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Oklahoma Announces Transfer Portal Addition

North Texas star pitcher Hope Trautwein, who pitched a perfect game with 21 strikeouts this year, will join the Sooners in 2022.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma has landed β€” quite literally β€” the perfect pitcher to replace Giselle Juarez and Shannon Saile.

OU announced the addition of graduate transfer Hope Trautwein from the University of North Texas on Friday.

Hope Trautwein
Hope Trautwein / North Texas Athletics

Softball fans will remember her as the pitcher who struck out 21 of 21 batters in hurling a perfect game this season.

"We're extremely excited to add Hope Trautwein to this pitching staff," softball Β coach Patty Gasso said in a press release. "She brings experience and leadership, which will be really important for this young staff that we have coming in and those returning."

Trautwein, who gets to Norman with one year of eligibility remaining, leaves North Texas as its career leader in ERA, wins, opponent batting average and Ks per 7 innings. She was named back-to-back Conference USA Pitcher of the Year and earned a spot on the first-team NFCA All-South Region team this season.

"I'm excited to join Oklahoma softball because of the people and culture," Trautwein said in the press release. "In the past when playing against OU, they have always been a class-act program with players who genuinely love the game, and they have extended a hand to me to join one of the best teams in history.

"Coach Gasso, Coach (Jen) Rocha, and Coach JT (Gasso) are incredible competitors and people, and they treat others with kindness and grace. I am excited to join the other girls and play hard for my last year!"

The Pflugerville, TX, product made national news in April when she tossed a perfect game and struck out all 21 batters she faced in UNT's game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

That made her the first pitcher in Division I softball history to record 21 strikeouts in a perfect game. She put together a 46-12 record over the last three seasons and is a four-time member of the All-Conference USA team.

"After meeting Hope, she's a perfect fit for our program," Patty Gasso said. "She's an established, successful pitcher from North Texas who has won some big games in her career. We're looking forward to her boosting this program in 2022 with her style and athleticism."

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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