SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
It’s no longer a mystery, at least not in Norman, the home of Oklahoma University, in the current status of young Jordy Bahl.
Long-time head coach Patty Gasso of the too-ranked softball team is spilling the beans now and hopeful that the right-hander, the nation’s No. 1 high school player who committed to the Sooners when her junior year wound down. She then lit up the circle as a freshman home and away and was sporting an overall 21-1 record to go with a O.25 earned run average and owned 199 strikeouts with 29 walks in 132 1/2 innings.
But as the regular season came to a close and Gasso and company were looking ahead to yet another post-season and the usual possibility of not leaving the state through the first-round regions, the super regionals, and right to Oklahoma City 30 miles south of their Norman campus and into the World Series as numero uno in any language, trouble came on the scene when Bahl had forearm problems on her pitching arm.
“She couldn’t lift it,” said Gasso as she views a possible sixth national championship. “It happened before our regular season finale on May 7th. She fielded a ground ball in our pre-game warmups, threw it and felt something just really attack her forearm, and hurting her badly. They got the x-rays and she’s been in constant care and we will do everything we can to help her through it, and yes the pain has subsided substantially.”
No. 98 Bahl, a fan favorite from day one, hasn’t pitched since coming on in relief to throw 1 2/3 scoreless innings the day before her injury.
During the regular season, she was the ace of the staff in the circle, handling most of the marquee matchups that included games versus UCLA and Kentucky, two of the better teams in the land.
But with all this becoming a factor, the Sooners have turned to senior right-hander Hope Trautwein, a transfer from North Texas, which lost to Oklahoma State in the regional final played in Stillwater. In the regional opener against overmatched Prerrie View, she hung up a no-hitter in a run-rule 14-0 romp, striking out 18 and walking two. She relieved sophomore starter Nicole May in the game two 3-2 squeaker against Texas A & M. But in the regional final, it was no contest as junior Macy Mcadoo made her initial start, May finished up, and it was a record 20-0 shellacking in five frames over the embarrassed Aggies.
“We just turned it up,” said May after just getting by the day before against them.”
Oklahoma, which lost only to Texas, 4-2, in Austin after winning the first two games handily, and to state and Big 12 rival Oklahoma State, 5-4, in game three of the Big 12 championship series that mattered little because the Sooners had already wrapped up another conference title, its 12th in a row.
Now comes the Super Regional in Norman against 16th-seeded University of Central Florida. Game one is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start Friday at Marita Hynes Field, and it’s already, as usual, sold out. The second game is slated for a 1 o’clock start on Saturday, and a third game if needed, will be played Sunday at a to-be-determined time.
Gasso said that it’s all up to Bahl’s pain tolerance, but is optimistic that the 5-10 hurler with a variety of pitches has a chance to pitch again this season.
“I’m not going to have Jordy do anything she’s not ready to do,” Gasso said. “I’m not going to have Jordy do anything the doctor doesn’t agree that she can do, so we’re ready one way or the other. Jordy is a great competitor, a true team player, and I know has one thought in mind at this time, and that’s to head for the circle.”
Added J.T. Gasso’s, Patty’s son and the pitching coach: “There’s going to have to be something so substantial to keep her off the mound, and with the way things are going right now, it looks more hopeful then it did a week ago, that’s for sure. She’s an athlete, a real good one, and wants to do her part at this time.”
As far as the ankle injury to Sooners junior catcher Kenzie Hansen, Gasso said it was a little tweak of the ankle, and that’s why we gave her the weekend off and get her ready for this weekend, although she did have one pinch-hit appearance in the regional.
As for UCF of the American Atlantic Conference, it was the lowest of the 16 seeds and turned in a pair of wins over Big Ten Michigan after defeating the lone Big East entry Villanova in the opener played in Orlando. It went 3-0 at its home ballpark, owns a 46-12 record, has a quality pitching staff, some speed, confidence, and stellar fielding. But for Oklahoma, it’s home, sweet home, and that is where it plays best. All of this is unfamiliar to Central Florida, the southwest site, the venue, the crowd, and all the Boomer Sooners.
