Patty Gasso on Oklahoma's struggles: 'When it breaks open, it's gonna flood'

For the first time since 2011, Oklahoma will not win the Big 12 regular season title. After the Sooners suffered their second-straight loss against Oklahoma State on Saturday, Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso addressed her team’s recent struggles.

“We’re never going to quit,” Gasso said. “You’ll never see this team quit. It’s just sometimes it just takes time and when it breaks open, it’s gonna flood. I mean we are going to go off on that. But right now, we’re just in that space and we’re facing good pitching. They’re good pitchers. Look at their ERAs. They’re good. We knew that. They’re tough. You can’t score a lot of runs on them. 

“That’s why our pitchers got to be a little more shut down. Our defense has got to stand behind them. We got to keep the ball in the yard. We walk a batter, we hit somebody and then they hit it out and it’s that quick. It happens that fast… Everything leads into the next, leads into the other, right? So, there’s all parts of our game just is feeling it. It’s not just on the pitchers. It’s not just on the hitters. We’re all taking accountability.”

Oklahoma entered the sixth inning ahead 2-1. However, the Sooners spiraled in the sixth, allowing the Cowboys to rattle off five unanswered runs and eventually secure a victory. In the loss, three pitchers took the mound for the Oklahoma, each unable to Sooners.

All six of Oklahoma State’s runs came from home runs. Despite the team’s two-game losing streak, Oklahoma is having another excellent season. The team is 45-6 and 21-5 against conference opponents. Texas and Oklahoma State are the only two programs ahead of OU in the Big 12 standings.

Nonetheless, it’s an unfamiliar situation for Gasso and Co. Oklahoma hasn’t lost five or more games in a season since 2019. Last year, the Sooners finished with an astounding 61-1 overall record and won the national championship, their third in a row.

Oklahoma second baseman Alynah Torres believes the Sooners can rediscover their rhythm with a little improved teamwork.

“I think just trusting each other,” Torres said. “I think we put the work in. I don’t think it’s anything physical with us. I think it’s just all mental and when it opens, it’s physical. But I just think we need to grind. We need to punch back. I feel like we need to start just passing the bat and not putting too much pressure on each other.”