With OU softball holding onto a narrow lead in Game 2 of the Super Regional, you wondered who was going to be that pitcher to close the show?
Kierston Deal started the show. Karlie Keeney was fighting through the middle innings against Florida State. You saw Kelly Maxwell warming up in the bullpen.
But head coach Patty Gasso knew. It gets to the sixth inning, and it’s Nicole May time.
“You now watch her in these moments and I think Nicole has been unfairly judged and she knows that we’ve got her back and we’ve got her support,” Gasso said. “This is a great example of coming in and just being an absolute boss on the mound and getting it done for the Sooners.
“So there’s no one in that moment that I would rather have than Nicole May because of her hard work and her professionalism as an athlete, but her absolute commitment and loyalty to this program.”
May was brilliant in helping OU earn the 4-2 victory to send FSU home and OU back to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series. The No. 2 Sooners begin against No. 10 Duke at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Two perfect innings with the 4-2 advantage. A 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the sixth. And then with the game on the line and FSU’s season down to the final three outs, no drama.
Eighteen pitches, two scoreless innings, her second save. Time to get ready to attempt the back-to-back-to-back-to-back national championship run.
Couldn’t have ended her one season at Love’s Field any better.
“It is special and, you know, having the transition, getting to play at Marita and getting our last season, last couple of weeks here is special,” May said. “Now we’re going to up to OKC, so get to finish strong over there.”
It’s almost as if May had to hit bottom, well, at least as bottom gets for OU before picking herself back up.
May gave up multiple earned runs in every April appearance, never throwing five innings the entire month. But then against Oklahoma State, it felt like it fell apart.
May picked up her second loss, allowed eight hits and three runs. Gasso stressed there was no dip in the confidence.
And May has rewarded that trust ever since. It began with a lights out relief appearance against Texas in the Big 12 championship game. She hasn’t slowed down since.
In her last four outings? May has allowed one earned run in 13.2 innings pitched, giving up just eight hits, zero walks and 18 strikeouts.
That will indeed get the job done. Her ERA has gone down from 2.64 to 2.29, and May is 2-0 with a save in that span.
That feels a little bit more like May, who enters the Women’s College World Series with a 61-5 career record with 14 complete games, nine shutouts and 415 strikeouts.
“And Nicole May has had a different look about her,” Gasso said. “They’ve been working really hard on the mental side. When you’re a pitcher at the University of Oklahoma, expectations on you are bigger than any expectation on any senior or anybody else. It’s letting that go and remembering why you’re here and what got you here. Locking it down and not getting caught in the mechanics or ‘what ifs or what if I don’t.’ It’s just ‘I am, I will, I’m going to.’”
You could mark off a lot of reasons for why OU has felt like a different team the last three weekends. May’s dominance would be near the top of that list. Whatever midseason struggles she was having are long gone.
All that’s left is one more final chapter in Oklahoma City.
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