The 11th-hour transfer was expected to be another jewel in the Sooners’ crown. Instead, the lefty has become their Hope Diamond.

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NORMAN — Patty Gasso wasn’t sure Friday night what pitcher she’d start Saturday afternoon.

Or if the Sooner coach knew, she wasn’t saying.

Truthfully, though, Gasso tipped her hand.

“It’s important that we really fight for this win, fight to win the series,” she said after a shocking home loss to nearly-in-the-Big-12-cellar BYU. “We still have an opportunity to hopefully win this conference race.”

If the Sooners needed a big win — and they did — Kelly Maxwell needed to start.

And she did.

On an afternoon OU got back to its winning ways, beating BYU 7-3 and salvaging a series win, Maxwell was stellar once again. She allowed three runs on a pair of homers, scattered six hits and went the distance.

It’s the kind of performance that has been routine for Maxwell this season.

The kind of performance, too, that has become increasingly rare for any other OU pitcher.

Even as the Sooners continue to make a strong argument that they’re the best team in the nation, an uncomfortable truth has settled in — they would be sunk without Maxwell.

The transfer from Oklahoma State, you’ll remember, was a late addition to this OU roster. She didn’t commit to the Sooners until the first week of August. At that point, few pitchers remained in the transfer portal.

Where would the Sooners be if Maxwell had gone elsewhere?

It’s possible OU might’ve landed Alana Vawter. The former Stanford pitcher who’d helped the Cardinal get to the Women’s College World Series was in the portal, and it’s widely believed OU wanted Vawter unless it could get Maxwell. 

The day after Vawter committed to South Carolina, Maxwell committed to OU, so it’s entirely possible the Sooners kept Vawter on the hook until it knew it had reeled in Maxwell.

Still, an 11th-hour transfer is saving the Sooners’ bacon.

Everyone knew, of course, that Maxwell was a big addition. She is a two-time All-American and has arguably been the best lefty in college softball over the past couple of years. She was bound to make an impact.

But she was expected to be another jewel in the Sooner crown.

Instead, Maxwell is the Hope Diamond.

Hope is what she’s give OU.

Losing Jordy Bahl was expected to be a blow to the Sooners. Like Maxwell, she is a two-time All-American, and last season, Bahl was the most valuable player in the Women’s College World Series. 

It was a punch to the gut when she decided to transfer home to Nebraska.

But with Nicole May returning along with Kierston Deal and SJ Geurin, OU looked to have a decent foundation for this season’s pitching staff. Bringing in transfers Karlie Keeney and Paytn Monticelli seemed good additions.

Then, Maxwell committed.

It sure felt like there might not be enough innings to go around, a sentiment Gasso backed up before the season when she talked about a six-headed monster of a pitching staff. 

Now, her talk has changed.

“Not good enough,” Gasso said of the four pitchers used in Friday’s loss. “Not gritty enough.”

“We can’t rely on one arm.”

But that’s exactly what Gasso and the Sooners are doing. It’s one thing to bring back Maxwell to pitch the third game of the Texas series; the Longhorns are a top-five team, and after dropping the second game of that series, coming back with Maxwell in the third game made sense. But needing to bring back Maxwell against BYU?

The Cougars came to Norman with only four Big 12 wins.

Criticism of OU softball rankles lots of Sooner fans. However, criticism is a positive sign not only for the Sooners but also for all of college softball.

More from @JenniCarlson_OK: ⬇️ https://t.co/1o0M8AImoj

— Sellout Crowd (@selloutcrowd_) April 11, 2024

Over the past few years, the Sooners needing to throw their ace twice in a three-game series against such an opponent would’ve been unheard of.

Listen, I’m not suggesting that pitching has been OU’s only issue in losing three of its last six games. Leaving too many runners on base and struggling to get timely hits have been problems, too. 

But the Sooners have to get more from pitchers not named Kelly Maxwell.

“We need fighters,” Gasso said. “I’m not making excuses for anybody, but it’s hard sometimes to play in this program because of the expectations. And the pitchers really want to be perfect. When you are trying to be perfect, you are not going to be perfect.

“We’ve just got to get the ball and have a mentality of, ‘Me and you, let’s go. Me against you, let’s go.’ We’re just really trying to be too perfect with things.”

The results have been far from perfect.

Friday, BYU scored in all but one inning, and all three OU pitchers who threw at least an inning allowed two or more earned runs. May gave up three in three innings, Deal two in one inning and Keeney four in two and two-thirds innings.

“There’s just not a good feel to it,” Gasso said of the pitching staff. “We’ve just got to trust our stuff and be a gritty type of pitching staff. Sometimes we look that way, and sometimes, we don’t.”

Maybe the Sooner pitchers will rally. Maybe they’ll make this stretch of games look like an outlier. Maybe they’ll help this OU team do what the last three OU teams have done and win another national title.

But the way it looks right now, they’d be sunk without Kelly Maxwell.

Ditto for the Sooners.