The 2025 Sooner Softball Team--Before and After the Transfer Portal Acquisitions

[TropicalSooner]

I've put together a listing of "before and after" the transfer portal acquisitions just to compare how our team was looking then, and how it now appears going into the Fall of '24 and on into the '25 season of play.
I understand everyone plays multiple positions. But I've generalized the positions sort of to line up the players to where we were used to seeing them play last year, and for the Freshmen, where they have generally been playing during their HS and Travel Ball careers. Of course the Freshmen will move around....maybe even the returners might be playing somewhere else next year. I just made some assumptions for clarity and familiarity.

Here's how Team 50 was looking just a couple of weeks ago (after the outgoing losses):

Returning Players:
Cyd Sanders...................SR....1B
Kasidi Pickering...............SO....OF
Ella Parker.....................SO....DP
Maya Bland....................SO....OF
Hannah Coor.................RJR. ..IR/OF
Nellian McEnroe-Marinas...RFR. ..IR/IF

Returning Pitchers:
Kierston Deal.................JR
Paytn Monticelli..............JR
----------
Incoming Freshmen:
Cheney Helton.............CF
Sydney Barker..............SS
Tia Milloy....................MIF
Gabriella Garcia...........MIF
Kadie McKay.................IF
Cori Hicks...................C
Riley Zache.................C

Incoming Freshman Pitcher:
Audrey Lowry

==============================
Now Add-IN the Incoming Transfers with the positions they've been accustomed to playing prior to joining OU:

Fielders:

Cyd Sanders....................SR....1B
Ailana Ağbayani...............JR.....SS
Abby Dayton...................JR.....CF
Kasidi Pickering...............SO.....OF
Ella Parker.....................SO.....DP
Maya Bland....................SO.....OF
Hannah Coor.................RJR.....IR/OF
Nellian McEnroe-Marinas..RFR.....IR/IF
Cheney Helton...............FR.....CF
Sydney Barker................FR.....SS
Tia Milloy.....................FR.....MIF
Gabriella Garcia............FR.....MIF
Kadie McKay.................FR.....IF

Catchers:

Isabela Emerling...........JR.....C
Cori Hicks...................FR.....C
Riley Zache.................FR.....C

Pitchers:

Isabella Smith.............SR.....P
Kierston Deal..............JR.....P
Patyn Monticelli...........JR....P
Audrey Lowry..............FR....P



As you can see, instead of a team of a few starters and bench players we are now a team of veteran starters and leaders ready to lead the new freshmen that have not taken a single college ball snap yet....so to speak.

If the transfers happen to stop here--I think we would have a very competitive team to charge into the SEC with and I believe still wind up in OKC at the end of the season in 2025.

Let me know if I have overlooked anyone.

[TropicalSooner]

I'm curious about what you all think about this:

If we are told that we no longer being considered by the Canady family (not that they would do that---but just what if...)

Do we now go after one more of the pitchers that are left on the market?
Say, like a Cera Blanchard or a Sage Mardjetko?

4 pitchers on staff is still a little thin if we were to be cautious regarding unexpected injuries/illness.

[OUBeliever56A]

I'm curious about what you all think about this:

If we are told that we no longer being considered by the Canady family (not that they would do that---but just what if...)

Do we now go after one more of the pitchers that are left on the market?
Say, like a Cera Blanchard or a Sage Mardjetko?

4 pitchers on staff is still a little thin if we were to be cautious regarding unexpected injuries/illness.

I would say that Cera Blanchard could not hurt if we picked her up. But I will say this, Softball America has a ranking of all portal entrants. Blanchard is not in the 37 remaining players and pitchers on the list. But there are 8 pitchers in addition to Canady who is the #1 player. So there are others out there. Mardjetko is the 2nd highest pitcher rated.

[TropicalSooner]

Thank you for the information. I thought I had been keeping an eye on Blanchard and Mardjetko but I guess she got away from me.
I wonder where she went off to?
I also wonder if any of the remaining pitchers are Seniors or Grads. That would be ideal if we have to go that route. But certainly would look hard at Mardjetko if she is by far the best one left. Just not trying to overstock the Pitcher's Room for '26.

[OUBeliever56A]

Blanchard is still in the portal, but not committed to anyone.

[TropicalSooner]

Oh, well....there you go then.....if we need to go down that path.

