What makes OU softball's Alyssa Brito thrive in big environments? 'She’s not afraid'

NORMAN — Alyssa Brito couldn’t wait to get to USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium last year.

“I’ve watched it on TV so many times,” the OU third baseman said. “So to be there walking out on the warning track area, I was baffled because I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I used to watch this on TV and to see those women playing on the stage and I’m like around this now.”

Brito has made herself at home in the Sooners’ home away from home.

The junior has excelled in the big-game atmospheres there, hitting .434 with five home runs and 18 RBIs in 17 games.

On Friday, she’ll get her latest chance there when the top-ranked Sooners open a three-game series against No. 9 Texas in a rematch of last June’s Women’s College World Series championship series.

The game figures to shatter the NCAA attendance record for a regular-season contest, with an expected crowd in the 9,000 range.

Fresno State holds the record of 5,724, set in a 2000 doubleheader against Arizona.

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The first game of the series will be streamed on ESPN+. The second and third games, at Norman’s Marita Hynes Field, will be televised on ESPN2.

If Brito does something big in those games — and recent history suggests she will — there’s a good chance her emotion will pour out of her.

Brito has become known for her expressive nature, both for positive and negative reactions, though far more on the positive side.

“It’s funny, because I’ll watch it on TV and I’m like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know I was that crazy,’” Brito said. “It’s almost like I blacked out, like I’m so in it, but when I see it it gives me goosebumps because I can remember those feelings and those moments like they were yesterday.”

One of the keys to Brito’s success, Sooners coach Patty Gasso said, is her ability to bounce back from those emotional situations.

Whether positive or negative, Brito can celebrate successes or get frustrated by negative outcomes and then snap back to focus on the issue at hand.

“She embraces it,” Gasso said. “And anybody who embraces it has a good chance of flourishing. She’s not afraid of big moments. She is just so full of energy. She’s a constant competitor. She’s an athlete who will show when she’s mad at herself, when she doesn’t get what she wants. But you know that when she comes back, it’s going to look different.

“She always responds to her own outcomes. … She is unafraid. She loves that spotlight.”

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Brito said her ability to bounce back didn’t truly develop until she arrived in Norman after transferring from Oregon after starting 53 games for Oregon as a freshman.

Brito said her faith grew upon her arrival in Norman.

“It just gave me so much freedom,” Brito said. “I didn’t see softball as my identity, so I was able to just kind of have fun and enjoy being in college and play on the stage, and I think that’s where it’s really taken off for me.”

Brito has also excelled against Texas.

She was 6 for 13 against the Longhorns in the WCWS last season after going 4 for 9 in the regular-season series.

Even at Oregon, Brito had a home run against the Longhorns.

Texas coach Mike White recruited Brito to Oregon, and several players she planned to play with for the Ducks ultimately transferred to Austin to follow White.

“She loves softball and I think she loves the fact that she’s here, because she was in a tough position,” Gasso said. “There’s something about her vs. Texas that she’s very excited about.”

Brito said she has plenty of respect for White and the Longhorns program.

“Mike White does a great job there. And the girls there, they’re just very competitive,” Brito said. “They’re great athletes, so it’s always intense. I would say my approach isn’t any different, I guess, but I really think seeing our fans together in that rivalry and that history is something that’s there.”

More: Get to know the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners softball team and schedule

OU vs. Texas

FRIDAY: 6 p.m. at Hall of Fame Stadium in OKC (ESPN+)

SATURDAY: 11 a.m. at Marita Hynes Field in Norman (ESPN2)

SUNDAY: 11 a.m. at Marita Hynes Field in Norman (ESPN2)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball: Alyssa Brito thrives in big moments, Hall of Fame Stadium