Mussatto: Can Patty Gasso, OU softball pull off 'unheard of' NCAA four-peat? Of course.
NORMAN — A gold banner behind Patty Gasso bore the years of OU softball’s national championship seasons. Seven of them in all, with an active run of three in a row: 2021, 2022, 2023.
… And then a blank space on the banner.
A space large enough to add one more championship year. Space to denote a possible four-peat.
Four-peat.
We’ve run out of real words to describe the Sooners’ reign of dominance — three national championships in a row, six in the past 11 years and seven this century. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a Clipper the last time a school other than OU won the Women’s College World Series. UCLA beat OU in the WCWS in June 2019, and SGA was traded to OKC in July. Heck, Russell Westbrook has been on the Thunder, Rockets, Wizards, Lakers and Clippers — 17% of NBA teams! — since then.
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No college softball champion was crowned in 2020 due to the pandemic, but from 2021-23, the Sooners went 176-8 with three national titles. OU is entering this season, which starts Thursday, still riding an NCAA-record 53-game winning streak.
Gasso, entering her 30th season, is amid a Wooden-esque reign. But the Sooner coach was much more at ease Monday talking about her squad’s pitching depth and infield alignment than she was when asked to put a possible four-peat in perspective.
“Not a real deep thinker when it comes to things like that,” Gasso said. “I just go. We try to be a real humble group and not look back at our laurels. We just want to keep running forward and keep raising the OU flag and keep being the team everybody is trying to get.”
Only no has caught the Sooners. Not in years. And rather than the pack creeping closer to the Sooners, the Sooners seem to be adding distance between themselves and the also-rans.
OU is returning four of five All-Americans from a team that went 61-1 last season with 35 shutouts. The Sooners had a team ERA of 0.96 while batting .367 in a sport that’s supposed to be hard.
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If given the choice between the Sooners and the rest of the field to win the 2024 WCWS, I’m taking the Sooners. That’s crazy, right? But wouldn’t it be crazier not to?
Every other contender, like top-10 squads Washington and Duke, both of which OU will face this weekend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, has to go through OU — the bully who won’t leave the block.
“But they are ready to fire back,” Gasso said of her Sooners, set to move into their lavish new stadium next month. “Fire first is the attitude.”
“This is going to be a tough one,” Gasso added. “It’s going to be a really tough season for us. I feel that coming, so I’m able to see what kind of women rise from the ashes here. That’s going to be the most important thing.”
Ashes? Gasso and Co. have to first fall before they can rise.
If that empty spot on the banner is going to be filled with “2024,” the Sooners would become the first program in Division-I softball history to four-peat as champions. OU joined UCLA (1988-90) as the only program to three-peat.
“I feel like when I talk to my family about it, it’s not really set in,” said senior center fielder Jayda Coleman, who’s never not won a national championship. “I’m just living life, I’m living where my feet are. I just want to live a peaceful, joyful life just like anyone else.
“Not really trying to look too far in the future. I know that can get you in trouble.”
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Among fellow Division-I programs, only Stanford men’s gymnastics (four) and Utah women’s and men’s skiing (four) have a longer active streak of national championships.
With three, OU softball is tied with Notre Dame fencing, USC beach volleyball, Virginia women’s swimming and diving, Cal men’s water polo and N.C. State women’s cross country.
None of those sports are as prominent as softball, nor do they have the depth of competition.
On the men’s side, both OU and OSU have two of the longest championship streaks. OSU wrestling won seven straight titles spanning the 1930s and '40s. OU men’s gymnastics four-peated as champions from 2015-18.
OU women’s gymnastics has won back-to-back national championships and is vying for a three-peat this season.
But winning three in a row in softball, with a chance at No. 4?
“Unheard of,” Gasso said. “You can’t even wrap your mind around it. Even winning three. For them, they want to be a team that did something that nobody in maybe my lifetime will ever do on a softball field again.”
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Notable women’s college three-peats this century
OU softball, 2021-23: The Sooners swept Florida State and Texas in the 2023 and 2022 championship series. OU beat Florida State two games to one in 2021.
UConn basketball 2002-04, 2014-16: The Huskies have twice three-peated under Geno Auriemma, who’s won 11 national championships at UConn.
Penn State volleyball, 2007-10: The Nittany Lions four-peated as champs from 2007-10, going a combined 142-7 during that stretch.
Georgia gymnastics, 2005-09: The Bulldogs won a whopping five straight national championships under coach Suzanne Yoculan.
Stanford tennis, 2004-06: The Cardinal has won 10 women’s tennis national titles since 2001, including three straight in the mid 2000s.
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Longest Division-1 women’s national championship streaks
1. LSU outdoor track and field: 11 (1987-97)
2. North Carolina soccer: 9 (1986-94)
3. Maryland lacrosse: 7 (1995-2001)
T4. Stanford tennis: 6 (1986-91)
T4. Villanova cross country: 6 (1989-94)
T6. Georgia gymnastics: 5 (2005-09)
T6. LSU indoor track and field: 5 (1993-97)
T6. Northwestern lacrosse: 5 (2005-09)
T6. Oregon indoor track and field: 5 (2010-14)
T6. Stanford swimming and diving: 5 (1992-96)
T6. Texas swimming and diving: 5 (1984-88)
T6. UCLA water polo: 5 (2005-09)
T6. Utah gymnastics: 5 (1982-86)
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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball, Patty Gasso start chase for 'unheard of' NCAA four-peat
