www.soonertimes.com

Bottom post of the previous page:

Tomorrow is the National Letter of Intent Day for the 2022 Class for D1 Softball.

The Sooners should sign 4 players tomorrow in another strong recruiting class for the Sooners.

Kierston Deal - LHP, Avery Hodge - SS , Jocelyn Erickson - C/1B and Savannah Geurin - LHP

Look for social media post about the signings.....

Boomer Sooner!

This is an illustration of why OU recruiting classes, no matter where they're ranked in the top 100, are almost always at the top or near the top. There always seems to be two or three recruits at least who can step in as highly productive players right off or in the next year. Such is the case with 2022.

This is a small class but it should fill some needs. The chink in the armor recruiting wise has been pitching. I feel like OU is in good shape with what they have and what they are bringing in. With the additions of Geurin and Deal to go along with May and Bahl the staff should be deep and flexible with 2 righties and 2 lefties, and all seem to have a different style. I"ll have to admit I've only watched Deal on youtube and its obvious she's a power pitcher. She blew up and kind of came out of nowhere as far as being an OU recruit. She'll be one to keep an eye on over the summer.

I've always been a Jocelyn Erickson fan. With Elam in her last year there should be innings for another catcher. It'll be interesting to see Nugent and Erickson compete for that. I still feel Gasso will want to give Hansen a break to keep her fresh. So there should be innings for a backup catcher. Erickson should also be in the mix at 1B which will be vacated by Snow. I could see as many as 4 people competing for that spot with Green, Nugent, T. Coleman, and Erickson.

Avery Hodge is still the one I like to call the best player coming in nobody talks about. She could very well be the heir apparent at shortstop to Grace Lyons. If I were to pencil in a lineup a few years down the road she is probably the name I'd put there. She'll be a different style that Lyons. She'll be more of a Sis Bates type and I think we can live with that. Shortstop at OU seems to always be one of the strongest positions on the field and I don't see that changing.

Small 4 player class but quality. All these players have a chance of being major contributors moving forward. Very good job in filling needs for Gasso and staff.

cclift38 wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 6:23 pm This is a small class but it should fill some needs. The chink in the armor recruiting wise has been pitching. I feel like OU is in good shape with what they have and what they are bringing in. With the additions of Geurin and Deal to go along with May and Bahl the staff should be deep and flexible with 2 righties and 2 lefties, and all seem to have a different style. I"ll have to admit I've only watched Deal on youtube and its obvious she's a power pitcher. She blew up and kind of came out of nowhere as far as being an OU recruit. She'll be one to keep an eye on over the summer.

I've always been a Jocelyn Erickson fan. With Elam in her last year there should be innings for another catcher. It'll be interesting to see Nugent and Erickson compete for that. I still feel Gasso will want to give Hansen a break to keep her fresh. So there should be innings for a backup catcher. Erickson should also be in the mix at 1B which will be vacated by Snow. I could see as many as 4 people competing for that spot with Green, Nugent, T. Coleman, and Erickson.

Avery Hodge is still the one I like to call the best player coming in nobody talks about. She could very well be the heir apparent at shortstop to Grace Lyons. If I were to pencil in a lineup a few years down the road she is probably the name I'd put there. She'll be a different style that Lyons. She'll be more of a Sis Bates type and I think we can live with that. Shortstop at OU seems to always be one of the strongest positions on the field and I don't see that changing.

Small 4 player class but quality. All these players have a chance of being major contributors moving forward. Very good job in filling needs for Gasso and staff.

I can't say how much I agree with what 'cclift38' has said in this post. This post is spot on about this class. The Sooners should get some immediate help in 2022-2023 from Deal and Geurin if both of these lefties are what they are reported to be. This class allows pitching to maintain a level of strength in the future.

The Sooners also have time with this class to let Hodge and Erickson develop just a bit as freshman before they take on larger roles later in their career. Erickson will likely play more as a freshman due to her C/1B/DP possibilities as a lefty. I expect her bat to be a contributor almost from day one. Hodge is the SS in waiting behind Lyons' 5th year at SS. Hodge could not learn from a better mentor. She will be a different player, but everything indicates that Hodge will be very good.

Here is the press release from OU Softball about the signing class of 2022.

https://soonersports.com/news/2021/11/1 ... -2022.aspx

The OU Class of 2022 is definitely a Top 10 class.