[OU_Tom]

Thank you for the information. I thought I had been keeping an eye on Blanchard and Mardjetko but I guess she got away from me.
I wonder where she went off to?
I also wonder if any of the remaining pitchers are Seniors or Grads. That would be ideal if we have to go that route. But certainly would look hard at Mardjetko if she is by far the best one left. Just not trying to overstock the Pitcher's Room for '26.

I think you always need a top flight pitcher. I am not sure if any of the 4 that will be on the roster are top flight. Other than Canady (who seems to be all about the $$$), there probably isn't anyone in the portal who is top flight. My guess is Patty will pick up another pitcher but I think at this point we are just overstocking. It can't hurt to pickup a Senior pitcher though; they could help without overstocking 2026

[TropicalSooner]

Last night, one more pitcher entered the portal:
RHP Sam Landry from ULL. She was able to enter the portal because her coach left. I do not know if she has DNC on her portal listing or if she intends to follow her coach to Tech.
She will also be a Senior next year.
My thinking is that either of the two seniors-to-be, Blanchard or Landry, would be a good pickup to round out the pitching room--assuming we are out of the hunt for Canady. Her decision probably won't come until she gets back from Japan. Those games run from July 4th through July 8th...and maybe a day or two of sightseeing?? So I'm not expecting anything from her until mid-July at the earliest. Does anyone know if she has taken all her visits yet? or are there more of those to wade through?
Probably comes down to $$$ in the end, and her family already knows where we stand with that. I suppose it is possible that there could be continuing dialogue between Canady's family and our coaching staff, so I would think that if it becomes apparent we are entertaining one or more of the "back-up plan" pitchers, then we've probably been told to move on.

While Canady herself probably won't make her decision for awhile yet....I guess we keep our eyes open for any other activity in the mean time.

[1KCSoonerFan]

Tropical,

How do you go about deciphering what it might mean if OU took another transfer pitcher not named Canady? My question is more about your process of interpretation rather than a specific answer.

I shared my opinion on another thread on taking the best available pitcher right now as a wise move - one that does not close the door on Canady - and that won't leave the program hanging out to dry, either. More upside than downside because it seems very logical and reasonable, and fits with Patty's past moves to hedge on the side of having too much rather than needing more.

I thought about this like I imagine Patty planning for a camping trip into the wilds of Canada for a month: What do I KNOW I will need? What do I think MIGHT happen? What are the benefits and costs of my choices with limited space in the boat?

I drew the conclusion that quality pitching is like food and gasoline...you can still get back home if you have a little more than you need.

That's my process of thinking. What's yours?

[oufanforever]

Tropical,

How do you go about deciphering what it might mean if OU took another transfer pitcher not named Canady? My question is more about your process of interpretation rather than a specific answer.

I shared my opinion on another thread on taking the best available pitcher right now as a wise move - one that does not close the door on Canady - and that won't leave the program hanging out to dry, either. More upside than downside because it seems very logical and reasonable, and fits with Patty's past moves to hedge on the side of having too much rather than needing more.

I thought about this like I imagine Patty planning for a camping trip into the wilds of Canada for a month: What do I KNOW I will need? What do I think MIGHT happen? What are the benefits and costs of my choices with limited space in the boat?

I drew the conclusion that quality pitching is like food and gasoline...you can still get back home if you have a little more than you need.

That's my process of thinking. What's yours?

The transfer portal is not the draft, OU can't just choose a player and they will automatically join the team. Taking another pitcher make sense for OU to cover their bases, but does it make sense to the pitcher to come to OU knowing you may only get 20 innings if Canady signs later? Cannot just look at this from the OU perspective, have to think about it from the player's perspective as well. If I am a good pitcher in the portal, I am not going to OU without assurances Canady is out of the picture.

For a typical season with 60ish games, including the post season, there are a finite number of innings to spread around, and you need innings for your young pitchers to develop. Carrying 6 pitchers last year basically wasted a year for both Geurin and Monticelli, since both did not receive adequate innings to answer the basic question: did you improve or not. To me, 4 is the realistic number of pitcher you will actually use in a season, and number 5 would be for depth and injury purposes. If OU signs Canady, Monticelli probably will draw the short end of the stick next season again, maybe it will be Smith. If OU doesn't sign Canady, 4 is still enough to go through the season but could be dicey if injuries happen.

[OUBeliever56A]

Essentially, last year here is how the development of the 6 pitcher staff occurred.

Returners:
1. May - SR - Proven starter with quality innings in 2023.
2. Deal - Sophomore - Strong prospect who pitched well as a FR for Oklahoma in 27-ish innings.
3. Red-Shirt Freshman - Geurin - Good prospect.

