the entire season last year. If the Sooners have an "ordinary" season this year, I expect at least 4 of our players to have that many HRs each. But their 4 leadoff hitters are all above .300 and they can run the bases with 54 steals out of 62 attempts. Typically they will beat you 1-0 or 2-1 and let their pitcher carry the team. Signature wins last year came against Okla State (in Stillwater!), Oregon State (who made it to the WCWS) in Corvallis, winning the series against Arizona (who also made it to the WCWS), and winning 2 out of 3 in the series against UCLA! The big issue for the Cardinal is their pitching. They only have Alana Vawter, and how Vawter goes is how Stanford goes. Stanford is another team that probably wouldn't want to pitch their ace against the Sooners so they could hide her until post season, but they also don't have a choice. I think here is where we pitch May. If Vawter is on point, we may not score a lot of points but we should score enough. Can May go the full 7 innings?

Washington:
I think this is the Marquee game of the weekend. Gabby Plain has gone on to the Pro's, or at least the Aussie National Team back home, but the Huskies brought in replacements. Also, the Huskies have a heavy upperclass laden team. 7 of their 9 starting lineup are either Seniors or 5th yr Seniors. Only 4 starters however are +.300 hitters but don't let that fool you. Two of their +.200 hitters have double digit HRs, and as a team they hit 90 HRs last year. They are also an experienced defensive team with only 36 team errors last year (we had 33) that is led by arguably the best shortstop west of the Rockies in Baylee Klinger. She led the team with .434 BA, 24 HRs and 71 RBIs. After losing Plain to graduation, they brought in Lindsey Lopez from Ariz State to bolster the pitching staff and also have Kelley Lynch and Brooke Nelson as backups. But their prize may be in the highly touted freshman Ruby Meylan from Nebraska, possibly a former teammate to Jordy Bahl in the Summer Travel ball circuit. I'll be interested to see if Coach Tarr in an early season game keeps Lynch under wraps and throws Meylan into the fire against the Sooners. That would be a fun game to watch--a Meylan vs Bahl matchup. My money's on Jordy. But if Meylan has some good stuff, then be wary of their power lineup. The last time we met, the Sooners gave them a thrashing on a nationally televised (ABC!) regional matchup 2 years ago in Norman when we run-ruled them 9-1 in 5 innings. The Huskies Seniors and Super Seniors will definitely have not forgotten that.

San Jose State:
The Breather? The Spartans struggled through last year finishing 22-29. But they do sit in the shadow of Cal Berkeley and Stanford. Last year the team BA was only .267 and only 3 starters had +.300 BAs and one of those was their Junior catcher Trinity Edwards, from Moore OK, but apparently she has left the team. Their best pitcher is Jenessa Ullegue, 16-9/ 2.79 era, and with this solo game against the Sooners, she undoubtedly will get the start. However, if their last 4 games last year is any indication, then they pitch by committee. With 5 pitchers on staff, most do not see more than 2 innings. After once through the lineup, they change. So don't worry about "seeing" the pitcher, you'll probably only see her once. Here is the game for Coach Gasso to tinker with things. I wonder after one inning with the starters if we see Coach empty the bench and the reserves get some credible playing time. Here might be the time for Deal to get her first start and perhaps even see Geurin for a couple of mop-up innings. This should be the run-rule game for the Sooners.


This is just my take on how the first weekend looks to me. I believe we will win all our games. Our line-up is just really powerful. I try to be careful not to get overconfident--and I'm sure Coach Gasso is pounding that home to everyone on our team. We can't take anyone for granted this season. Statistics tell me we should win handily most of the time, but I haven't forgotten some nail biters last year that shouldn't have been: Baylor with Orme, UAB with Cespedes, and Utah.

Now, let's get this party started!!

Boomer!

