Kinzie Hansen opens up on strike zone complaints vs. Florida

Oklahoma Sooners catcher Kinzie Hansen shared her thoughts on the strike zone and complaints some may have had about it in the team’s Women’s College World Series loss to the Florida Gators.

There were several times throughout the game when it looked like pitchers were getting squeezed by a tight zone. That’s something that, as Hansen explained, isn’t in the team’s control so she needed to try and help her pitchers focus on what they could control.

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“Yeah, for sure, something that I just communicate with my pitchers to control the controllables,” Kinzie Hansen said. “Keep spinning the ball, dominating through the zone. At the end of the day, you keep hitting your spot, the umpire can call it or he can’t. Just keep their composure, stay steady throughout the game.”

The game itself was an offensive explosion for Florida with the Gators scoring nine runs. That included back-to-back home runs at one point.

It’s possible that Oklahoma pitchers feeling they needed to be perfect led to some mistakes. However, as Kinzie Hansen explained, it was tight for both teams, and using a tight strike zone as an excuse for issues that Oklahoma had isn’t helpful moving forward.

“I keep telling them I’m going to do everything I can. The umpire was tight for both sides. It wasn’t just us. I think going forward tomorrow, we’re just going to need to be better. It’s no excuses. The pitchers did a great job hitting their spots. Some of the calls didn’t go our way, some did,” Hansen said.

“I think Florida just capitalized on the ones that kind of fell over the plate.”

In the Women’s College World Series, Oklahoma has pitched well to this point. Other than the loss to Florida, the Sooners gave up just one run in their first two games. Those were wins over Duke and UCLA.

Now, Oklahoma is going to get another shot at Florida, with the two set to play again on Tuesday. That’s a win-or-go-home game, with the winner advancing to play for a national championship. It’s a situation that head coach Patty Gasso says will make Oklahoma ask the question, “What are we made of?”

Kinzie Hansen after Oklahoma’s loss

Oklahoma might not lose much, but that doesn’t mean that Kinzie Hansen isn’t confident that Oklahoma has the experience to handle one in the Women’s College World Series.

“This team has been in this position before. We know how to get out of this. Our first year here at the World Series we lost the first game, came out of the losers bracket. This feeling isn’t new to us,” Hansen said.

“We’re not pressing at all. We know how to win ballgames, [and] what we need to do going forward. Looking forward to it. We’re never going to give in. No matter if it’s 0-2, down six runs in the seventh inning, it’s never over for us.”