College Spotlight: Once an ACC Pitcher of the Year, Carrie Eberle Leads a Deep & Talented Oklahoma State Staff

How do you build a WCWS team in college softball these days?

Of course signing top talent out of high school is still paramount, but many teams are using the transfer portal to bring in program changing players and a good example of this is is the Big 12 where Oklahoma State is led by pitcher Carrie Eberle who was, not that long ago, the ACC Pitcher of the Year at Virginia Tech.

Carrie is one of seven hurlers who’ve stepped in the circle for OSU this year as the team has jumped out to a 17-1 record prior to Sunday’s action.

The East Coast native has started seven games for the Cowgirls this year with a 6-0 mark, a .83 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 42.1 innings.

On Friday, she threw a no-hitter in an 8-0 win over Omaha. As noted by the Oklahoma State SID department, “Eberle’s no-hitter was the second of her career and she was just one walk away from picking up a perfect game on Friday. Her no-hitter was the second of the season for the Cowgirls, as fellow ace Kelly Maxwell, who is 5-0 and threw one against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on February 21.

Carrie was an All-American last year and is a grad student at Oklahoma State. It’s unusual for a player of her caliber to transfer for her last year of competition (2020 would have been it but she got another chance with the COVID-related extra season rule) and is making the most of it as OSU is ranked in the Top 10 of the leading college polls as of this week.

Not surprisingly, Carrie’s transfer was one of the key reasons our #1 Story of 2019 was Transfers and How the Transfer Portal Impacts Softball at Multiple Levels.

Below is the article we posted when Carrie moved to OSU…

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Breaking News: ACC Pitcher of the Year Carrie Eberle Transfers to Oklahoma State

Originally published June 23, 2019 on Extra Inning Softball

Carrie Eberle, the 2019 ACC Pitcher of the Year, announced via social media that she is transferring to Oklahoma State for her final year of eligibility.

In her Instagram post, which is private but was sent to Extra Inning Softball by a source close to her, the former Virginia Tech pitcher writes:

I am so excited and blessed to say that I have decided to transfer to Oklahoma State University for my final year of college softball. I am so grateful for this opportunity and so happy to begin this new chapter of my life. Thank you to all my family and friends for their support through this process and major life change. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me at OSU! Go Pokes!

She entered the portal on Wednesday June 5th as a grad transfer after graduating from Virginia Tech in three years.

In an article in The Roanoke Times on June 6, Hokies head coach said that Eberle was a biology major and “wants to pursue a master’s in that related field.”

The pitcher went 25-8 with a 1.84 ERA in 2019 with 164 K’s versus 55 walks in 201 1/3^rd innings. She helped Virginia Tech advance to the NCAA Regionals where the ACC team (47-11) lost to Kentucky.

Coach Pete D’Amour does have the benefit of returning another 1^st Team All-Conference pitcher in Keely Rochard who went 22-3 with a 1.81 ERA with 193 K’s in 162 2/3^rd innings. She has two years of eligibility left.