If the class is judged by the top 4 recruits for each team, the Sooner Class of 2022 is in the Top 5 teams and probably the #4 team behind 1-UCLA, 2-Arizona and 3-Arkansas with 5-Duke being #5.

Kierston Deal, Jocelyn Erickson, SJ Geurin and Avery Hodge will join the Sooners as freshman for the 2023 season.

https://www.si.com/college/oklahoma/sof ... 22-players

Video of Kierston Deal

https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/sport ... 5bc22c3102

I am positing this to consolidate the info about the Sooner Class of 2022 Softball recruits.

Here are the four players that will be Sooners in the fall of 2022.

#T-20 - Savannah Geurin, LHP, Texas* Bombers – Smith - (Oklahoma)
Savannah is 5-foot-10 lefty with some of the top spins in the senior class. As Coach Scott Smith explains, “In the day of everyone throwing hard, not as many can spin it like ‘SJ’ can. She gets people out throwing 62-63 mph and is very Cat Osterman-like in how she can carve you up.” Savannah’s strengths are her accuracy and command of multiple pitches, which continues to grow in terms of effectiveness. Her stuff is “dirty and difficult to handle,” according to her coach. One highlight was beating the outstanding Athletics – Mercado 18U team at Top Club in Oklahoma’s stadium where she will soon be pitching. Making her also effective is her ability to use her off-speed stuff to buckle knees; SJ isn’t afraid to throw the curve in on right-handers’ hands either while being able to go up and down in the zone.

#T-10—Jocelyn Erickson, C/1B, OC Batbusters – Stith (Oklahoma)
Jocelyn recently returned from a devastating knee injury where she tore her ACL but she’s back and playing primarily at first base right now. Said one observer, “Her return has shown why she was so missed by the team last season.” The Sooner commit has a great arm and a big power bat. She’s 5-foot-11 and uses her bat speed to generate power. Batbusters head coach Mike Stith called her a “scary good player, an historic-type player, who has a great knowledge of the game and the potential to be transcendent in the sport.” Jocelyn comes from a strong softball family as older sisters Kaylee and Emilee play at BYU. In 2019, Jocelyn’s first at Sandra Day O’Connor (Phoenix, Arizona) High, she helped the team win the 6A state championship as she batted .530 and led the Eagles with 50 RBIs in 30 games. The plan according to coaches is for the senior to work her back into catching over the Fall and get back into playing behind the dish by the Spring/Summer of 2022.

#T-6—Avery Hodge, SS, Texas* Bombers – Smith (Oklahoma)
Avery does everything at a plus level in that she can field, slap, run with great speed (2.6 seconds home to first) and “lives on base” per one top level club coach. “She gives whatever teams she’s on a variety of options.” Avery is a two-time selection for Team USA’s Jr. National Team because of her defensive prowess but also because she’s a protype leadoff hitter who, in 181 at-bats over the summer had 15 extra base hits, 47 steals and only 15 strikeouts. The lefty has surprising strength and fluidity on the defensive side too and whatever is hit to her sticks to her hands like glue. She almost never bobbles the ball; one college coach commented: “She has hands like a video game.” Because of her defensive skills, Avery has been compared to Washington’s Sis Bates. “Two years ago, the infielder played for Team USA’s U-17 squad that won the Pan American Championship by beating Mexico 2-0 and in the game Avery had two hits. “Avery’s softball IQ is unparalleled,” says Coach Scott Smith, head of the Bombers organization. “The bottom line with her is she is a winner and makes everyone around her better.” The standout speedster was offered in September of 2017 at an Oklahoma Camp and committed verbally the next day.

#1—Kierston Deal, LHP, Mojo – Fisher (Oklahoma)

Here is an article about her sudden rise in the rankings.

Seriously, the reason this is an anomaly—the first time I can ever remember a player going from not ranked to #1—is simple… 18 months ago, when we did the penultimate ranking for the 2022 class, she wasn’t anywhere to be found. At least as far as being on the national ranking scene or even on our radar.

She was playing, but not at the intense level she is now, working out with a trainer and pitching coach regularly as well as her Mojo – Fisher team that travels the nation playing in top events.

And here we are today… and what a difference a year makes.

