Oklahoma lands former Wisconsin pitcher Paytn Monticelli

Patty Gasso is not going to stop after winning a third consecutive national championship. She is looking to bring another title back to Norman, continuing the excellence of Oklahoma softball. The NCAA transfer portal has been a huge asset in the process, with another star committing on Wednesday.

Former Wisconsin pitcher Paytn Monticelli will play for the Sooners next season, she announced via Twitter. A star for the Badgers during her freshman season, Monticelli will now be joining college softball’s top program.

Monticelli made 21 appearances (13 starts) last season, pitching a total of 80.0 innings. She finished with a 2.71 ERA and just over a 4/1 K/BB ratio. The versatility to start and come out of the bullpen will work well for Gasso.

In an offseason where Oklahoma lost Jordy Bahl to Nebraska, adding pitchers to the roster was always going to be a priority. Being able to secure somebody such as Monticelli, who has multiple years of eligibility remaining, is a positive.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.