Jordy Bahl Dealing With Arm Soreness, No Timetable for Return
When Oklahoma rolled out on the field on Friday to take on the Iowa State Cyclones, their ace, freshman RHP Jordy Bahl remained in the dugout.
Instead, North Texas transfer Hope Trautwein trotted out to the circle and proceeded to strike out 14 batters in a Friday afternoon gem. The Sooners rolled, winning 5-0, but there was still a nervous air around the Oklahoma fans packed into USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City.
Where was Jordy Bahl?
Well, after the game Patty Gasso addressed the elephant in the room, and it sounds like Oklahoma wil be without Bahl for tomorrow’s game as well.
“There’s a little bit of soreness and we don’t want to mess with that,” Gasso said of Jordy’s status. “We should be able to do this just with our other pitchers, and they need to feel that… We’re just being really, really slow with [it.] If we don’t need to use Jordy, we’re not going to use Jordy because more than anything, these other need this. They need this tournament. So why would I put Jordy, who’s had more innings than anyone else, in if she’s feeling a little bit of tightness?
“Right now we’re just trying to give her a rest and give Hope [Trautwein] this opportunity,” Gasso said. “It’s really important going into the postseason that you have a full batch of pitchers ready to go and experience has a lot to do with it. All season long, I’ve been talking about how many innings we’ve lost and it will become a factor if we don’t continue to give these guys opportunites.
Bahl has become an integral part of the Oklahoma juggernaut, and her missing any time at all in the postseason could be detrimental to the Sooners national title hopes.
Luckily, Oklahoma has one of the top pitching staffs in the country to turn to, with Trautwein leading the country in ERA (.17) and Nicole May ranking seventh nationally (.97). The Sooners await the winner of Oklahoma State and Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game tomorrow at 2:00 P.M.