It’s not like Kierston didn’t have the support or a model to follow. Her mother, Michelle Deal, played basketball and softball for Louisburg College, a private two-year school in Louisburg, North Carolina, though she was an infielder in softball.

“To tell my age,” she laughs, “when I went off to college, it was the very first year of fastpitch softball in North Carolina.”

Kierston is from Winston Salem, North Carolina, and plays for East Forsyth High in Kernersville. With the COVID pandemic shutting everything down in 2020, it didn’t really give the softball world a chance to see the lefty pitcher in action, but once softball got cranked up again, so did she and so did the “wow” factor—including the reaction she got from college coaches and scouts.

Word quickly spread about the Carolina lefty who threw in the mid-60’s with a good changeup and, by last December, she committed to South Carolina; however, in time she would open up her recruiting again.

In the Spring, the pitcher showed how dominating she could be at the high school level as she had 292 K’s in 136 innings and recorded a 0.64 ERA for the Eagles, leading her to be named the Central Piedmont Conference Pitcher of the Year and ultimately earning Kierston Extra Inning Softball 1st Team High School All-American honors.

Then, the fun began as she had an even more impressive summer, throwing 119.2 innings and recording 201 strikeouts versus only 17 walks (an 11 K average per seven innings). She had a 0.79 ERA for the Summer and a WHIP of .652 and saved her best for last.

At PGF Nationals, the pitcher averaged a game per day—62 total innings—but gave up just two earned runs for the entire event with a 0.22 ERA and allowed only a .121 batting average against her.

She also showed what she could do with the bat, hitting .302 with six doubles as a line drive hitter with power to all fields.

Some would say she’s not as proven or has done it at the 16U level primarily—true, and she was the 2021 Extra Inning Softball All-Summer Team MVP— but those who have tracked her closely over the last year see that the ceiling is very, very high and the best is yet to come.

Kierston does have unfinished business as she and her Mojo team haven’t yet taken home the trophy so there’s motivation for this, her final year of high school and club ball, to win a title.
“KD is a fierce competitor,” says her club coach, Josh Fisher, “and she is a winner both on and off the field. She is a team-me kid and is very well-deserving of all of the accolades. In our opinion, she is very, very deserving (based off of the body of work and on-the-field performances) of the No. 1 ranking in the 2022 class.”

“Although our team fell short (at PGF),” Coach Fisher continues, “in both of the games she started versus the Hotshots-Nelson team–which I consider one of, if not the, best hitting club in America— Kierston was absolutely terrific against them.”

“In the semifinals at PGF, she twirled a shutout through seven complete innings and finished that game going eight complete innings, giving up three hits, no earned runs, and striking out six. In the championship game, she went seven innings, allowing one earned run, struck out six, while only walking one and giving up just six hits.”

“In those two games,” Fisher concludes, “she went 15 innings, giving one earned run, striking out 12. We think she is the best in this country in this class.

So too do many top college and club coaches and scouts we’ve talked to… and that’s why she’s the #1 ranked player in the Class of 2022. You could almost say that Kierston is the REAL… ummm… future of college pitching.

- - - - - -

Geurin, Erickson and Hodge have been commits to the Sooners for several years. They all three have been ranked in the 'Top 10' and/or 'Top 20' during those years. The threesome has been the basis of a class that has been expected to provide a strong LHP for the Sooners, a versatile LH catcher and/or 1B with a big bat for the Sooners and a future slick fielding lead-of hitter that possibly plays SS or 2B for the Sooners. Geurin, Erickson and Hodge are on course to do just those things.

The surprise is Kiersten Deal in the class. About a month ago when it was released that she had de-committed from South Carolina and decided to play for the Sooners it was a big story in the D1 softball world. She is a late-blooming LHP and hitter that has catapulted herself up the rankings as mentioned above in the last 18 months. For her to go from unranked in 2020 to being the #1 ranked player in October of 2021 is amazing and unheard of. That is all described above. Deal gives the Sooners a second LHP pitcher that will be in the circle for the 2023 spring season. This will also mean that for now, the Sooners have had the #1 ranked pitcher in the class for 2 years in a row following Jordyn Bahl in the Class of 2021 and the 3rd #1 player of the Class by including Jayda Coleman in 2020. BTW, Hansen was the former #1 in the Class of 2019 until the final class rankings when she dropped to #9 due to injuries.

