W E E K LY E D I T I O N | A P R I L 5 -11, 2 0 2 2 | O U D A I LY. C O M
See our best photos from Norman Medieval Fair · 3
OUDAILY
The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916
MEGAN O’DONNELL/THE DAILY
Sooners celebrate during the softball game against UAB on April 2.
OU victorious in series finale Sooners overcome UAB defensive shifts ahead of Tulsa match JASON BATACAO jason.f.batacao-1@ou.edu
No. 1 O k l a h o m a d e f e a t e d Alabama-Birmingham 2-0 in Norman on Saturday afternoon. Redshirt senior Hope Trautwein pitched a complete game with nine strikeouts and allowed just two hits on the day. Offensively, OU (32-0, 3-0 Big 12) tallied six hits, including two from sophomore utility Jayda Coleman and junior outfielder Rylie Boone. The Sooners’ two runs are tied for their lowest output this season. Coleman smacked a solo shot to left field for Oklahoma’s first run of the game in the sixth inning. Redshirt senior catcher Lynnsie Elam launched a homer to left center in the next at-bat to cap the scoring. Sooners struggle against shift Head coach Patty Gasso had no idea what was coming. After run-ruling the Blazers (2013) 11-1 on April 1, the Sooners’ offense looked primed to explode in a second weekend game. Previously, OU notched nine hits and hammered three home runs against UAB on Friday. In the first inning of Friday’s contest, pitcher Olivia Valbak kept the ball down, forcing OU’s hitter to
scoot back in the box. Ultimately, the strategy only held Oklahoma scoreless for the first inning, but it showed Blazers coach Joe Guthrie was willing to use trickery with the Sooners. Guthrie added another wildcard on Saturday, regularly shifting an infielder out to left or right field depending on the handedness of Oklahoma’s hitters. Notably, his plan kept OU’s bats in check for the majority of the game. The Sooners scattered only six hits, which were their third fewest in a game this season. Alabama-Birmingham also forced 16 combined ground outs and fly outs in the game. Gasso was surprised at the irregular defensive setup, saying she hasn’t seen the shift used in college softball in years. “Their shifts were tough and (right on),” Gasso said. “You can feel a little bit of frustration in our dugout, but they pitched right into us, and we fell into that trap. It’s not something we have felt before, so honestly it was good for us to feel that. “If we could do it over again, I think it might look a little bit different, but we weren’t quite ready to see as much shifting as they did, and then the pitcher did a great job. ... It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a second baseman play left or right center field and still throw us out at first base.” As more conference opponents loom, the shift could be a defensive
strategy implemented against the Sooners more regularly. “It’d be interesting to see if (future opponents do it) because people saw that it was somewhat successful,” Gasso said. “I mean, they had it down. Their coach was giving signals between every pitch. … So with a shift, it also can be beat, and we didn’t beat it much at all today. But, when it gets beat, it hurts and we’ve lived that as well.” Elam, Coleman, Boone and Lyons flash depth As Coleman rounded third base pumping her fist, Elam waited on deck for her next at-bat. Stepping into the box, the redshirt senior proceeded to blast a solo shot to left center. While Oklahoma’s top home run hitters — redshirt senior utility Jocelyn Alo and sophomore infielder Tiare Jennings — went 0-for-5 at the plate, the Sooners third through six-hole hitters registered Oklahoma’s lone six hits in the game. Coleman and Elam finished the game going 3-for-6, clobbering the decisive home runs. Notably, Coleman has been on a brief hot streak, smacking two homers in the past two games. Despite taking the first 11 games to garner a home run, Coleman has registered an impressive .418 batting average, five home runs and 22 RBIs on the season. Gasso noted the sophomore utility, like many hitters in the lineup,
is finally overcoming the pressure she faced early in the season. “I’ll tell you that there are a lot of athletes from last year who had tremendous numbers and sometimes just try to chase those numbers,” Gasso said. “That’s where you could see some of our hitters off, and I think we’re over that.” Outside of Elam and Coleman, junior outfielder Rylie Boone and senior infielder Grace Lyons contributed three hits as Oklahoma’s third and sixth-hole hitters, respectively, in the game. Lyons, much like Coleman, has been on a home run hot streak. In the past three games, Lyons has blasted four home runs, three coming against Wichita State on March 29 and the other being a walkoff grand slam during the first win against UAB on April 1. Boone, while only tallying one home run this season, has excelled in limited action, producing 14 RBIs and a .429 batting average. In the two games against UAB, the junior outfielder garnered two RBIs and four hits. As the season moves forward, Elam noted Oklahoma wants to stay focused in the batter’s box. “We’re always trying to be in attack mode,” Elam said. “Whether that’s the first pitch of the game or the last. I think it just goes down to not trying too hard and continuing to be ourselves, whether we’re run-ruling or whether we’re in extra innings, that’s something really special about this team.”
