Hope Trautwein sat on her bed in Denton, Texas, with a notepad, penning a list of her dream schools.
Nearly 45 minutes earlier, the then-senior announced she was searching for a new home via the NCAA Transfer Portal. After receiving emails and calls from Power Five schools across the nation, including UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma State, Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the former North Texas star felt her phone buzz in her pocket.
Out of high school, Trautwein wasn’t highly sought after by top-end Division I programs. North Texas was one of the only decently-sized schools to give the star-studded pitcher an offer. Fast forward five years, and Trautwein became the hottest pitching recruit in the portal. Overwhelmed by her options, the right-hander looked at the notification on her phone.
To her surprise, the buzz was an Instagram follow request from Oklahoma assistant coach JT Gasso. Immediately, she handed the phone to her Mean Green teammate Miranda Holguin.
“Oh my gosh!” Trautwein exclaimed to Holguin in disbelief. “JT Gasso just followed me on Instagram!”
Frantically, Trautwein began circling her room hysterically. Moments later, Trautwein’s phone vibrated again. It was an email from Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso requesting a phone call.
Gasso was at a hair appointment in Norman preparing for a press conference before the NCAA Norman Regional. She walked out of the appointment to jump on the recruiting trail once she caught wind of Trautwein’s availability.
Three days before the No. 1 Sooners’ matchup against Morgan State in the regional, Gasso knew she needed to strengthen her pitching staff in the offseason because then-redshirt seniors Giselle Juarez and Shannon Saile were on their last seasons of eligibility.
After a phone call with Trautwein minutes later, Gasso knew she wanted the Pflugerville, Texas, native to make the trip north to Norman. Adding her to OU’s pitching stable would complement a star-studded lineup including sluggers Jocelyn Alo, Tiare Jennings and Kinzie Hansen that smacked an NCAA record 125 home runs in 2021.
Trautwein had given the Sooners problems in the past, closing out a 4-3 Mean Green win at Marita Hynes Field in February 2020, which stands as the program’s only win against OU in 25 contests. The then-junior tallied three strikeouts against seven batters faced, while allowing zero hits in two innings.
As Oklahoma throttled its way through the 2021 Women’s College World Series, Trautwein idly watched on her couch while the Sooners hoisted an NCAA championship trophy. With Trautwein dreaming of attaining that sterling trophy herself, Gasso’s recruiting pitch was all but solidified.
After an official visit with the Sooners on June 18, eight days after Oklahoma won its fifth national championship, Trautwein committed to the Sooners. Alongside the signing of freshman pitcher Jordy Bahl, the No. 1 player in the 2021 recruiting class, Oklahoma completed its offseason pitching heist just two weeks after the WCWS.
While Trautwein’s decision to transfer to Oklahoma was a “dream come true,” her journey to Norman wasn’t smooth sailing. Her resilience in tough situations has shone through her entire career and helped mold her into the pitcher and leader she is today.
During her four years at North Texas, one of which was cut short in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Trautwein was an ace, garnering two consecutive Conference USA Pitcher of The Year awards, a 61-24 record and 693 strikeouts. Trautwein even pitched the NCAA’s first perfect 21-strikeout game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2021, which gave her national acclaim.
Despite all the individual accolades, one thing still eluded Trautwein at North Texas: the postseason. Now, joining the No. 1 team in the nation — a team that’s made five straight WCWS appearances and has two championships in that span — the redshirt senior looks to play a pivotal part in the Sooners’ title defense by dominating in the circle.
So far this season, Trautwein has earned four wins in 23.2 innings pitched, striking out 37 batters and allowing just 12 hits across her appearances. She, Bahl and sophomore pitcher Nicole May have dominated as OU’s starting trio, allowing just 16 runs in 15 games during the 2022 season. No. 1 Oklahoma (15-0) plays its home-opener against Minnesota at 5 p.m. on Monday, and from then on, Trautwein will have a chance to continue her lockdown performance.
