Patty Gasso previews field for Oklahoma's softball regional

Oklahoma is the overwhelming favorite to advance out of the Norman Regional as the NCAA softball tournament gets underway this weekend. OU coach Patty Gasso warned that doing so won’t be easy, though.

The Sooners, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, are joined in their regional by No. 2 seed Cal, No. 3 seed Missouri and No. 4 seed Hofstra. Oklahoma’s quest for a third straight national championship begins Friday at 5 p.m. ET when the Sooners face off against Hofstra. OU and Hofstra have met twice all time, with the programs splitting the two matchups.

“I’m learning a lot about Hofstra right now,” Gasso said. “They have a history of postseason. We’ve played them at the World Series.”

Should Oklahoma handle Hofstra, as expected, it would either meet Cal or Missouri in the winners’ bracket. Cal enters the NCAA Tournament with a 33-19-1 (9-14-1) record. The Tigers are 34-24 (7-17) heading into the postseason.

“I’m more familiar with Cal-Berkley and with Missouri [than Hofstra] and they do have very rich softball history,” Gasso said. “And we have played both teams more than a few times at the World Series. And that always makes me feel uncomfortable, because when you have a history, you have a growing pride in who you are and representing your programs.”

Missouri has a 20-18 record all-time against Oklahoma in Norman, and the programs split their two meetings in the postseason. The Tigers knocked the Sooners out of the World Series in 2011, before OU beat Missouri in the Norman Regional Final in 2018.

Cal has an 11-7 advantage all-time against Oklahoma, including a 3-2 mark in the postseason. All five meetings took place at the World Series.

As for this season, Missouri has wins over ranked teams Northwestern, UCF, Florida, Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M and Arkansas. Cal earned ranked wins over UCLA, Utah and Stanford.

“I do not think this is an easy regional, by any means. These teams play hard. They play in tough conferences week after week after week,” Gasso said. “They have knocked off some top 10 teams. They’ve knocked off some top 20 teams. Their records are commendable. They’ve got big wins.”

Gasso went on to say that the NCAA selection committee did the Sooner no favors when they put the regionals together, despite OU being the No. 1 overall seed.

“It’s almost like, ‘OK, OU, you can handle this. You guys take this. You can handle this,’” Gasso said. “I think we get looked at like that at times, and that’s a tough place to be. Our team knows we’re going to have to play really, really good softball in order to get through this weekend. We’re not taking anything for granted.”