{"id":79434,"date":"2026-04-05T17:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434"},"modified":"2026-04-05T17:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:53:33","slug":"oklahoma-pitching-coach-jennifer-rocha-forever-grateful-to-karlie-keeney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha ‘Forever Grateful’ to Karlie Keeney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha ‘Forever Grateful’ to Karlie Keeney<\/h1>\n
After serving as interim pitching coach, the former Sooners pitcher remains with the team following Rocha’s return.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

NORMAN \u2014\u00a0Karlie Keeney\u00a0was in a difficult position.<\/p>\n

Less than two years after her college career ended, Keeney found herself not only taking over as an interim pitching coach but doing it at Oklahoma, where she\u2019d be taking over the\u00a0Jennifer Rocha<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0one of the most well-respected pitching coaches around.<\/p>\n

The Sooners had a staff with little experience pitching for OU, with transfers\u00a0<\/strong>Sydney Berzo<\/strong>n\u00a0and\u00a0Miali Guachino<\/strong>, freshmen\u00a0<\/strong>Allyssa Parker<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Berkley Zache<\/strong>\u00a0playing roles.<\/p>\n

Only\u00a0Kierston Deal<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Audrey Lowry<\/strong>\u00a0had pitched at all for the Sooners entering this season.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a great start to the season pitching-wise for Oklahoma but the Sooners had clearly taken a turn in recent weeks under Keeney.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d moved into the top 25 nationally in team ERA.<\/p>\n

Now that Rocha is back, having been declared cancer-free after a\u00a0cervical-cancer diagnosis\u00a0led to her stepping away from the team for the first seven weeks of the season, Sooners coach\u00a0Patty Gasso<\/strong>\u00a0continued to heap praise on Keeney.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe really allowed this team to stay together,\u201d Gasso said.<\/p>\n

Before Rocha\u2019s return, Gasso praised Keeney\u2019s growth as a pitching coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she has really improved on her pitch-calling as we\u2019ve gone along,\u201d Gasso said. \u201cShe does a really good job of communicating with pitchers, asking them, \u2018What do you want here?\u2019, \u2018What kind of combos are you looking for?\u2019, what have you. So she\u2019s gotten better and I\u2019ve gotten better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten better together as we\u2019ve gone along.\u201d<\/p>\n

OU allowed just five runs during its three-game sweep of Kentucky, which wrapped up with a\u00a012-2 five-inning win\u00a0Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy that she was available,\u201d Rocha said of Keeney after Tuesday\u2019s 12-3 win over Wichita State, Rocha\u2019s first home game since returning March 27 against LSU. \u201cI don\u2019t know, only God knows why her name was the first one that was thrown out, but she certainly stepped in and was readily available. She\u2019s done, really, an amazing job under the circumstances. To bring a former player one year out to come in and just take over a top Division-I softball program, it\u2019s hard for anybody to do. And so I commend Karlie on the job that she\u2019s done with our pitching staff. It\u2019s a young pitching staff, and she really did her best to manage it, and she got us to this point. So I\u2019m just forever grateful for what she\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Rocha has returned, Keeney will remain part of the staff for the remainder of the season, serving as a bullpen coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having someone that was here only two years ago so getting her point of view and then also having Coach Rocha\u2019s, who has been doing this forever, so it\u2019s like just having them two is great for my mentality,\u201d Guachino said of her relationship with both Keeney and Rocha.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha ‘Forever Grateful’ to Karlie Keeney After serving as interim pitching coach, the former Sooners pitcher remains with the team following Rocha’s return. NORMAN \u2014\u00a0Karlie Keeney\u00a0was … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":79435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1705],"class_list":["post-79434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-jennifer-rocha"],"yoast_head":"\nOklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha 'Forever Grateful' to Karlie Keeney - iSport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Less than two years after her college career ended, Keeney found herself not only taking over as an interim pitching coach but doing it at\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha 'Forever Grateful' to Karlie Keeney - iSport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Less than two years after her college career ended, Keeney found herself not only taking over as an interim pitching coach but doing it at\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"iSport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-05T17:53:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Happiness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Happiness\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Happiness\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59224963a139009b7508cb21433c1c1b\"},\"headline\":\"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha ‘Forever Grateful’ to Karlie Keeney\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-05T17:53:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Jennifer Rocha\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Football\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434\",\"name\":\"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha 'Forever Grateful' to Karlie Keeney - iSport\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-05T17:53:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59224963a139009b7508cb21433c1c1b\"},\"description\":\"Less than two years after her college career ended, Keeney found herself not only taking over as an interim pitching coach but doing it at\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":608},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?p=79434#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha ‘Forever Grateful’ to Karlie Keeney\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/\",\"name\":\"iSport\",\"description\":\"Internet Sport - Your Friendly Sport Mouthpiece\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/59224963a139009b7508cb21433c1c1b\",\"name\":\"Happiness\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f9f42df7b8d55b729dccc69c76521620332fd30cb8e9caea5dd1effbba5682c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f9f42df7b8d55b729dccc69c76521620332fd30cb8e9caea5dd1effbba5682c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f9f42df7b8d55b729dccc69c76521620332fd30cb8e9caea5dd1effbba5682c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Happiness\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/isport.com.ng\\\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha 'Forever Grateful' to Karlie Keeney - iSport","description":"Less than two years after her college career ended, Keeney found herself not only taking over as an interim pitching coach but doing it at","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha 'Forever Grateful' to Karlie Keeney - iSport","og_description":"Less than two years after her college career ended, Keeney found herself not only taking over as an interim pitching coach but doing it at","og_url":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434","og_site_name":"iSport","article_published_time":"2026-04-05T17:53:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":608,"url":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Happiness","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Happiness","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434"},"author":{"name":"Happiness","@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/59224963a139009b7508cb21433c1c1b"},"headline":"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha ‘Forever Grateful’ to Karlie Keeney","datePublished":"2026-04-05T17:53:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp","keywords":["Jennifer Rocha"],"articleSection":["Football"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434","url":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434","name":"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha 'Forever Grateful' to Karlie Keeney - iSport","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp","datePublished":"2026-04-05T17:53:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/59224963a139009b7508cb21433c1c1b"},"description":"Less than two years after her college career ended, Keeney found herself not only taking over as an interim pitching coach but doing it at","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp","width":1080,"height":608},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79434#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Oklahoma Pitching Coach Jennifer Rocha ‘Forever Grateful’ to Karlie Keeney"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/","name":"iSport","description":"Internet Sport - Your Friendly Sport Mouthpiece","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/59224963a139009b7508cb21433c1c1b","name":"Happiness","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9f42df7b8d55b729dccc69c76521620332fd30cb8e9caea5dd1effbba5682c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9f42df7b8d55b729dccc69c76521620332fd30cb8e9caea5dd1effbba5682c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9f42df7b8d55b729dccc69c76521620332fd30cb8e9caea5dd1effbba5682c5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Happiness"},"url":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?author=6"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/images_voltaxMediaLibrary_mmsport_all_sooners_01kne0awgwg4w0ks9bps.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79436,"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79434\/revisions\/79436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}