Best of OU associate head coach Jen Rocha: Talkin' pitching

A little bit different this week with OU softball. No head coach Patty Gasso. Instead? Associate head coach and pitching guru Jennifer Rocha.

Hey, it’s a good year to talk Rocha with the deep pitching staff for the Sooners. And how you can blend all those personalities together for OU.

No. 1 OU begins a three-game set at Kansas, from Thursday-Saturday.

The best of the best with Rocha.

Coaching Kelly Maxwell?

“She’s a competitor. Got a lot of fight in her. She’s an elite pitcher. So it’s exciting for me to be able to work with pitchers and ensure stuff is really good. It’s just kind of getting a different perspective. You know from her obviously having been an opponent through her career as an athlete. It’s been really fun. Literally what you see on the mound is kind of how she is every day. She gets to the field, puts her head down and goes to work. She has a good feel for her pitches and she’s smart. She’s really smart. Now she’s kind of seen a different side of things and really opening up her understanding of the game as a whole. It’s been really fun to talk through some things with her.” 

Maxwell using film study to her advantage?

“She’s a student of the game. She’s the quiet student, the quiet ace student that kind of sits middle of the room to the back and is just diligently taking notes and the papers show up as an A. Like, how are you so well written? She studies the game and she asks really good questions about hitters and how to approach them. So it’s added a level of processing to her game. So trying to combine her and get her to balance the opponent and the tactical piece and really getting her stuff to come together and make her process simple. That’s probably a good challenge I think that I have, is not to get her to overprocess but to really get her on the mound and compete.”

Evolution of Kierston Deal?

“That’s ultimately been the plan with her since she stepped on campus, to see her have opportunities in a competitive space and to be able to have success when the lights come on and the fire gets lit. She’s proved this weekend that she’s ready for that. She’ll continue to be battle-tested throughout every weekend. In conference, it just gets more exciting, more challenging, starting with this weekend against Kansas. It’s been fun to watch her evolve a little bit and really start to kind of come into her own now.”

Six pitchers?!?! Six pitchers? 

“I’ve been happy with the depth of our pitching staff. It’s been different to have the type of depths that we have. It’s been a challenge for me, quite honestly, in a good way because every one of them is relevant. There are some staffs, where you know, I think opponents may not have to worry about whoever the No. 5 might be or No. 6. I really feel like every time we put somebody on the mound, they have an opportunity to take the ball and have success in that moment. Whether it’s one batter or a whole inning or seven innings, I really feel confident about what they’re going to do when they go out there.”

Love’s Field? 

“I’m really just giving perspective as a student-athlete here, watching the program from afar and now having a seat in the front row to Love’s Field. It’s amazing. I’m kind of touched every time I look up and I see all these fans in the stands and I see them show up in OKC, and just looking around. I can’t believe that it’s ours. It’s like when you get a new place or you buy a new piece, a new car. Gosh, is it really mine? I still find myself looking around and going, ‘Wow, this is really ours. This is home for us.’ I’m just really appreciative of what it is, the grandeur of it is awesome.”

Pitch clock?

“I think it has worked. I think it did work in the favor of the pitchers. It kind of puts you in a little bit of a rhythm. Initially it felt a little sped up and it felt hurried, but I think everybody’s figured out, at least from the circle standpoint, of how to slow the game down and keep yourself going in rhythm. It’s a short amount of time. 20 seconds after you catch the ball happens pretty fast, but it doesn’t allow, in my mind, it doesn’t allow pitchers to over-process because you have to be ready for the next pitch. You’ve gotta be ready to move on.”

Pitching staff needs that personality mix?

“Absolutely. I think it’s good. Sometimes you need a little crazy, and sometimes you need a little cool. Sometimes it’s good to have a little bit of everything. The energy in the bullpen has ebbs and flows. Sometimes we can stay there a bit, but we have to get work done at the same time.”

Nicole May always improving?

“I think Nicole has been great. Every year, we’ve had a new project, new pitch to work on. Being able to get her overall makeup as a pitcher to be well-balanced. Every pitcher has a couple of pitchers they’re really good at. In my mind, you want to have that with a change of speed and be able to balance the whole pitching profile out. Every year she has worked hard to get that. She’s always had the ability to throw rise balls and work up in the zone. Then it’s just complementing that with all the other stuff.

“She’s another one – a really good student of the game, asks good questions. She prepares herself well. I think sometimes it starts with something simple like fundamentals with somebody like her as a freshman. Then you slowly start adding things on that they need to learn about the game or about themselves. The whole mentality of how to approach pitching at the highest level. I really appreciate what she’s done and the growth we’ve done together. We came in a year apart, but I feel like I’ve grown up with her too.”