The new world of NIL and the NCAA transfer portal has athletes touring the country during their collegiate careers, and two SEC schools have made a rivalry out of their transfers.

LSU softball traditionally holds several athletes from year to year, and Oklahoma softball usually cycles through transfers like the Los Angeles Dodgers after the World Series. But the 2025 offseason left these two schools pointing to one weekend on the softball calendar.

After the 2025 Women’s College World series, former Tiger pitcher Sydney Berzon and former Sooner pitcher Paytn Monticelli swapped their jerseys, roles, and lives to play for two of the premier schools in the Southeastern Conference. This change is going to bring more drama to the teams’ upcoming conference matchup.

Berzon was a two-time NFCA All American at LSU. She was the Tigers’ workhorse for two seasons and picked up a decent amount of work for a freshman in an already established pitching staff in 2023.

Monticelli’s collegiate career began at Wisconsin, but transferred to Oklahoma for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. During her sophomore and junior campaigns, she fulfilled the role of relief.

Both pitchers’ careers featured slinging in significant moments. Berzon’s career saw moments of intensity as early as her freshman year during the postseason, and Monticelli was given the ball with the game on the line in the Mary Nutter classic in the early days as a Sooner.

These moments of stress in the circle created tough pitchers in an even tougher conference.

Berzon’s big moment as a freshman pitcher came during the LSU versus University of Louisiana at Lafayette. During this game, ace-of-staff senior, Ali Kilponen, was forced from the game, and LSU head coach Beth Torina called on the freshman to close out this game.

It was the final game of the season with a punched ticket to a super regional on the line, and the Tigers put up eight runs to come back from a deficit after the first inning. LSU had previously lost the game prior because of a missed call that’s not reviewable, so tensions were even higher for LSU than in any game prior.

Berzon was expected to close out the game as the lead slowly slipped away. Eventually the Tigers would lose the game due to a missed spot on a pitchout that resulted un a ULL walk-off single.

Monticelli was also handed the ball in tough situations early in her career. In her first season with the Sooners, she was chosen to close out a one-run ball game versus Washington the 2024 Mary Nutter Classic. OU was losing before she entered the ballgame, and she came in and ended the Huskies’ momentum that was building. As a reliever, she did her job to keep the game in a stalemate so her offense could pick the game up, and her energy did just that,

She was so electric in the circle that OU came out on top of the matchup 4-3.

From here, both pitchers solidified their roles at their respective universities. Since the big moment during Berzon’s her freshman year, she easily took over as the ace of the LSU pitching staff in 2024. Monticelli, on the other hand, was looking to be the ace of diamonds for the school of tornado alley after Sooner ace-of-staff Sam Landry graduated in 2025.

That was until Berzon committed.

The former Bayou Bengal struggled throughout the 2025 season. After an upsetting loss to Southeastern Louisiana to end her junior campaign, it was revealed Berzon pitched through an injury all season, and it didn’t take fans long to assume it was because of a lack of depth in the circle.

Just over two weeks later, Berzon announced her commitment to Oklahoma.

Monticelli entered the transfer portal in late July 2025, and was committed to LSU a few days later.

Fans speculated that Monicelli transferred because she was underutilized at LSU, which further thickens the plot.

Since they’ve touched down at their new universities, these two pitchers have completely traded roles.

Berzon has been used mostly as a relief pitcher in 2026, while Montecelli has mostly been used as a starter with relief appearances.

Sooner head coach Patty Gasso said during the fall that Berzon is expected to be a portion of the ace pitchers Oklahoma picked up in the transfer portal, so her role has changed exponentially.

“They grow up playing travel ball and being the pitcher that carries so many innings,” Gasso told Sports Illustrated in the fall. “I just don’t want to put a pitcher through that. It’s not good for us, either. We’re aiming to have as many aces as we can in one staff.”

Sydney Berzon's role has changed since ditching her LSU purple and gold, and is slowly settling into a new role.

Berzon is no longer the workhorse she was expected to be in her sophomore and junior seasons.

Berzon has taken on a role of pitching by staff throughout the season, but it hasn’t come without the struggles to match. Her statistics have dipped slightly in March 2026.

She has made 10 appearances as of the weekend before conference play begins, and she has only started three games. At this point in the season, Berzon is at one-third (33%) of her appearances from 2025. She has only started 13% of this same comparison of games.

Her ERA is 3.85, and she has 13 strikeouts and seven walks along these appearances in 2026.

Berzon is starting to find a groove for herself, but its taken some time to adjust to her new role and less appearances.Since SEC play has started however, her ERA has dipped to 2.69 and she’s reached 17 strikeouts and only totaled 10 walks.

In the 2026 season, Monticelli now takes on the role of starting pitcher down on the Bayou. She wasn’t expected to come in as the golden girl for the Tigers. That role was given to sophomore lefty Jayden Heavener who was to be backed up by former Oklahoma State pitcher Tatum Clopton, but Monticelli has showcased her versatility as a starter in several moments.

After some unexpected struggles from the LSU returning pitchers, Monticelli has taken a starting role with grace.

Her first starting role at LSU was versus Nevada on Feb. 6. She led the Tigers to an 8-2 victory in a complete game outing where she struck out five batters and only walked two.

She said during a press conference that she feels extremely comfortable coming in to close games because it’s familiar, but it appears she isn’t a stranger to new waters either.

Before conference play even began for the 2026 softball season, she posted a quarter of her season high starts, and she has put up more innings pitched and strikeouts than she had in either season at Oklahoma.

She said she enjoys the high energy moments, and she finds them for herself each game she plays.

“I've been a closer basically my entire career, so I like the vibe of coming in and being able to slam the door on a team,” Monticelli said. “Especially when it's heated and you're like ‘I really want this team, and I've got their number.’ It just feels good to come in there, throw 70 and get in and out.”

In the SEC, there is no doubt she will be facing several of these high energy moments as the season progresses, no matter the role she is playing.

Entering week three of conference play, Monticelli brings in a 4.04 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 11 walks.

The swap to the Bayou seems to agree with Monticelli, who is excelling in a new role

These pitchers’ roles are the reason this swap is going to be so interesting. Entering the fourth week of conference play, these two teams will face off for one of the most dramatic games of SEC play.

Oklahoma will come down to Baton Rouge from March 27 to 29 to take on LSU. The last time Oklahoma came to the bayou was in April 2023. The Sooners walked away unscathed in a 3-0 victory. That was only a singular midweek game, so this matchup has been circled on fans' calendars for nearly three years.

This pitching swap only makes it more dramatic.

It all begins on March 27 as LSU and Oklahoma square off at 6 p.m. at Tiger Park.