Skip Johnson describes his emotions, initial reaction to loss in regional final

Following two straight wins to avoid elimination in the Norman Regional, Oklahoma was eventually eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Monday. Falling to UConn in a disappointing 7-1 loss that officially puts an end to the Sooners’ season.

Oklahoma’s impressive regular season was followed by coming up short in both the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments after numerous hard-fought wins. As head coach Skip Johnson gave his instant reactions to their season-ending loss and reflected on Oklahoma’s season as a whole.

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“Just didn’t play very good tonight, couldn’t ever sustain a rally,” Johnson said on Monday. “I thought (Carson) Atwood started out really good, left a pitch up to a good hitter, hits it out of the ballpark. Make a switch trying to piece it together, get to the end. We had some arms at the end but I didn’t want to burn them unless we had a lead or tied and just never could really sustain a rally.”

The Sooners couldn’t get things going on offense or defense, not scoring their first and only run of the game until the ninth inning. Which came after the Huskies had an electric fourth inning where they hit two 2 RBI homers, followed by three more runs to further increase their lead.

“Hats off to UConn, they did a great job and they’re moving forward. They got a good ball club and look forward to watching them in the Super Regional and our year came to an end,” Johnson said.

Despite coming up short in the postseason, the Sooners were still able to rattle off their second 40-win season in three years. Finishing the season with a 40-21 record and their first Big 12 regular season title in school history. Also generating some buzz around the program that has Johnson optimistic ahead of their transition to the SEC next season.

“We had a good year,” Johnson said. “I’m proud of the coaches, proud of all these guys right here, they set a mark on the program. The fans were incredible. I mean that’s what it takes to be in the SEC, if you got to have that kind of fan support like we did the last half of the year, I’m so excited about that moving forward.”

Five SEC teams advanced to the Supers this postseason, a list the Sooners will look to find themselves on next year in their debut season in the conference.