Jordy Bahl, star pitcher on OU’s NCAA champion softball team, transfers home to Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Softball pitching sensation Jordy Bahl, who led Oklahoma to its third straight national title last week, has announced that she will transfer to Nebraska.

Bahl, who is from the Omaha suburb of Papillion, had said on Monday she’s homesick and wants to help grow the sport in her home state. She didn’t indicate which of the state’s three Division I programs she would join until announcing her decision on Twitter on Thursday.

She finished this season with a 22-1 record and an 0.90 ERA. In her two years at Oklahoma, she won two national titles and finished with a 44-2 record.

“I am excited to return home and be Jordy Bahl the softball player, but more importantly, the person,” Bahl wrote in announcing her decision to play for the Cornhuskers. “I am excited thinking about growing the game that has provided me so many opportunities for growth, in the home state, a current overlooked state for girls in softball at all ages, and I am excited to finish the softball journey right where it began.”

Bahl was a first-team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American this season and a Top 10 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. In 2022, she was NFCA Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-American.

She pitched 24 2/3 scoreless innings at this year’s Women’s College World Series and was named its Most Outstanding Player. She went 4-0 at the World Series in Oklahoma City and earned the save in the decisive championship series victory in Game 2 last week against Florida State.

The Sooners finished 61-1 and extended their Division I-record win streak to 53 games. Nebraska was 36-22 overall, finished fourth in the Big Ten and played in an NCAA regional this season.