Today begins the first full weekend of conference play in the Big 12 conference. Within the past week, Baylor took two games from Texas, and Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State in a single game. This weekend features three-game series between Baylor and Iowa State; Kansas and Oklahoma; and OSU and Texas Tech. Seven schools in the conference play softball, so Texas is the odd team out this weekend, playing a two-game nonconference series with BYU. The Big 12 appears to be a bit down this year, as only two schools are currently in the nation's Top 25, Oklahoma (No. 13/14) and Baylor (No. 19/19).
The college softball world has thrown us a "Curve Bahl," if you will. Such is the unexpected news that Oklahoma ace Jordy Bahl has announced that she will transfer to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Bahl is from the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska. Three thoughts jump out at me: Bahl was absolutely indispensable to the Sooners' 61-1 national championship season, coming up with numerous clutch strikeouts in tight tournament games against Clemson (super-regionals, Game 2 ) and Stanford ( WCWS semifinals ). OU benefited greatly this season via the transfer portal, bringing in Haley Lee from Texas A&M, Alex Storako from Michigan, and Cydney Sanders and Alynah Torres from Arizona State. Bahl's transfer is the first major one in the modern portal era (to my knowledge) in the other direction. Nebraska becomes an instant national championship contender, in my mind. Other players around the country may find it attractive to join Bahl in Lincoln but even if