[oufanforever]

Stanford worries me the most because they can actually go with the committee approach and let each pitcher only face the OU line up once. If it turns into a low scoring game like the Utah/Baylor game last year, then it becomes possible for them to steal a win. I am not as worried about Washington because OU’s offense should be able to pound that pitching staff

[SwampSooner]

I believe the only team that can beat Oklahoma is Oklahoma. We can win all 5 but the question is, does Coach Gasso plan to win all 5 or is there something she needs to find out about the new players and she will play the 'back-ups' to find out who she can trust when the conference schedule rolls around?

[TropicalSooner]

Stanford worries me the most because they can actually go with the committee approach and let each pitcher only face the OU line up once. If it turns into a low scoring game like the Utah/Baylor game last year, then it becomes possible for them to steal a win. I am not as worried about Washington because OU’s offense should be able to pound that pitching staff

I see what you are saying. I am by no means all that versed on the PAC12, much less Stanford and if that's the approach they take and they have the staff to pull it off then they will be a problem. I'll give you that.
Here's where I was coming from:
From what I was able to pull from the research I did, Stanford appeared, to me at least, more than a little anemic on their pitching staff. Their main horse is Vawter, who threw for over 225 innings last year. That was more than twice the amount their #2 threw at 109 innings. Beyond that, they had only 1 pitcher that threw for more than 30 innings and that was Molly Millar, and she graduated. Nobody else had more than 20 innings. So in my mind, I felt that if they had to go to those pitchers, then our lineup would probably have a fun afternoon. They do have a freshman P/Util coming in: NiJaree Canady, but I don't know anything about her. If she is on the same level as Jordy Bahl was last year, or Meylan, Tinsley, or Rothrock are all billed to be this year, then we could have a problem with 3 pitchers. It just seemed to me that out of 37 starts, Vawter had 27 complete games last year, so I figured she would carry the load against us.

[TropicalSooner]

I believe the only team that can beat Oklahoma is Oklahoma. We can win all 5 but the question is, does Coach Gasso plan to win all 5 or is there something she needs to find out about the new players and she will play the 'back-ups' to find out who she can trust when the conference schedule rolls around?

You are probably right about the only team beating OU opening weekend would really be ourselves. My hope is that if our "Murderers Row" power bats come to fruition during opening weekend like we all are expecting, then the reserves and bench players all should get a lot of meaningful playing time. I don't think Coach Gasso would bring the reserves out tooooooo soon though, because even our starting lineup have a lot of players that have never played together in a game before, and they need a lot of innings themselves to gel and start getting that bonding and team chemistry put together. But I do think that everybody on the travel squad ( we do take the whole team with us--yes???) gets to play some innings at Mark Campbell.

[OUBeliever56A]

Well......my confidence level is also pretty high going into opening weekend. I won't say we breeze (Washington!), but I think we come through unscathed at 5-0.
My thoughts:

Duke:
Graduation has hit them hard. They lost a lot of upperclass leadership in 3 Grad Sr's and 5 of 6 Sr's. The seniors all had the covid year they could've come back for but only 1 (Davis) actually did. They lost starters at 1b, 2b, ss, lf, and rf. This accounts for a huge chunk of their hitting power. They lost production of: .398/15HRs, .379/17HRs, .352/10HRs, .341/12HRs, and .263/0HRs off their starting lineup. But that's not all. They also lost their #1 pitcher St.George (22-4/2.07era) and backup pitcher Walters (3-2/2.25era). Plus a bench player. Syd Romero has her work cut out for her. What Syd does bring to the table for them is information regarding our strengths and weaknesses (?). Still, there is a lot to be replaced and I think it will be asking a lot of the remaining players to pull off an upset. The Blue Devils are ranked in the top 25 however, and anyone ranked that high-in spite of what they've lost-deserve our full attention. I'm looking for Bahl to open up the season in the circle for us against the Blue Devils.

Liberty:
In contrast, the Liberty Flames return most of their starters from last year team that did make it to the Regionals, where they lost to GA 7-2, and lost to Duke 5-0. While the Flames bring back a lot experienced players, they did lose a couple of pitchers to graduation, including one of their two starters. But Karlie Keeney returns with a 19-7/2.45 era from last year and 5 of their starters are +.300 hitters. As a team they accounted for 58 HRs so if we are not careful they will put one out of the park. This is one of those times that I think that Liberty probably thinks they won't see us again after this one time match-up so they will throw their best pitcher at us and tell everyone to go to the plate and swing for the fences. I think we see Storako pitch her first complete game for the Sooners here.

