Why Oklahoma softball’s dominance extends beyond the batter’s box

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso knew it sounded unusual as she stated it out loud. One thing good got here out of a loss? However maintain on a second, as a result of she will be able to describe the silver lining of Monday’s 7-3 defeat by the hands of UCLA.

To be put on the point of elimination like that — to have her workforce’s dream of profitable back-to-back Ladies’s School World Sequence titles threatened for the primary time all season — was informative, she defined.

“To see our workforce bow up and step up and say, ‘We’re not going residence,’” Gasso stated, “that was vital.”

Oklahoma’s bats fell uncharacteristically silent through the first sport of what turned out to be a doubleheader towards UCLA. Residence run queen Jocelyn Alo stepped to the plate within the fifth inning as the sport’s tying run, and as a substitute of doing what Jocelyn Alo does and sending the ball far over the outfield fence, she struck out swinging. The largely pro-Sooners crowd was surprised by solely the workforce’s third lack of the season.

However there was no panic between video games, no fire-and-brimstone speech from Gasso within the roughly half-hour they spent ready to take the sphere once more. All they wanted was to hit reset, Alo stated, and by the look of the ultimate stat sheet, she was proper. Dealing with elimination, Alo was the hero as soon as once more, clubbing a pair of residence runs, together with a grand slam that introduced her RBI whole to seven. The 15-0 win was the biggest margin of victory in WCWS historical past.

Misplaced within the offensive fireworks was the opposite cause Gasso may inform a gaggle of reporters with a straight face that dropping a sport was a “blessing.” It proved one thing to her and her workforce and perhaps even the remainder of the nation: Hope Trautwein, who final yr pitched an ideal sport through which she struck out 21 of 21 batters after which selected to switch to Oklahoma from North Texas through the offseason, is the actual deal.

A month in the past, the Sooners’ march to the WCWS — a wire-to-wire run because the No. 1 workforce in softball, with the highest ERA and the highest batting common within the sport — was almost derailed when ace pitcher Jordy Bahl felt one thing pop in her proper forearm as she warmed up over the last collection of the common season towards Oklahoma State. Instantly, she shut it down and hasn’t began a sport since, solely showing in a couple of innings of aid this week as she continues to work her means again.

And it was into that void that Trautwein entered, a pitcher with an ERA so absurd that it is likely to be sufficient to make Invoice James query the validity of statistics: 0.17, the perfect in Division I. Catcher Lynnsie Elam and shortstop Grace Lyons spoke about it at one level through the convention event, asking each other, “Is that even attainable? Is that actual?” They had been speaking about how Trautwein allowed solely two earned runs by way of the center of Could, in spite of everything.

However then once more, how actual was it? Bahl was the All-American and co-Huge 12 Pitcher of the 12 months, not Trautwein. Being the workforce’s No. 2 pitcher — even when she was the perfect No. 2 within the nation — meant Trautwein had a relative diploma of consolation with roughly half as many begins (14 vs. 23) and 38.7% fewer innings pitched than Bahl (81 vs. 132 1/3) coming into the postseason. Entering into her footwear and shouldering the duty of the No. 1 starter, would Trautwein be the identical pitcher?

Chatting with ESPN previous to the beginning of the NCAA event, Gasso was cautious as she mentioned Trautwein’s eye-popping ERA. She was a great pitcher, Gasso stated with one thing approaching skepticism in her voice, however “she most likely has thrown fairly a bit much less innings than most pitchers.”

The rationale sounded as unusual as Gasso speaking concerning the constructive impact of the loss to UCLA: Oklahoma was a sufferer of its personal dominance with 76% of its video games ending early by advantage of lopsided scores. Gasso was uneasy about what that meant. She’d by no means skilled something prefer it. Some back-of-the-napkin math advised her their pitchers had misplaced almost 60 innings price of labor to run-rule video games.

“I am not taking something away from her as a result of she’s earned all of it,” Gasso stated of Trautwein again in mid-Could. “It is only a completely different world for us.”

The month since Gasso laid out her considerations have affirmed two issues: Going up towards All-American hitters like Alo and Lyons and Tiare Jennings and Jayda Coleman daily in apply is likely to be all of the preparation a pitcher wants, and Trautwein can deal with the stress. It is why she selected to switch from North Texas, she stated, hinting at a confidence that may be obscured by her happy-go-lucky smile outdoors of the pitching circle.

Fact be advised, Oklahoma wanted her. In an announcement saying her addition a yr in the past this month, Gasso alluded to Trautwein’s expertise, which she stated can be “actually vital for this younger employees that we’ve got coming in and returning.” She went on to tout Trautwein’s bona fides, which included Convention USA Pitcher of the 12 months honors, and referred to as her a “excellent match.”

If solely she knew how excellent. Trautwein would not have one other 21 strikeout sport, however she would no-hit UCF through the tremendous regionals.

Her two-hit shutout towards UCLA on Monday was simply her newest spectacular outing. Since postseason play started with the Huge 12 event, she’s thrown a team-high 40 innings and posted an ERA of 1.40. In the course of the NCAA event, she’s 5-0.

With every begin, her confidence has grown. Whereas not as outwardly intense as Bahl, Trautwein has an aura that matches proper in at Oklahoma.

“It is humorous, as a result of in case you meet her off the sphere, you’ll be like, ‘She’s the sweetest soul. There is not any means she may very well be like such a dominant pitcher,’” Alo stated. “However she is, and she or he’s legit, and she or he makes me higher daily.”

Gasso went into final Saturday’s sport towards Texas anticipating to make use of the bullpen and mix-and-match pitchers towards the Longhorns’ harmful lineup, Bahl included. However then Trautwein bought the beginning and by no means gave Gasso a cause to make a change, permitting two runs within the complete-game effort. Afterward, Gasso stated it was clear that Trautwein had discovered her consolation zone. She added, “Hope is type of on hearth proper now.”

Trautwein, for her half, is matter-of-fact about her growth on the sport’s greatest stage. Upon arriving in Oklahoma Metropolis, she stated she took some recommendation from Elam: Go searching on the crowd as soon as and do not take a look at them once more.

All postseason lengthy, she’s adopted a easy rule of thumb: “Persist with my routine.”

“I’ve positively been getting extra used to the atmosphere,” she added. “It is exhausting to play right here every time you have got numerous distractions occurring, and I actually have locked into my routine as I’ve thrown extra innings. Being snug and understanding my workforce has my again, it is getting simpler because the innings go on.”

Her ERA won’t be 0.17 anymore, however 0.58 is greater than all proper for somebody who has grow to be the go-to pitcher on a workforce two wins away from a nationwide championship.