NORMAN — Kelsey Stevens threw balls on her first three pitches, and a Sooner softball crowd that had been raucous and rowdy all afternoon was suddenly holding its breath.
They’d seen this before.
Stevens was Oklahoma’s ace a year ago, the arm that carried the Sooners on an unexpected trip to the Women’s College World Series. But this season has largely been a painful struggle. She couldn’t find the strike zone. She couldn’t get out of an inning.
She went into a funk so bad that she started only one game in the final month of Big 12 play — and she didn’t even manage to record an out before being pulled from that game.