Trautwein anchoring pitching rotation Trautwein, a right-handed North Texas transfer, has pitched in Oklahoma’s three lowest scoring games this season. In those appearances, Trautwein recorded 18 innings and struck out 29 batters. Ultimately, the right-hander’s experience paid off for the Sooners again on Saturday, as she pitched a complete game two-hit shutout in the win. From the third to the seventh inning, the redshirt senior retired 12 straight batters. Notably, Trautwein credits her experience at North Texas, which included a 21 strikeout perfect game, for preparing her for closing situations. Now, it’s helping Trautwein ready for a likely first Women’s College World Series appearance after she missed postseason play for four years at North Texas. “ E x p e r i e n c e h e l p s a l o t ,” Trautwein said. “I mean, this is my fifth year, so I’ve seen a lot of softball, and it’s just kind of being that rock for the defense and for the team, knowing that I have their back and they’re gonna have mine. So, experience says a lot.” Next, the Sooners face Tulsa (12-20-1) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6 in Norman.
OU Law drops in 2023 top school rankings Methodology changes disrupt university standings KAROLINE LEONARD karolineleonard@ou.edu
OU College of Law dropped 21 spots in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2023 top law school rankings, which were released March 29. OU Law ranked 88th out of 196 law schools this year, compared to 67th in the 2022 rankings. Above the Law wrote about the college, saying “the law school’s dropping like a rock,” and the spot decrease was the “most offensive drop in rank.” “Over the last 20 years, the University of Oklahoma College of Law has had an average news ranking of 70 out of over 200 law schools nationwide,” an OU Law spokesperson wrote in a statement to The
Daily. “Year in and year out, the majority of those institutions’ rankings either rise or fall; very few remain in the same standing.” Above the Law predicted the U.S. News and World Report’s change in methodology could lead to major changes in the ranking. U.S. News and World Report looks at various ranking indicators as a part of its methodology to determine rankings. A quality assessment, peer assessments and assessments from lawyers and judges factored into the ranking as well as undergraduate GPA, selectivity, employed-at-graduation rate, resources, bar passage rate and student to faculty ratio. The spokesperson wrote that, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the class of 2020’s employment rates fell, and since U.S. News and World Report places an emphasis on employment rates, this resulted in a drop in ranking. “In 2020, during the global pandemic, the legal landscape in
Oklahoma was hit particularly hard, and as a result, our employment statistics for the Class of 2020 fell to just about the national average,” the spokesperson wrote. “We are pleased to report that the Class of 2021 had an overall employment rate of 97 percent, which we anticipate will again make OU Law one of the top law schools for placement, with an expected rebound to our U.S. News ranking.” In 2019, OU Law saw an employment score of 86.8 percent. However, a significant dip occurred in 2020, resulting in an employment score of 67.8 percent, according to Law School Transparency. For the 2020 graduates, about 21.5 percent were reported underusing their skills, a rise of almost 16 percent since 2019. OU Law was tied with Lewis & Clark College and University of Cincinnati. Out of the three, OU Law had the largest student-faculty ratio with 10.9 students to one faculty member. OU
Law had the lowest in-state tuition of $22,283. However, Cincinnati had the lowest out-of-state tuition with $29,010. OU Law had the largest enrollment of 546 and Cincinnati had the lowest enrollment with 392. OU Law had the lowest employed-at-graduation rate with only 30.2 percent of graduates being employed-at-graduation. Lewis & Clark had a 40 percent employed-at-graduation rate and Cincinnati had 55.3 percent, according to U.S. News and World Report. Law School Transparency reported an employment score in 2020 of 62.4 percent for Lewis & Clark and 69.1 percent for Cincinnati. OU Law had the highest first time bar passage rate of 93.4 percent in 2020 as compared to Lewis & Clark’s 89.5 percent and Cincinnati’s 84.6 percent. The University of Texas at Austin School of Law ranked 17th, dropping only one spot from last year’s rankings. Texas A&M moved up seven spots to 46th in the nation to be a
top 50 law school. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln also ranked above OU at 78th in the nation, 9 spots higher than the year previous, and the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville rose 10 spots to 86th. In 2019, Above the Law ranked OU Law 44th in the nation and 31st in 2020. Katheleen Guzman also became dean of OU Law in 2021 after serving in the interim dean capacity since 2019. “ OU Law remains the top law school in Oklahoma and one of the best in the region, known for its excellent faculty, its commitment to teaching, and its affordability,” the spokesperson wrote. “Though we of course are disappointed in this year’s ranking, we know that the quality and value of an OU Law degree remain strong, and we are excited for the future.”