Stanford:
The Cardinal also return the team from last year mostly intact that took them to hosting (but losing) the Super Regional at Stanford Calif. They didn't start out hosting, they went to Tuscaloosa Alabama and beat the Crimson Tide 2 out of 3 games to arrive at the unexpected hosting of their own Super Regional. That fact alone tells me that they are for real. They are not, however, particularly noted as a power team, only putting together 24 HRs as a team for the entire season last year. If the Sooners have an "ordinary" season this year, I expect at least 4 of our players to have that many HRs each. But their 4 leadoff hitters are all above .300 and they can run the bases with 54 steals out of 62 attempts. Typically they will beat you 1-0 or 2-1 and let their pitcher carry the team. Signature wins last year came against Okla State (in Stillwater!), Oregon State (who made it to the WCWS) in Corvallis, winning the series against Arizona (who also made it to the WCWS), and winning 2 out of 3 in the series against UCLA! The big issue for the Cardinal is their pitching. They only have Alana Vawter, and how Vawter goes is how Stanford goes. Stanford is another team that probably wouldn't want to pitch their ace against the Sooners so they could hide her until post season, but they also don't have a choice. I think here is where we pitch May. If Vawter is on point, we may not score a lot of points but we should score enough. Can May go the full 7 innings?

Washington:
I think this is the Marquee game of the weekend. Gabby Plain has gone on to the Pro's, or at least the Aussie National Team back home, but the Huskies brought in replacements. Also, the Huskies have a heavy upperclass laden team. 7 of their 9 starting lineup are either Seniors or 5th yr Seniors. Only 4 starters however are +.300 hitters but don't let that fool you. Two of their +.200 hitters have double digit HRs, and as a team they hit 90 HRs last year. They are also an experienced defensive team with only 36 team errors last year (we had 33) that is led by arguably the best shortstop west of the Rockies in Baylee Klinger. She led the team with .434 BA, 24 HRs and 71 RBIs. After losing Plain to graduation, they brought in Lindsey Lopez from Ariz State to bolster the pitching staff and also have Kelley Lynch and Brooke Nelson as backups. But their prize may be in the highly touted freshman Ruby Meylan from Nebraska, possibly a former teammate to Jordy Bahl in the Summer Travel ball circuit. I'll be interested to see if Coach Tarr in an early season game keeps Lynch under wraps and throws Meylan into the fire against the Sooners. That would be a fun game to watch--a Meylan vs Bahl matchup. My money's on Jordy. But if Meylan has some good stuff, then be wary of their power lineup. The last time we met, the Sooners gave them a thrashing on a nationally televised (ABC!) regional matchup 2 years ago in Norman when we run-ruled them 9-1 in 5 innings. The Huskies Seniors and Super Seniors will definitely have not forgotten that.

San Jose State:
The Breather? The Spartans struggled through last year finishing 22-29. But they do sit in the shadow of Cal Berkeley and Stanford. Last year the team BA was only .267 and only 3 starters had +.300 BAs and one of those was their Junior catcher Trinity Edwards, from Moore OK, but apparently she has left the team. Their best pitcher is Jenessa Ullegue, 16-9/ 2.79 era, and with this solo game against the Sooners, she undoubtedly will get the start. However, if their last 4 games last year is any indication, then they pitch by committee. With 5 pitchers on staff, most do not see more than 2 innings. After once through the lineup, they change. So don't worry about "seeing" the pitcher, you'll probably only see her once. Here is the game for Coach Gasso to tinker with things. I wonder after one inning with the starters if we see Coach empty the bench and the reserves get some credible playing time. Here might be the time for Deal to get her first start and perhaps even see Geurin for a couple of mop-up innings. This should be the run-rule game for the Sooners.


