Softball has the ability to surprise Patty Gasso.
She has amassed more wins than any other person in Big 12 history. She has recruited and developed 20 first-team All-Americans, including stars like Keilani Ricketts and Jocelyn Alo. A trip to a travel ball tournament in the Midwest would challenge the Hall of Fame coach's idea of first impressions.
She had been committed to the Cornhuskers since she was in the eighth grade. Everyone wanted a piece of the right-handed pitcher after she reopened her recruitment.
Gasso was interested in Bahl's tape. She has both spin and velocity. She can locate her pitches. One moment, she hits north of 65 mph with her fastball, and the next she throws a 50 mph drop ball that Gasso says "just falls off the table."
The parking lot at the softball complex is filled with out-of-state license plates. She thinks every top 25 program is here. She chose a quiet spot near the visitor's bench to watch Bahl pitch, avoiding the crowd of coaches and assistants.
Instead of heading straight into her windup, Bahl walked around the circle. She looked over at the batter with an expression on her face that was unwelcoming.
She stepped to the rubber when she was good and ready. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at her catcher.
She was measured at 5-foot-7, lean and no stranger to the gym. She felt a different kind of energy.
It comes across wrong.
Gasso thought to herself, "You're arrogant, aren't you?"
Gasso told herself to shut up because this is one of the best prospects she has ever seen. She noticed how Bahl's teammates responded to her, feeding off her competitiveness.
These are not theatrics she is witnessing. It wouldn't be intimidating if it weren't real. Gasso says that Bahl has an honest-to-goodness mental edge.
An image of a lion stalking its prey comes to mind when watching her operate.
You are like, "What am I thinking?" Gasso says. It is her way of doing it. You just have to watch it and get over it quickly.
In May 2020, Bahl will win the first of two consecutive Nebraska Player of the Year awards. She will have a perfect record and a 0.13 ERA for Papillion-LaVista High School. She will allow 54 hits and strike out 615 batters. She will hit 42 home runs and be the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2021.
Bahl was wanted to come to Oklahoma by Gasso. She will host her personally on an official visit and give her a tour and sales pitch. The ability to walk in as a freshman and compete at a high level was what attracted Bahl to the coaching staff. She wants to win the Women's College World Series and not just one.
Gasso knows what the future holds. There is greatness in Bahl, but it is also a polarizing quality. Everyone who roots against Oklahoma is going to dislike the way she can come across as arrogant, according to Gasso.
Gasso met with some upperclassmen and warned them not to judge because the first thing you might do is that.
Gasso says she is special.
You are going to fall in love with this kid.
In late March in Kentucky, it was a warm evening and Bahl was in trouble. The fans inside John Cropp Stadium are getting louder by the second. This is her first road game and she is in front of a hostile crowd. She was on the edge of disaster after being up by a single in the first.
She gave up a single through the left side, which was annoying but not a big deal. She made a throwing error after fielding a bunt. She made two errors, one of which was a mistake that allowed the bases to be loaded with no outs.
The steady simmer she usually competes with turns into a rolling boil, prompting a quick timeout and a visit from Gasso, who approaches the circle projecting a sense of calm.
Gasso tells the star freshman that there is a big crowd and things are going against them, but that the tension is normal.
Gasso says it happened. We are going to work out of it. Get that out of your mind quickly.
Gasso returns to the bench and watches Bahl change. She will recall that it was intense.
She says that she went to another space where she was angry at herself.
Bahl cut down the runner at home after two pitches. Over the course of the next seven pitches, the two batters were struck out.
Bahl ripped off her mask and swung it wildly in her hand as she walked off the field.
Gasso is impressed. She wonders if she really needed to go out there.
Lynnsie Elam has learned a lesson in a short time. Some pitchers need her help on a regular basis, whether it is going over strategy or restoring order. Bahl is not like that. A quick reset is the most she needs.
"She goes to another space now where she's mad at herself. And she is determined not to give up anything." Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso
Elam did not see a hint of panic from her. If anything, Elam was impressed by how Bahl went back to work, allowing one earned run, 12 strikeouts and no walks, improving to 11-0 on the season.
Elam says that she is an intense competitor. She can see it in her eyes. She is very consistent with what she does and it is great to see her do what she does.
In the season opener against UC-Santa Barbara in February, Bahl was given the start and pitched two perfect frames. She started and won again in the marquee game against UCLA, allowing one unearned run in seven frames.
Her game has been thrown off by opposing teams and fan bases. The rules of softball are so strict that they will often cry foul. They will say that she is lifting her foot off the ground, ignoring the fact that one of her toes is still in the dirt.
Gasso says that it is nothing. How can we stop her? The troll on social media wanted to find out more about it.
Every elite pitcher has had it happen to them.
She says everybody tries to pick you apart when you are legit.
It is a total waste of time.
She says you're not going to be intimidated by him.
Bahl isn't sure where her presence on the mound comes from. She was not told to behave that way.
She says it comes naturally.
Her father played football at Doane College in Nebraska, and she grew up with three brothers, which is one of the clues to its origin. All the boys played baseball at one point, and one of them was a pitcher who signed with the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Bahl says he has always been competitive.
Family games of whiffle ball were intense. They used metal bats. When one of the boys was called out on strikes, he threw a bat in the direction of one of their brothers, which almost came back to bite them. Bahl says that her brother could hear the bat flying over his head.
It's a trait that's a bit of a shared trait.
Bahl says that it runs in the blood.
There was no sibling rivalry when it came to individual pursuit.
Bahl was scared to decommit from Nebraska. It was 45 minutes from home and the only school she had visited. She could not talk to the coaches to find out what opportunities were out there.
She had faith. Her official visit to Oklahoma confirmed that she was a student at the school. The program felt like a family to her.
She wouldn't have to be the center of attention if she joined the Sooners. They were the defending champ. Alo was going to break the record.
Watching Alo navigate the attention that came with her home run chase gave Bahl a road map on how to handle the spotlight.
Bahl says that Alo is a boss because of the way she handles herself. She is always team-first. For someone with as much success as she has and she is still breaking all these records, I am learning a lot from her maturity.
Bahl leaned into that team-first attitude during a conversation. She ignores her teammates. She spoke about the freshman class when she was asked about her transition from high school to college.
Alo called Bahl one of the best pitchers he had ever seen, but he is steering clear of the hype. Gasso tried to talk to her about her name, image and likeness opportunities, but Bahl is brushing that aside for now.
Bahl says he doesn't know.
That is simply not true. Bahl is the ace of the staff for Oklahoma, which is ranked first. She has a 0.73 ERA. She leads the Big 12 in strikeout-to-walk ratio and opponents are batting.124 against her.
It has been a joy working with Bahl. She has never had to ask her to put in extra work. She does it on her own.
She is more mature than some upperclassmen in terms of time management. She will usually get up at 5 a.m. to do her schoolwork, then practice and leave the rest of the day for recovery.
Rocha says the difference between good and great is preparation. Bahl is ahead of the curve in both respects.
Rocha says that she wants to be good. I think she wants to win and be really good.
The scary thing is that Rocha thinks Bahl hasn't reached her potential yet. Rocha wants her master to see resilience as the biggest piece of her puzzle.
Which is why the moment against Kentucky was so important. She didn't lose her cool when things went wrong because she knew that the Sooners would defend their title. She got out of trouble by focusing.
Gasso is not afraid to say that he knows how big this young lady is.
Gasso has come around since she didn't understand what she was seeing at first.
She says that she is special, and that she is the most humble, level headed, organized, mission driven kid she has ever had. She is a whole other thing. It is something I have not seen before.
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