Riley Ludlam wasn’t sure whether or not to pick up the call she received from a random number.
It was late on a Tuesday night after the Fort Myers, Florida, native had entered the transfer portal after spending four seasons at Furman University. When she initially saw her phone ring, she expected it to be a prank call.
What Ludlam didn’t realize is the number belonged to Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso, and answering would lead her to the Sooners.
“Thank goodness I picked it up,” Ludlam said. “I heard her speak, and she was like, ‘Hello, I’m Patty Gasso.’ That was the absolute last thing I was expecting.”
What followed was a conversation where Gasso asked about Ludlam’s life outside of softball, something that drove her to commit to play for the 30th-year head coach. Three days after their call, Ludlam traveled to Norman to meet Gasso and get a glimpse of OU softball.
Nine games into the season, Ludlam’s decision to join the Sooners has benefited both parties. In the eight games she’s appeared in, Ludlam is batting .455 with seven RBIs.
Gasso talked about what the process was like when she recruited Ludlam from the transfer portal.
“She came out on a visit and was just the hardest working,” Gasso said. “She just wants to hit the ball hard. She’s keeping it really simple and is a great example to our team.”
In addition to taking an interest in Ludlam’s life outside of softball, Gasso saw the potential the utility player had and knew she could fit in with the Sooners. With Ludlam’s desire to play for a high-caliber program like OU, the rest is history.
Ludlam has also been able to learn from redshirt senior catcher Kinzie Hansen since joining the Sooners. Hansen has helped her learn more about the game and grow as a player, while also boosting her level of play.
“I came here wanting to just get better, especially this being my last year, and I have so much appreciated learning from Kinzie,” Ludlam said. “Seriously, I think every day I learned something from her about the game, about how to handle the type of environment that we play in. I have truly appreciated her stepping up and playing a role in helping me kind of get to this level.”
Sooners not satisfied with Cowgirl Challenge performance
Oklahoma softball has had one of the most dominant runs in college sports, including winning 62 straight games, an NCAA record.
The last time the Sooners suffered a loss was on Feb. 19, 2023, when Baylor defeated OU 4-3. But the Sooners want to do more than just win games; they want to dominate no matter how big or small the competition is.
Last week in the Cowgirl Challenge, the Sooners scored 36 runs against their opponents and allowed just one run, and they won three out of five games via the run rule. However, last week’s performance was not satisfying for OU. Sooners’ head coach Patty Gasso still believes her team’s performance last week was average but knows that early season tournaments, like the Cowgirl Challenge, are opportunities to find and fix mistakes.
“The pressure is kind of on me to make sure that I am paying attention to these things and stopping calling them out and do it over again,” Gasso said. “We learned a lot, and that is helping us learn a lesson and that’s important.”
Gasso said she’s been a bit tougher on her players this week, and she thinks they have responded well to it.
“I am hoping that it’s going to look stronger, faster, momentum building, aggressive, hustling, blue collar,” Gasso said. “All those things that this program was built off is what we need to bring back to this team.”
Career day for Kierston Deal
On Saturday, sophomore pitcher Kierston Deal pitched for five innings, recorded 10 strikeouts and allowed no runs against Lamar.
Deal’s performance against the Cardinals was a confidence boost for the sophomore pitcher and showed that the Sooners have depth in their bullpen.
“(Deal) will tell you that she was definitely nervous, you could see it, you could see it in her face, and she came in locked in,” Gasso said. “It didn’t really matter to me who the opponent was, she was going to have a good game. And it was exceptional. Our pitching staff just got stronger and went out. She needed that, we needed that, especially heading into Palm Springs.”
Through the first two weeks of the season, Deal has seen the field three times.
Initially, Deal struggled at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge where she allowed three runs and seven hits against Utah Valley and Long Beach State, but against Lamar, Deal hoped to find a rhythm.
“Just understanding we have an amazing offense here and an amazing defense behind me that I was able to come out last weekend and just grow very free and own the moment,” Deal said. “We’ve been talking about that a lot as a pitching staff, just going out there and owning your moments there and just knowing that you can pitch free and have an amazing defense by June.”
Deal has been able to grow by learning from veteran pitchers like Nicole May and Kelly Maxwell, and having another year of experience has helped her grow and learn more about softball while being able to watch the veteran pitchers from afar and help build her confidence.
“It’s amazing to have this depth and our staff and just the amount of veterans that we have on our staff," Deal said. "It’s so great as being an underclassman to learn from those pitchers."
Full Circle
Last weekend, Oklahoma handily defeated Central Arkansas twice, but the matchups had a special meaning to Gasso.
The Sugar Bears coaching staff features one of her former players, Kady Self. Self played for the Sooners from 2013-16. Self was named to the 2014 All-Big 12 first team and 2015 All-Big 12 second team during her career as a Sooner.
This week, when the Sooners face Mississippi State, Gasso will reconnect with another former player in the opposing dugout. Former Sooner Samantha Ricketts, who played at OU from 2006-09, is now the head coach with the Bulldogs. Ricketts batted for 48 career home runs, 239 RBIs and once held the NCAA record for most RBIs in a career. She was hired as the Bulldogs' head coach in 2019.
For Gasso, it was a prideful moment to see one of her former players coaching, a feeling she’ll get once more this weekend.
“I take it kind of personally that maybe they enjoyed watching or living in our program enough that they wanted to make a career, so that’s a big deal,” Gasso said. “I do not want to let them beat us, because then they have bragging rights forever. But, they’re doing great jobs. I like to watch my eyes fade away and see what they are doing.”
Next, the Sooners (9-0) play in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in a doubleheader on Friday with No. 20 Mississippi State (8-1) at 7:30 p.m. and Wisconsin (4-6) at 10 p.m. in Cathedral City, California.
