Why playing Bedlam softball at Hall of Fame Stadium 'makes a whole lot of sense'

NORMAN — Few things seem more obvious than the idea that the Bedlam softball rivalry should continue to be played after OU joins the Southeastern Conference.

But a close second was the location of the series going forward.

OU coach Patty Gasso broke the news Tuesday night that the Sooners and Cowgirls have plans in the works to play a game at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City beginning next year.

And while the stadium isn’t the most important piece of the puzzle — “We could play it over here at Couch Park and it’d be jam-packed and it’d be intense,” Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski said, referencing the Stillwater city park — it’s a significant development for the series.

Two of the top college programs will face each other for a single game in the softball mecca.

“I think that’s the only thing that’s cool, is that you can get more people,” Gajewski said Wednesday at his regular weekly meeting with the media. “Other than that, it’s still a street fight, wherever it’s played.”

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Bedlam softball is set for its final edition as a Big 12 matchup this weekend, with OU hosting the three-game series at Love’s Field beginning Friday. That stadium holds 4,200, while Cowgirl Stadium in Stillwater has maxed out at just over 1,700 this year with some additional right-field bleachers that were added last May.

OU and Texas drew an NCAA-record 8,930 fans for a game at Hall of Fame Stadium last year, and the OU-Baylor game earlier this year brought in 8,798 fans. Both games sold out the stadium, plus some standing-room only tickets.

There’s no reason to think Bedlam — with the added element of OSU fans — couldn’t match or surpass those numbers.

Gajewski has long been vocal about the need to continue the series in some fashion, while OU representatives have mostly remained quiet on the subject. But an effort between the athletic director representatives for softball at each school — Toby Baldwin at OU and Jesse Martin at OSU — appears to have produced an ideal plan.

The specifics of the game remain unclear, as far as when it will be played.

“Our sport administrator reached out to theirs. I think we came up with a mutual date, I don’t know what it is, but the plan is to play at Hall of Fame Stadium,” Gasso said Tuesday in breaking the news to the world. “There’s been rumblings that I don’t know about, but I do know that we reached out to them and it sounds like it’s happening.”

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As is the case with most sports, continuing Bedlam softball just makes too much sense not to do it.

“I think it will be good for the state of Oklahoma and I think it’ll be a marquee game whenever it’s played,” Gajewski told The Oklahoman on Tuesday night.

Both schools often have difficulty in finding midweek games against major-conference teams from the region. For instance, neither program has regularly played Arkansas as a non-conference game in recent years, though that becomes a conference series for OU next year.

So this fills a need in the schedule and will benefit both programs in a variety of ways.

“It’s two of the best teams in the country and we’re 60 miles apart,” Gajewski said. “I think it makes a whole lot of sense.

“It seems very natural.”

Though OU and OSU players have had regular opportunities to play at Hall of Fame Stadium in the Big 12 Tournament, and usually in the Women’s College World Series, the idea of taking the Bedlam rivalry there still carries some anticipation.

“It’s kinda weird thinking about the future and not playing a series against them. Same with Texas,” OSU sophomore outfielder Claire Timm said. “But I definitely think it’s exciting and it’ll be good for us. They’re always gonna be really competitive and we’re gonna go at it.”

Staff writer Ryan Aber contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Hall of Fame Stadium is ideal for future OU-OSU Bedlam softball series