
The Roundup – Start of Spring Edition
Insider news and notes to start off spring ball, including some preliminary depth chart battles, body transformations, and hope for the defense.
Let’s dive into some season previews! I’m going to break down the Sooners toughest matchups in conference play. These will be broken down into our lineup vs best pitching staff, our staff vs best lineup, and whole team vs strongest matchup. There is a bit of speculation as well as some statistical analysis used in choosing who is the toughest. I will evaluate returnees as well as plugging in transfers and expected freshman contributors.
Let’s start with our lineup vs best staff: Oklahoma State
Returning Kelly Maxwell who was arguably the best pitcher in all of college softball last season is reason enough for the Cowgirls to be a tough matchup for the Sooners. Maxwell posted a tough 1.22 ERA going 21-5 and throwing 20 complete games. The Cowgirls graduated a couple of pitchers so it remains to be seen how well they will be replaced but they added transfer Lexi Kilfoyl from Alabama where she appeared in 18 games and posted a 2.36 ERA with a 9-3 record. I would expect her to take quite a jump from her previous 80 innings pitched if they want to keep Maxwell fresh. Sophomore Tatum Clopton only threw 9 innings last year so I would expect they are hoping to get more out of her this season.
Our staff vs best lineup: Baylor
This might surprise some people but they return the most of their top production from last season and the other teams have huge question marks so it may not be the toughest at the end of the day but predictability wise Baylor could very well be the toughest lineup we see this season in conference play. Mckenzie Wilson leads the offense with a .424 average and 29 RBI. Baylor isn’t a power offense they only hit 22 HR as a team last season. They are scrappy and were really young last year. They also return Emily Hott (.331) and Aliyah Binford (.316) the bottom of the lineup will need to take a step but as I said earlier they were young last season and can reasonably be expected to grow in production.
Best overall matchup: Oklahoma State
This is to no one’s surprise, OSU has been a program on the rise under Kenny Gajewski. He is a fantastic coach (played baseball at OU and coached under Patti Gasso as a graduate assistant) They return one of the best pitchers in all of collegiate softball as stated above, they boasted the best defense in the Big 12 last year but have some pieces to replace. They are coming off back to back to back appearances in OKC and starts the season off ranked number 3 (D1 softball). I would expect the Cowgirls to be highly motivated to protect home turf as bedlam is in Stillwater this year and most likely will be a rematch in the finals of the Big 12 tournament and possibly even in OKC.
I do not expect the Big 12 to present much of a challenge on the whole for Oklahoma but there will be a few intriguing matchups along the way. I hope you all are as excited as I am for the season to get under way Feb 9th against Duke!
Insider news and notes to start off spring ball, including some preliminary depth chart battles, body transformations, and hope for the defense.
Men’s Top Performers Event Athlete(s) Year Time/Mark OU Outdoor Record 100m Carter Cukerstein FR 10.63 9.97 (2011, Mookie Slaam) 200m Zarik Brown JR 21.02 20.05
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In our fifth installment of the Spring Depth Chart Preview, the 360 staff breaks down the state of the wide receiver room looking for stars under new leadership.
My thoughts on the upcoming huge recruiting weekend, BV’s in-state recruiting tactics, and how the next few classes are lining up for the SEC move.
Insider news and notes to start off spring ball, including some preliminary depth chart battles, body transformations, and hope for the defense.
Men’s Top Performers Event Athlete(s) Year Time/Mark OU Outdoor Record 100m Carter Cukerstein FR 10.63 9.97 (2011, Mookie Slaam) 200m Zarik Brown JR 21.02 20.05
Island Relays Bahamas Invitational is OU’s first meet of the outdoor season and has a ton of events they are involved with! Here we go
In our fifth installment of the Spring Depth Chart Preview, the 360 staff breaks down the state of the wide receiver room looking for stars under new leadership.
Barry, and Damian, discuss the 2004 Sugar Bowl loss against LSU on the most recent episode of the Barry & Mack Show.
In this episode, Barry, and Damian, have a fun off-season discussion as they each draft their own “All-Millenium” Oklahoma Football team. There are plenty of names you all recognize, and some you might not, as they draft the best players at their positions since the year 2000. Damian provides some context and backstories for the picks as someone who knew or played with a number of the selections.
In this episode, Barry and Damian talk Big 12 Schedule, Jalen Hurts, offseason condiitioning, and mmore!
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