“She’s just shining from within,” said Carollin Cavil, Trautwein’s high school pitching coach. “I don't want to be like ‘this is the cherry on top,’ but it definitely is. This is definitely a dream come true for her. Knowing everything that has happened to her softball wise has put her right where she needs to be, and I'm very excited for her.”
‘She kind of lost her way’
Perched in the stands at Texas San Antonio’s Roadrunner Field, Paul Trautwein watched his daughter trot out of the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and a chance to close-out UTSA on March 17, 2018.
Then a freshman, Trautwein had previously tossed four-straight complete games, striking out five batters and allowing just two runs in each. Her father, who’d been her private coach until middle school, knew his daughter’s strengths and expected the power pitcher to bring full gas to the situation, especially against a left-handed hitter late in the game.
Instead, her first pitch in relief was a curveball, which she hung and the batter launched over the center field wall for a grand slam. She was yanked after that single pitch in what ended up a 9-6 loss.
After the game, Paul walked to the locker room to console his devastated daughter. There she revealed throwing the curve was the head coach’s decision, not her own.
“My advice from there was that she couldn’t let that throw destroy your confidence,” Paul said. “She had to understand what happened and get past it, and knowing that next time that situation would come up, she can't leave that ball there, or put it in a different spot and maybe shake it off if it happened again.”
That pitch, coupled with a coaching transition that offseason, opened a chapter of struggle for Trautwein. The new coaching staff requested she shorten her windup, tighten the release of her glove-arm and fix the upward rotation of her riseballs.
“She kind of lost her way,” Paul said. “They changed too many things to where she wasn't comfortable anymore. She felt like her curveball wasn’t gonna work or didn’t know what her screwball was gonna do when it shot out. She was just doing things so differently.”
During the first 15 games of her sophomore year, Trautwein gave up 40 hits and seven home runs and was notably frustrated at times. But as time went along, she adjusted and pitched the third-most innings in program history in 2019. Simultaneously, she became more composed, a trait she lacked during her freshman season.
Holguin, Trautwein’s friend and a former teammate, watched her leadership blossom firsthand.
“She became someone in the circle that was smiling no matter what was going on,” Holguin said. “It carries on to your other teammates and allows you to gravitate towards her. She is always the one in the dugout talking, and she’ll pat on the back and be like, ‘Hey, we're good. We got it.’”
Trautwein’s freshman and sophomore seasons wouldn’t be the first or last demonstrations of her resilience and adaptability.
'She gives young girls something to look forward to'
Late on Sept. 27, 2016, Cavil made one of the most devastating phone calls of her life. Former Hendrickson High teacher and softball coach Mike Wozniak had died unexpectedly and she was tasked with informing those close to him.
Wozniak, who had been hired in 2014, rebuilt the Hawks’ softball program from the ground up.
In just two years, he made Hendrickson a playoff contender, but his impact went beyond the diamond. “Woz,” as many players called him, treated each player like his daughter. He gave every player, despite skill or athleticism, a chance to play during the season.
According to those who knew him best, Wozniak understood his role as a father figure to shape the members of the Hawks team not just into better players, but also into better individuals.
Cavil, who had played for Wozniak her last two years of high school before joining his staff, knew which player she had to call before any other.
Wozniak was like a second father to Trautwein, and she was devastated by Cavil’s call, immediately breaking into tears. A senior in high school at the time, Trautwein had spent three years growing close with the coach.
“Having to tell that to her, I mean, how do you prepare for that?” Cavil said. “It's just such a tough spot to be in. How do you prepare to let someone know that ‘hey, this person's no longer here.’ I think overall, like trying to capture the emotions, it (felt like) a state of confusion.”
The next morning, Trautwein and several other Hendrickson High athletes gathered at the school’s flagpole to hold a vigil. Alongside coaching and teaching, Wozniak ran the school’s morning prayer program for Hendrickson students. He also taught the school’s “Money Matters” class, which showed students the importance of financing, budgeting and saving.