This is just my take on how the first weekend looks to me. I believe we will win all our games. Our line-up is just really powerful. I try to be careful not to get overconfident--and I'm sure Coach Gasso is pounding that home to everyone on our team. We can't take anyone for granted this season. Statistics tell me we should win handily most of the time, but I haven't forgotten some nail biters last year that shouldn't have been: Baylor with Orme, UAB with Cespedes, and Utah.

Now, let's get this party started!!

Boomer!

I think the comments above by Tropical Sooner are simply great! There is very little to add. But I have a couple of things.

Duke:
Syd Romero has seen Bahl and May. But she has not seen Storako, Deal or Geurin. Storako did face Duke in 2022 and won giving up 2 runs, 1 earned. I do not remember OU playing Duke recently. But everyone has video on pitchers these days. Jala Wright is a Top 100 player for Duke in the circle. We will see what their coach does. Pitch Wright or pitch others. This game is Duke's second game of the day after playing Washington earlier. It could be a tough day for Duke.

Liberty:
What I know is this. Liberty will be there to play under Coach Dr. Dot Richardson. Richardson is truly softball royalty as an ex-Bruin superstar. In 2021, Liberty almost surprised OU at the Hall of Fame tourney in a 5-4 first game against OU. then OU followed with a 16-0 rout of Liberty. So expect a game if Liberty has the players. I expect the Flames to show up at least for a couple of innings. This is the only game of the day for Liberty. We will get what is their best pitcher i think. The Sooner players should have their autographs pens out for Richardson after the game.

Thursday is OU's only 2 game day the first weekend. It will be interesting to see how the Sooner pitches are used and how the lineup is tweaked to start 11 players that day. That is what i will be watching. Both games should be lopsided IMO and a chance to face someone not wearing Crimson and Cream.

Stanford:
This is Stanford's only game on Friday. I think we will see Vawter pitch for Stanford because of that. This is also OU's only game on Friday. So. everyone is available to pitch for OU.

Washington:
This is the only game of the day for both teams and both teams 4th game in 3 days. OU plays two on Thursday while Washington plays 2 on Friday. Both teams should be warmed up. Both teams should probably be 3-0. With no disrespect to Duke or Liberty or San Jose, I think the Sooners will treat the two-day single games against Stanford and Washington as a dress rehearsal of a big games in the playoffs very early in the season. BTW - Meylan for Washington and Bahl dis play together on the Nebraska Gold team that won the PGF National title in 2021 (I think that is the year.) Seeing who Washington will pitch wil be interesting. I think the big think to me in this game is to not let Klingler beat you. I might add Meylan to that list as a hitter.

San Jose State:
This game will wrap up the weekend. What Coach Gasso has not seen so far, she will see in this game as a Sooner. The lineup could be different because of that.

Overall:
OU will start four pitchers during the weekend (everyone but Geurin who may be redshirting). We will see how much Bahl will play in the field. Is it only when she is not pitching. Or is it before she pitches in relief also. We will get a glimpse of how Hansen-Lee-Erickson will be used at C-DP. RF will be unveiled as to who plays out their.

OU could score 10 or more 4 times. OU could pitch 3 shutouts. OU could lose a game. But I doubt it. I want to see a Sooner get a big hit in a clutch position. Can the Sooners hit 15 HRs in the 5 games? Will the Sooners hit 3 back-to-back HRs during the weekend?

Boomer Sooner!

[1KCSoonerFan]

The stats and team scouting reports are excellent! (Considering it takes me half-an-hour to compose a simple reply, the volume of info is a real gift of time and talent!)

I'm keeping it simple and thinking of the team being composed of three very basic parts: Offense, defense, and pitching. OU is very strong in every part, and maybe the best in the country. So, to win, the other team has to overcome all three parts - or the Schooner needs to bust three wheels. Well, maybe if we really struggle in two out of the three it could be a tough outing. However, if we are good in two out of three areas, we still have a big advantage.

KISS! = Keep It Simple Sooners!