GOLDEN GIRLS
Oklahoma State won two games Thursday in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic while Oklahoma opens play Friday in the prestigious California event
NORMAN — Patty Gasso made it clear before the softball season that this Oklahoma pitching staff would be different.
Rather than mostly relying on one ace, as the Sooners did with Paige Parker the last four years and Keilani Ricketts four years before that, Gasso planned to piece together a rotation with six options.
That strategy hasn't changed 10 games into the season, but junior righthander Mariah Lopez has shown ace-like attributes that could cement her case as a true No. 1 option.
Stuck behind the Paiges — Parker and Lowary — in her first two seasons, Lopez has earned backto-back Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors to begin the 2019 campaign. She threw a no-hitter last weekend against Florida Atlantic and has already notched three 10-plus strikeout games this season after doing so just once in two years prior.
The Saugus, California, native will be back in her home state this weekend as No. 4-ranked Oklahoma (9-1) will play five games, including one against No. 2 UCLA, at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California.
Lopez, who committed to OU as a ninth grader, is 5-0 with a 0.27 ERA this season. Opponents are hitting .048 against her. Despite being overlooked in her first two seasons, Lopez has a 37-1 career record with a 1.65 ERA.
“She was always second to the Paiges and she spent two years with that,” Gasso said. “Now it's her limelight. Some people would be afraid of that. She embraces it, and has since the start of the season.”
Still, Lopez will share OU's pitching circle with a pair of transfers: Giselle Juarez, a former All-American at Arizona State, and Shannon Saile from Florida International.
Lopez has pitched 26.1 innings, followed by 18 from Juarez and 14.2 from Saile.
Juarez is arguably the best second option in the sport. She was 26-6 with a 1.22 ERA last season for the Sun Devils, and was one of nine Division-I pitchers to register 300 strikeouts.
“Knowing that there's someone else out there that has your back, I think that's something we've really preached,” Lopez said. “One person can't do this by themselves”
Gone are the days when Ricketts averaged 255 innings per season from 2010-13. Parker averaged 217 innings per year in her career. But only one Big 12 pitcher, Baylor's Gia Rodoni, topped 200 innings last season.
Gasso, like other coaches across college softball, are limiting pitchers' workloads.
“Mariah's been doing great,” Gasso said. “She'll have some good challenges this weekend, but we need these other pitchers, and we need to give them opportunities. Right now we're not ready to say Mariah is the go-to all the time yet.”