4. XFER Monticelli - Sophomore - Oklahoma picked up Paytn early in the process as the fourth pitcher after a decent Freshman season at Wisconsin.

5. We picked up Keeney - Grad Student - next - XFER from Liberty - A needed second proven quality starter with lots of experienced.
At this point the Sooners probably felt that they had two proven quality starters, 1 strong prospect after Deal's FR season, one prospect in Monticelli with 80 innings as a FR and a prospect with a decent ranking pitching for the first time.

I think at that time the Sooner staff knew or suspected strongly that Maxwell was going to jump into the portal. But they probably thought it was no better than 50/50 that Maxwell would choose Oklahoma.

6. Then we got Maxwell. Now three proven quality starters. It ended up that Deal and Keeney split the 3rd starter role and relief innings. that shorted Monticelli's and Geurin's innings.

Let's look at this year.

Returners:
1. Deal - JR - Still mostly a strong prospect who has pitched well for two seasons with 27 and 78 innings. Probably ready for a full time starting role.
2. Monticelli - JR - Still a prospect with only 19 innings in 2024, But showed promised. Is he a reliever or a starter.
3. Lowry - Freshman - Highly regarded LHP recruit, Unsure if she is the leader of the staff or #2/#3. But their is confidence in her ability to pitch well.

While some feel Deal is proven others are not sure. Monticelli has some doubt and some confidence about her. Lowry should be good, should be.

4. Isabella Smith - XFER SR from Campbell - Proven starter at the non-P5/4 level with low hits/IP and high K/IPs.

Even though she has good states, it is still a bit of a stretch to believe that she performs at a same level pitching in the SEC this season. There is some doubt, some confidence in her.

Comparison for 2024 and 2025:
1. The Sooners probably had more confidence in May than what they now have in Deal, But they do believe in Deal.
2. I would say that the Sooners had more confidence in Deal stepping up than they have in Monticelli this year, but they like Monticelli.
3. I would say there should much more confidence in Lowry that there was in Geurin.
4. I think the Sooners had a good amount of confidence in Keeney being able to help the Sooners. I think the Sooners like Smith, but there was probably more belief in Keeney last year.

That tallies to the Sooners being more confident in the first 3 spots and maybe a little less confident in the 4th.

Last year, the Sooners picked up Keeney without fully knowing about Maxwell being there and if she would choose them.

Will the Sooners do the same thing without knowing for sure Canady will do? Or do the Sooners know one way or the other? Maybe we will know more if OU pulls the trigger for another pitcher before mid-July.

[OU_Tom]

@oufanforever I tend to agree with you.

But I don't think Patty agrees with us though. It seems that she gets the best players that she can (thru recruiting HS kids and the portal) throws them out into the colosseum & let's them fight it out/compete. It seems like this hasn't affected the HS recruiting yet (this year's recruiting class and the 2025 recruiting class are loaded). This will lead to more attrition in the long run since all the athletes want to play and there just aren't enough innings to go around when you have a large roster.

[TropicalSooner]

Tropical,

How do you go about deciphering what it might mean if OU took another transfer pitcher not named Canady? My question is more about your process of interpretation rather than a specific answer.

I shared my opinion on another thread on taking the best available pitcher right now as a wise move - one that does not close the door on Canady - and that won't leave the program hanging out to dry, either. More upside than downside because it seems very logical and reasonable, and fits with Patty's past moves to hedge on the side of having too much rather than needing more.

I thought about this like I imagine Patty planning for a camping trip into the wilds of Canada for a month: What do I KNOW I will need? What do I think MIGHT happen? What are the benefits and costs of my choices with limited space in the boat?

I drew the conclusion that quality pitching is like food and gasoline...you can still get back home if you have a little more than you need.

That's my process of thinking. What's yours?

I'll try to answer your question, but I will answer my own question in the OP first: If we are told that we no longer being considered by the Canady family...do we go after one or more of the pitchers still left on the market?
My vote is definitely yes.
And I would go after the best senior on the market. At this point, I'm not sure whether that would be Cera Blanchard or Sam Landry, as I have not had time to research their production over the last three years and against what kind of competition. But I'm sure Coach Rocha has done that and the coaching staff would pick the one that would be the best fit for the program. The reason for a Senior is twofold--they provide knowledge and leadership to the current staff, and after this year they will be gone so there will be room for when we bring in three top ranked freshman pitchers in 2026.