With a class of the #1 player (Deal), the #T-6 player (Hodge), the #1-10 player (Erickson) and the #T-20 player (Geurin) the Sooners will receive immediate help next year from these freshman. Adding these four players to the list of already excellent players that are on the diamond for the Sooners, all things once again are looking up for OU. This is not the strongest class of recent classes for the Sooners but their is certainly quality and probably just what the Sooners needed in this class. The Classes of 2019, 2020 and 2021 have added players like Hansen, Boone, Donihoo, McAdoo, Coleman, Jennings, May, Bahl, Nugent, T Coleman and Lilio as a tremendous base for the Class of 2022 to be added to the Sooner program.

I believe that Softball America is going to update their rankings for the 2022 Class between now and next August.

Boomer Sooner!

I will say EIS has lost a lot credibility over the past couple of years. Some rankings are obvious but a lot of travel ball coaches are laughing about the 2022. The most notable and more researched is Legacy and Legends as they tend to have committees and not easily influenced by a certain few travel ball coaches.

If you have access to the rankings, PLEASE post them. I subscribe to EIS and Softball America to be able to share.

I will see if I still have it. EIS got so out of bounds, I cancelled my subscription. EIS consults with 3 travel ball coaches and 1 college coach. Don’t let them fool ya, worthless Media trash.

Lasooner11 wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 7:58 am I will see if I still have it. EIS got so out of bounds, I cancelled my subscription. EIS consults with 3 travel ball coaches and 1 college coach. Don’t let them fool ya, worthless Media trash.

For the most part, the Sooner players have been rated fairly I would say. Players I see on other teams seem to be also.

Thank you posting the video highlights of Deal....

The Gatorade Players of the Year for Each State was announced today.

The Class of 2022 had two players that were named their State's POY.

North Carolina - Kierston Deal - Here is her announcement.

https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/po ... _KDeal.pdf

Key paragraph:
The 5-foot-7 senior left-handed pitcher led the Eagles (27-3) to the Class 4A state final this past season. Deal posted
a 23-3 record with a 0.79 ERA, striking out 305 batters in 150.1 innings pitched, while walking just 34. She also
batted .533 with 5 home runs and 28 RBI. The Central Piedmont Conference Player of the Year and three-time
Pitcher of the Year, Deal is also an Extra Inning Softball First Team All-American. She is ranked as the nation’s No. 1
prospect in the Class of 2022 by Extra Inning Softball.
A devoted member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Deal has served as a peer tutor in her school system and
has volunteered locally on behalf of the Salvation Army, a Vacation Bible School and youth sports programs.
“Kierston Deal is the kind of top-notch athlete that doesn’t come around often,” said Natalie Layden, head coach at
Ronald Reagan High School. “The statistics showing what she does on the mound and in the box speak for
themselves, but she is a real competitor who understands what it takes to be successful.”
Deal has maintained a weighted 4.38 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play
softball on scholarship at the University of Oklahoma this fall.

Arizona - Jocelyn Erickson - Here is her announcement.

https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/po ... ickson.pdf

Key paragraph:
The 5-foot-9 senior catcher posted a .624 batting average with 25 home runs and 58 runs batted in this past
season, leading the Eagles (22-11) to the Conference 6A state tournament. Erickson, who is ranked as the nation’s
No. 10 recruit in the Class of 2022 by Extra Inning Softball, also banged out 10 doubles, scored 50 runs and walked
28 times, compiling a .704 on-base percentage and a 1.581 slugging percentage. As a catcher, the Conference 6A
Player of the Year threw out 4-of-8 would-be base stealers and picked off five runners at first base.
The president of her seminary class at her church, Erickson has volunteered locally with Feed My Starving Children
and as a youth softball coach. She has also donated her time to multiple community service initiatives through her
church. “Jocelyn is the best player in the state,” said Rich Hamilton, head coach of Red Mountain High. “We
couldn’t get her out. Offensively, she controls the plate. Pitchers have to be so careful that they usually make a
mistake. Defensively, she made you change your offensive plan because of her skills as a catcher.”
Erickson has maintained a weighted 4.12 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play
softball on scholarship at the University of Oklahoma this fall.