Oklahoma Sooners prepare for WCWS after winning 2021 title
Oklahoma players and coach Patty Gasso speak at a press conference prior to the start of the 2022 Women’s College World Series.
NCAA, Oklahoman
Sooner captain Lynnsie Elam had some advice for her pitcher Thursday afternoon.
“Look at the crowd once,” Elam said, “and then don’t look at them again.”
Hope Trautwein took that advice.
After all, the Sooner righty had never played in the Women’s College World Series. Never pitched in front of so many people. Never been on a bigger stage than the one that awaited her at Hall of Fame Stadium.
But it’s exactly why she transferred to OU.
On a day the Sooners bullied their way to a 13-2 run-rule victory against Northwestern, the OU offense will get the big headlines. As well it should. It rolled up six runs in the third inning, then trumped that with seven runs in the fourth.
Heck, Trautwein even got upstaged a little by freshman phenom Jordy Bahl, who pitched for the first time since the last regular-season series.
‘Made differently’: Jordy Bahl makes dramatic return for OU softball in WCWS opener
But the Sooners wouldn’t have been in a position to go nuclear on the Wildcats, wouldn’t have been able to get Bahl into the game to dip her toe in the postseason pool if not for Trautwein.
“I was concerned a little bit because this is her first opportunity,” Sooner coach Patty Gasso said. “When you are at another program, you are dreaming — ‘I’m dreaming of this. I’ve been dreaming my whole life’ — and then here you are. What is that going to look like?
“I thought she handled it like a champ.”
Trautwein’s line: one hit allowed and seven strikeouts in 4 ⅔ innings pitched.
Now, the hit she gave up was a solo home run and a walk she surrendered before giving way to Bahl in the fifth came around to score, so Trautwein took on two earned runs. That ran her season total to eight earned runs.
Yes, eight.
All season.
Still, for all the magnificent…
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