OU softball hasn't lost in a year. Here's how Patty Gasso, Sooners fight off complacency.
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — It’s been almost a year since OU softball’s monumental winning streak began.
Now, the Sooners return to where the streak began with hopes of reigniting another run toward history.
Not necessarily the winning streak, though they certainly would like that to continue, but working to bring an unprecedented fourth consecutive Women’s College World Series championship to Norman.
Sooners coach Patty Gasso said the weekend is a critical one for those hopes, as her team competes in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, the sport's premier regular-season event.
“It’s chaos out there,” Gasso said. “It is just people everywhere. … We bring administrators to move us around. We bring security to move us around because you have to walk through crowds to get there. So, it’s going to be quite different for a lot of these athletes that were on the other side sitting in the stands watching.
"Now you’re in the middle and this is like their dream come true. Because it’s a California player’s dream. This is Mary Nutter. It’s the premier tournament. And as bad as the fields are, they don’t care. They want to play in front of their family and their friends, and that’s what they grew up on. So, it’s a big deal to them. And that’s why we’ve got to fine tune this.”
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Gasso wasn’t thrilled with her team’s performance last weekend in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as it extended its NCAA-record winning streak to 62. OU hasn't lost since Feb. 19, 2023, at Baylor.
“I felt them take it too lightly,” Gasso said. “Almost like, ‘Well, we’re not on TV. These teams aren’t maybe postseason (teams).”
Gasso was particularly struck when McNeese State coach James Landreneau approached her last weekend.
Two seasons ago in Houston, the Sooners dismantled the Cowgirls, run-ruling them 15-1 and 11-0 in two meetings early in the season.
“We played you guys and you kicked our rear ends in Houston, and I took that video and I showed our players what that looked like because we wanted to be like you,” Landreneau told Gasso. “We wanted to play like you. We wanted to show them what a championship team looks like.”
Last weekend, the Sooners beat McNeese State 8-1 and 3-0 with both games going the distance.
“That was a big honor,” Gasso said of Landreneau’s words. “But I don’t think we met his expectations. … I think his team outdid us in that way, and that was just a real eye-opener for me. As much as we were very average this weekend and good enough to win, again if we walk out of there with lessons, that’s really important. And that’s probably one of the most important lessons we learned.”
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Gasso has been happy with her team’s pitching and defense. The Sooners enter this weekend with a 0.50 ERA, third-best in the country. They also have a .991 fielding percentage, No. 5 nationally.
But she hasn’t been as thrilled with her team’s approach at the plate.
The Sooners are hitting .346, tied for 28th nationally entering Thursday.
But Gasso said she expects her team will surge offensively before long.
“Our defense was really good this weekend,” Gasso said. “I don’t think we made any errors. Pitching is on point and the hitting is going to be catching up very quickly.”
The Sooners get their chance to show they’ve learned lessons from last week’s malaise when they open the Mary Nutter against Mississippi State and Wisconsin at 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday.
There won’t be a lack of attention on OU this weekend.
“It definitely gives you a little bit of a taste of what the World Series is like for sure, just the amount of people that are surrounding the games and stuff,” Sooners pitcher Kierston Deal said. “But you really learn how to control the game with your teammates and everyone and slow the game down when you’re in a type of environment like that, so I’m excited to see what it looks like this year.”
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Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic
Games Friday-Sunday in Cathedral City, Calif. Streaming on FloSoftball (subscription required):
7:30 p.m. Friday: OU vs. Mississippi State
10 p.m. Friday: OU vs. Wisconsin
2:30 p.m. Saturday: OU vs. San Diego State
11 a.m. Sunday: OU vs. Seattle
1:30 p.m. Sunday: OU vs. Loyola Marymount
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball brings record win streak to Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic
