Answering the call

After a visit to OSU, pitcher Parker Conrad got a call from OU head coach, Patty Gasso and headed for Norman.

STILLWATER — Parker Conrad was sitting in a Stillwater hotel room with her dad about a year ago when her phone buzzed.

She was on the final night of a recruiting visit to Oklahoma State, and in the morning, the pitcher transferring from Missouri planned to commit to the Cowgirls.

But the message that lit up her phone changed everything.

It was a text from former Missouri pitcher and current Sooner Paige Lowary, wondering if Conrad might be interested in talking with Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso.

“It was a shock,” Conrad said. “I was like, ‘What? Really?’ They already had a (pitching) staff where everyone was coming back. So I didn’t even have them on my radar when I was in the process of transferring.”

On Friday, Conrad will return to Stillwater for the first time since that visit, and she’ll be doing it in crimson and cream

as the No. 3 Sooners take the field for the second game in this year’s Bedlam series (6:30 p.m., FSOK).

Lowary and Conrad were never on Missouri’s roster at the same time, but they formed a relationship during Conrad’s recruiting process when Lowary hosted Conrad during her official visit.

Last spring after one season at Missouri, Conrad decided she need to leave for her well-being.

Around the same time, Gasso was thinking about building a pitching staff for the future. Ace pitchers Paige Parker and Lowary would in their final seasons of eligibility in 2018, so Gasso asked Lowary if she knew of any pitchers who might be transferring. Lowary recommended Conrad right away.

“I didn’t know too much about (the decision to transfer) or about (Conrad) until Paige Lowary started talking about, ‘I think there’s another story like me out there. Exactly like me,’” Gasso said. “I’m like, ‘Show me where she is.’”

Lowary set a blueprint of sorts for transfer pitchers during the 2017 season, evolving into a dominant closer after arriving in Norman from a two-year stint at Missouri that left her mentally and physically broken. The story was similar for Conrad.

Earlier this year, their former coach Ehren Earleywine was fired from Missouri after athletic director Jim Sterk said the university didn’t believe he could foster a “healthy environment” for the players.

Despite what Lowary had been through, by the end of her first season at OU she was self-confident — both on and off the mound.

Seeing her own turnaround gave Lowary hope she could help another former Missouri pitcher recover from tumultuous program.

Once Conrad received Lowary’s text, she immediately emailed Missouri’s compliance officer for permission to contact OU. She got the green light just a few minutes later and called Gasso.

The next morning, Conrad told the Oklahoma State coaching staff at breakfast that she and her dad didn’t need a ride to the airport anymore. Instead of flying home to Florida, the pair headed down to Norman to meet the defending national champions.

“I told them that I felt like I made a mistake with where I went the first time,” Conrad said of having gone to Missouri. “I wanted to make sure I looked at all the possibilities I could’ve before making a decision.”

Down in Norman, Gasso greeted Conrad with her signature wide, toothy smile. Instantly, the pitcher felt at ease.

“I was like ‘Whoa,’” Conrad said. “I hadn’t experienced that in a year. It was a genuine, ‘Hi, how are you?’ kind of a thing.

“That went a long way for me. I spent a year of not getting that, and kind of just scared to death to even make eye contact with a coach.”

From there, Conrad met with pitching coach Melyssa Lombardi, and it didn’t take long for her to realize that Norman was the place for her.

“We spent 30 minutes looking at film, and she already fixed three major things with my pitching,” Conrad said. “I was like OK, you got me.”

A week later, Conrad called Gasso with her final decision.

Though she was once 12 hours away from becoming a Cowgirl, Conrad ultimately chose to be a Sooner.

And in the year she’s been in Norman, Conrad has shown the same kind of development and evolution Lowary showed a year before.

Just two games away from completing her first regular season with the Sooners, Conrad owns a 0.79 ERA in 15 appearances and three starts.

“I wanted her here really bad because I wanted her to experience the genuine happiness and transformation that I felt I had last year,” Lowary said. “I’ve seen it, and it’s even sooner than I felt it.

“I’ve seen her be very comfortable, and I just love that she got experience what college softball is supposed to be all about.”