Patty Gasso confirms Sophia Bordi will not finish season with Oklahoma softball

Oklahoma freshman pitcher Sophia Bordi, who reclassified to join the Sooners ahead of the 2025 season, is no longer apart of the team and won’t participate in this week’s SEC Softball Tournament in Athens, longtime OU head coach Patty Gasso confirmed Tuesday.

“Um, well, she’s not here on campus,” Gasso told reporters Tuesday. “She went back home, and that’s something I don’t have the privilege to talk about. It’s more of a personal situation. So, she did not finish the season out with us.”

After reclassifying as a member of the 2024 recruiting class ahead of her senior season at Haddon Heights (New Jersey) High, Bordi joined Oklahoma in January as a five-star prospect, the No. 11 overall player and No. 5 pitcher in the 2024 cycle, according to Softball America.

Bordi, a right-handed pitcher and two-time New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year, was expected to redshirt this season while adjusting to college life.

“She’s just trying to learn the system. The goal was to get her to be able to throw some BP against us, to get in with Coach Rocha. Listen, learn, get strong in the weight room,” Gasso said during the preseason, according to Sooner Scoop. “That’s probably the biggest thing that we’re looking for, is that she gains strength. If we had an emergency, break the glass, bring in Sophia. That’s the only way we would ever do it. I do want to maintain her redshirt unless we absolutely need her.

“But I think it’s great. I’m really excited about what her (progress). She’s going to be so ahead of her normal class that’s coming in next year. Think she could lead them, guide them with her experience as well.”

According to Gasso, Bordi graduated from high school last June and had plans to train and workout in California with her travel ball team before the opportunity to reclassify. Now it’s unclear how Bordi’s absence will impact her future in Norman.

No. 2 Oklahoma (43-7, 17-7 SEC) opens SEC Tournament play as the top-overall seed and will begin tournament play in Athens on Thursday against ninth-seeded LSU after the Tigers shutout eighth-seeded Mississippi State 8-0 earlier Wednesday.