How OU softball is hoping to turn around Love's Field fortunes in NCAA Tournament
NORMAN — OU’s first season at Love’s Field, the crown jewel of college softball home fields, has been far from a smooth ride.
In fact, there were times when Sooners coach Patty Gasso wished the opening of the new stadium would’ve been pushed back.
The Sooners spent much of the season practicing and working out of Marita Hynes Field, with Love’s Field only available on game days and beginning only a couple hours before games.
“It’s almost comical how we’re having to go back and forth but it is what it is and we’re going to do what we have to do until they're ready for us,” Gasso said this week. “It was an inconvenience. There were times where I was like, ‘Let’s just go back and play at Marita.’”
OU’s performance on the field has sometimes been reflective of their nomad-like existence.
But coming off a strong close to the regular season in their new home, and a run through the Big 12 Tournament where the Sooners finally looked like the powerhouse they have been and were supposed to be once more this season, Gasso and her players feel like they’ve turned a corner.
The second-seeded Sooners (49-6) begin their postseason run against Cleveland State at 7 p.m. Friday at Love’s Field to open the Norman Regional.
“I’m getting more comfortable at Love’s Field,” senior shortstop Tiare Jennings said. “Just really making it our home. And I think the more we practice on it, the more we figure it out. Just like the last game of Bedlam, like we’re kind of just getting the feel for Love’s and just embracing our crowd. The crowd was amazing that weekend, so really just getting them involved and just having fun with it.”
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The Sooners have hit better at home than they’ve hit away from it, .386-.354. But they’ve sometimes struggled to string hits together there.
“I think maybe pressure on ourselves that doesn’t need to be making it bigger than it is,” Jennings said of the reasons for some of the struggles. “And as much as Love’s is super great, I think sometimes we feel like we don’t really get to play here a lot, so I think just getting out of our comfort zone and just playing free and letting loose.”
While the Sooners have been used to drawing big crowds at home for the last several years, the noise level at Love’s Field has sometimes been overwhelming.
Earlier this season, Gasso said the noise was even greater at the new stadium than it is when the Sooners play in the Women’s College World Series at Devon Park with crowds that are more than twice as big, due to the design of the stadiums.
“I don’t think we were ready for that,” Gasso said.
While there’s some nuance to OU’s hitting numbers at their new home, the difference in pitching is easy to spot.
Opponents hit nearly 60 points better against the Sooners at Love’s Field than elsewhere so far this season, .221-.163, and OU struggled to keep the ball in the park.
Of the 35 home runs surrendered by the Sooners this season, 23 have come at home.
But the last few weeks, OU has been able to fully move in to the stadium as construction has made more areas of the stadium available.
And Gasso and her players have said Love’s Field has felt more and more like home.
Sooners’ ace Kelly Maxwell, who will be making her first and only postseason run with the Sooners after transferring from Oklahoma State in the offseason, said the Sooners need to take advantage of the noise difference in the regional and beyond now that they’re more comfortable at home.
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Norman Regional schedule
Double elimination from Friday-Sunday at Love's Field in Norman:
Friday's games
Game 1: Oregon vs. Boston University, 4:30 p.m. CT (ESPN+)
Game 2: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. Cleveland State, 7 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Saturday's games
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 2 p.m. CT
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 4:30 p.m. CT
Game 5: Loser of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 7 p.m. CT
Sunday's games
Game 6: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5, TBD
*-Game 7: Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, TBD
*-if necessary
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball looking to build Love's Field magic in NCAA Tournament
