Stealing home: pitcher Bahl leaves OU for Nebraska

Joey Ross

A week after the University of Oklahoma Sooners softball team completed their three-peat as national champions, pitcher Jordy Bahl announced on social media that she would be transferring to Nebraska.

“We are grateful for her two years with our program and for everything she accomplished. She obviously was a massive part of our on-field success, but what I’ll always appreciate most about Jordy is her approach and dedication to the game. We are supportive of her, and she will always be part of the OU softball family,” OU softball head coach Patty Gasso said. 

“My reaction was surprise at first, for sure,” said KFOR sports anchor and UCO graduate Dylan Buckingham. “Pretty shocking news, to say the least, by someone who just dominated the NCAA tournament.”  

 Bahl, a sophomore from Papillion, Nebraska, spent her first two seasons playing softball at the University of Oklahoma as starting pitcher.

Bahl was the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year in her junior and senior high school years, and she was the top recruit in the nation for the 2021 class.

She finished her career at Papillion with a 95-3 record.

In her freshman and sophomore seasons at Oklahoma, Bahl would win Big 12 Freshman of the Year, two-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, and the Women’s College World Series Most Outstanding Player of the Year in 2023. 

She also became a two-time first-team all-American during her time at Oklahoma. 

Bahl also led the Sooners to win the 2022 and 2023 national championships.

“We are understanding of her situation and certainly want her to be the happiest she can be,” Gasso said. 

Bahl made this decision to be closer to home and family. 

“I have decided to return home and play the game I love, closer to the things that made me who I am and that has always been more important to me than the game,” Bahl said in a social media post.

“I also get it. She’s homesick. She wants to be great at the place she loves. And really there’s nothing left to prove at OU,” Buckingham said. 

The challenge is set for Bahl, where she has the chance to make the Nebraska softball program more relevant. 

“Now she can try to turn around a Nebraska program on her own,” Buckingham said.

With Sooner senior pitcher Alex Storako’s departure and Bahl’s transfer to Nebraska, the Sooners are looking thin at the pitching position, with senior Nicole May and sophomore Kiersten Deal as the only pitchers on the roster currently.