Jordy Bahl shares her secret to finding success

Patty Gasso sent Jordy Bahl to the mound to begin the sixth inning for Oklahoma tied at two against Stanford with one goal — to send the Sooners to the title game.

Four innings of scoreless pitching from OU’s ace later, and Oklahoma is back in the Women’s College World Series for the fourth consecutive year. Now, Bahl is just two victories away from being a two-time national champion.

“Really for me, it’s just being present and staying simple,” Bahl said about her performance following the win. The second I try to do too much with any one of my pitches, I start overthrowing, and then things really go downhill from there.

“Honestly, just trying to keep everything simple, and like Grace said, like they have my back, I have their back. So I know that they’re in every pitch, so I need to be in every pitch, and they deserve that from me. So just trying to stay where I know I can have success.”

After Bahl took over in the sixth inning, she went on to pitch 4.0 innings of scoreless softball. She allowed four hits but threw six K’s in the victory which improved her record to 21-1 on the season. Bahl took over for starter Nicole May, who finished Monday’s outing pitching 5.0 innings against 19 total batters. She allowed four hits and two earned runs while striking out three Cardinal batters before Bahl took over.

Oklahoma had to work from behind to begin the matchup after a two-run home run to left field from Stanford DP Kylie Chung in the first inning. The Sooners battled back with dualing runs in the second and third innings, including a solo homer from CF Jayda Coleman, to tie the game. 

It took over five innings for another run to score in the top of the ninth. OU second baseman Tiare Jennings was the hero of the game, knocking in two runs with a double to right center before the Sooners shut Stanford down in the bottom of the ninth.

Now, Oklahoma moves on to face Florida State in Game 1 of the Women’s College World Series. First pitch of the championship series, which is a best two-out-of-three, is set for Wednesday, June 7 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Game two willl be played the following day at 7:30 p.m. ET on the same network. If necessary, game three will be played on June 9 at 8 p.m. ET with ESPN carrying that broadcast as well.