All Sooners

Oklahoma Softball Adds Transfer Pitcher

The Sooners have restocked their pitching staff after losing two of its most prominent members from last season.

Randall Sweet

© MaCabe Brown / The Gleaner
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Former Liberty pitcher Karlie Keeney has committed to Oklahoma.

The fifth-year senior announced her decision on Friday afternoon on Instagram, less than 24 hours after Sooners' head coach Patty Gasso sent out a foreshadowing tweet. 

Last year at Liberty, Keeney, a right hander, finished the season with a 27-12 record and a 2.03 ERA in 261 2/3 innings pitched, helping the Flames earn a spot in the Los Angeles Regional of the NCAA Softball Tournament. 

The star pitcher tossed 153 strikeouts compared to only 81 walks and 76 earned runs in her fourth collegiate season.

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Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Keeney's performance last year was her 27 complete games in 34 starts. At Oklahoma, the transfer pitcher will have more help to fall back on in the bullpen, allowing her to save her arm and pitch less innings.

Keeney actually dueled the Sooners in Liberty's 2023 season opened, falling 1-0 at the Mark Campbell Invitational. In seven innings against last year's national champion, the newest OU softball commit allowed one run on five hits, striking out five batters in the tightly contested February matchup.

After losing superstar right-hander Jordy Bahl to the transfer portal and fellow standout right-hander Alex Storako to graduation, Gasso has now replenished her pitching staff. With the additions of Keeney and Patyn Monticelli, who announced her transfer to Oklahoma earlier this summer, the Sooners look poised to compete for their fourth consecutive national title.

Additionally, OU added former Furman catcher Riley Ludlam this offseason, bolstering their battery for the 2024 season.

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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