Patty Gasso Discusses Jordy Bahl’s Injury, Timeline for Her Return

Oklahoma freshman standout Jordy Bahl has been out of commission and, on Tuesday, Sooners head coach Patty Gasso talked about her young star’s status for the remainder of the postseason.

Initially described as suffering “soreness”, Bahl did not pitch in the Big 12 tournament, a weekend that saw the Sooners lose the tournament championship game to rivals Oklahoma State. At the time, Gasso noted a methodical approach to not using Bahl in the tournament while she was feeling discomfort.

Speaking in a press conference and on a podcast on Tuesday, Gasso’s new revelations included that Bahl’s issue is a true forearm injury that is requiring x-rays and a doctor’s care.

“She is out and she was out, but we are still hopeful,” Gasso said in an appearance on The Oklahoma Breakdown podcast. “This is going to come down to a doctor, it’s x-rays. It’s her forearm, it’s what her forearm looks like. There was a time when she couldn’t lift her arm.”

Bahl’s injury happened on the Saturday of the Sooners’ regular-season series against Oklahoma State; her last appearance in the circle to-date came a day earlier, on May 6th.

According to Gasso, Bahl’s injury happened during pregame warm-up for the Saturday game in the series against the Cowgirls. “She fielded a ground ball in our pregame warm-up, threw it, and felt something really attack her forearm,” Gasso said.

Noting that Bahl’s “pain has subsided substantially”, Gasso added that she has personally talked with Jennie Finch – the legendary Arizona pitcher who played part of a season with a fractured forearm during her own career – who recounted her own experiences with pain management and handling her own injury.

On a timeline for Bahl’s potential return, Gasso said, “It’s going to come down to the doctor and it’s probably going to come down to pain tolerance and what she can handle and what she can’t. We don’t know yet… I’m not going to have Jordy do anything she’s not ready to do; not going to have Jordy do anything the doctor doesn’t agree that she can do. We’re ready one way or the other.

“Right now, our mindset is ‘we’re doing this without her; everybody step up, let’s do our thing.’ If she is available to pitch, it will just be a bonus for us.”