Now to your question, 'what might it mean if we took another pitcher not named Canady', I think it means we are building the best pitching staff that we can to seriously contend for another national championship in 2025.
I've said this till everyone is tired of hearing it but I like pitchers. And I get uneasy when injuries start showing up. And they always seem to---with last year being a remarkable exception to that rule.
I always go back to 2022 when we had 5 pitchers on staff and by the time we got to post season, we were down to 2 pitchers: we had one redshirt freshman(Guthrie) (which later turned out to be an ongoing illness) and two injuries (McAdoo and Bahl) and it was left up to May and Trautwein to carry the load between them until the WCWS Finals when Bahl returned in limited form, but good enough.

As '56 pointed out above, we don't have a May or Trautwein quality pitcher now, but we do have a very good Deal, and a possible "Keeney" type pitcher in Smith, and the unknown quality of a freshman in Lowry. My fingers are crossed that she comes in and just mows down the competition like Rothrock did this year. But those pitchers are kind of rare. And of course, we have Monticelli who I hope can develop into a good closer. If we pick up Blanchard or Landry then we have another pitcher to share the third starter duties with Lowry until she gets the hang of D1 college softball hitters.

Now what does all this mean for Canady? I think the message is we are positioning ourselves the best way we can to win another national championship, with or without you. If she thinks this would be a too crowded pitching room and goes somewhere else...then so be it. If she becomes a Sooner, then we'll be a force to be reckoned with not only this year, but next year as we bring in 3 new high-powered freshmen.
Where we may get some pushback is from the Blanchard and/or Landry camps. If they think we are the most likely school to sign Canady, they may be reluctant to join an even more crowded pitching staff.


I guess it boils down to providing safety while creating depth with a watchful eye toward not creating accumulating depth for 2026 when we have 3 potential starting pitchers joining the staff.

Remenber, this last world series....we won the first game with an Ace--Maxwell, and we won the second one with a staff--using 5 pitchers.

[1KCSoonerFan]

Thank you, Tropical. I value your reasoning and taking the time to share it.

There was some buzzy speculation I read that if OU took another pitcher, it MEANT that Canady was gone. This piqued my curiosity about how people (including myself) form opinions on softball. I wondered why taking another pitcher had to have this meaning!? What made this a certainty? In my own mind, I could think of half-a-dozen valid reasons OU might want another pitcher that has nothing to do with Canady.

You mentioned a few of those reasons in your response. An Ace put OU in the driver's seat in Game One of the Finals this year, and a Staff parked the Trophy in the garage. Excellent point.

Right now, I am suffering a bit from Canady fatigue. I genuinely would like to see her at OU if she is a good fit for a program of Champions....not the other way around.

I'm excited for Fall Ball and 2025!

[TropicalSooner]

Sure thing.

Let me add one other thought about Canady.

If the driving force in her camp is the biggest payday and she goes somewhere else because they offered more money--I am actually just fine with that.
I don't want to overpay just for one player only to have locker room resentment start to fester.

But if her reasoning is to play for Oklahoma and wants to be in the program and environment we have created and she is okay with the offer we have made, then there will another difficult challenge for her to negotiate. That of national outcry of tampering and paying for players. But one thing that I believe we have, that many schools are apparently lacking, is an onsite Sports Psychologist. It seems to me that we have almost become a Pitcher/Player Rehab Center for Pitchers especially that come to us from programs where they were under some form of undue stress. I think G Juarez had issues at her previous school, Alex Storako is another, and of course Kelly Maxwell--who was always wanting to come here and when she finally did caught he!! from nearly every OSU supporter in the state of Oklahoma.

The he!! that NiJaree Canady will catch will be on a whole 'nother level and it will be nationwide.

Fortunately for us, she will be spending the next week in Japan along side Sooner veterans Kinzie Hansen and especially Kelly Maxwell, both of whom should be able to reassure her that we have the best facilities and support staff of any school to help guide her through any of these kinds of difficulties.

The last concern I have will be the locker room reception. While I doubt that anyone says 'I got this--what did you get?' The players aren't dumb. In this day of NIL, everybody gets something. But if you have a pie of X dollars for Softball that starts out evenly divided, and then a big name comes in and takes a bigger piece of that pie, then everybody else's piece just got a lot smaller. I hope that the Soul and Heart of the Sooner softball program will be a welcoming one regardless of whatever has happened at the bank.