While Trautwein and her teammates mourned the loss of their coach, she made it their mission to win a championship in memory of Wozniak. That season, Trautwein not only shouldered the physical load, but also carried the mental burden of her team.
Then-freshman pitcher Taylor Bachmeyer, now an ace at Sam Houston State, tore her ACL celebrating one of Trautwein’s strikeouts at midseason. Despite losing her rotation mate, Trautwein put the team on her back, posting a 1.05 ERA and leading the team to a 27-6 record.
Ultimately, the Hawks ended the season with a 3-0 playoff loss to Bowie High in the third round of the state tournament, one win short of the title game.
Trautwein has carried on Wozniak’s legacy ever since. In December 2020, before starting her senior season at North Texas, Trautwein and Bachmeyer translated Wozniak’s leadership by inspiring younger pitchers who came from across the United States to train at Cavil’s Circle Fastpitch program in Tyler.
Oklahoma pitcher Hope Trautwein teaches at coach Carollin Cavil's Circle Fastpitch summer camp in Tyler, Texas.
Trautwein said she wants children to look up to her not just as a pitcher, but also a person. That was a trait Wozniak instilled in her when she was in high school.
“I think it's so cool how we can both help young girls together,” Bachmeyer said. “After how much she helped me, that's like the coolest part. Then we get to do it with our pitching coach, Carollin. It's super awesome to see someone like Hope, and she's out here throwing perfect games with 21 strikeouts. She gives young girls something to look forward to.”
This season, Bachmeyer and Trautwein could go head-to-head when Oklahoma faces Sam Houston State on March 18 in Oklahoma City. Cavil, alongside teachers and coaches from Hendrickson High, plan to attend in hopes the former teammates face off in the circle.
'Ready to see what postseason softball is all about'
Trautwein had no idea of the magnitude of what she was about to accomplish.
Standing in the circle, she proceeded into her windup, and fired a fastball to the 21st Arkansas Pine-Bluff batter she’d face. With just 75 fans attendance, no TV broadcast and a single North Texas Twitter account reporting on the road game, the potentially historic moment didn’t produce much grandeur.
But, as the ball zipped through the strike zone, history was made. Instantly, Trautwein stamped her mark in record books as the first and only Division I NCAA softball player to record a 21-strikeout perfect game.
Afterward, focused on the next game of their doubleheader against the Golden Lions, her teammates gave her high-fives sparingly as the grinning pitcher slowly realized what she accomplished.
“I feel like our reactions at the end could have been a lot better,” Holguin said. “I was excited and I was happy for her. We celebrated after and we took her out and we bought her flowers and stuff — everything was celebrated afterwards. In the meantime, however, it should have been celebrated and acknowledged a lot more than what it was.”
Once the game was over, Trautwein was flooded with media attention from across the nation, including being featured on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top 10 and a segment on ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir.
Now at OU, Trautwein may not have garnered attention across the United States for the last time. As 2022 progresses, the redshirt senior will play a pivotal part in Oklahoma's dreams of a back-to-back title run and a sixth national championship.
Trautwein has continued to carry the positive leadership lessons — from Wozniak, from North Texas, from her family — with her to the latest point in her journey. Alo, the 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and someone Trautwein struck out back in their 2020 meeting, quickly noticed her new teammate’s joy for the game.
“She is so freakin funny,” Alo said during preseason media availability. “She's just a pitcher and pitchers are always a different breed. ... She's super funny to be with off the field. She's always down for a good time too, and I know that if I needed something she would pick up the phone right away.”
Now, Trautwein relishes the competition and talent-level that comes with scrimmaging against the Sooners’ star hitters every week. Moreover, she can’t wait to play alongside them in the WCWS come June.
“I feel like every day I see the best play I've ever seen in my life,” Trautwein said of the company she finds herself in. “It's just normal for them. This is just so amazing to me to watch these girls play softball just because they're so dang good. … I’m ready to see what postseason softball is all about.”
