Patty Gasso calls Oklahoma's change of stadiums 'bittersweet'

Oklahoma softball is going to be moving to a new stadium. A lot of why the program was able to do that comes down to head coach Patty Gasso and the success the Sooners have had under her.

At the same time, as Gasso explained, this is going to be a bittersweet move.

“Well, it’s bittersweet,” Patty Gasso said. “My whole life has been spent on this field. Lot’s of memories. Going from Reaves Park, to us, was like the Taj Mahal. This was like the greatest thing we had ever seen, and then you did see that we were starting to outgrow this.”

Patty Gasso came to Oklahoma in 1995. In 1998, she was there for the opening of Marita Hynes Field but grew the program beyond the scale that the facility can accommodate. So, Oklahoma is opening Love’s Field to expand.

“I think once we won the national championship in 2000, everything started to change, fan wise. So, we’ve been living in it since then. It’s been now 23 years and every year the fanbase grows and grows and grows. Did I ever expect it to get here? In my mind, probably not, but in our play, yes. People have been following us all over the country and showing up to see us. So, I know we’ve arrived and that’s been a while ago. Probably around 2013, I started to feel it really get consistently growing.”

Love’s Field is going to seat around 3,000 people, nearly doubling the stadium’s current capacity. There will also be a display for the program’s championships, more facilities for fans to access, and an indoor practice facility.

“So, it’s bittersweet. I hope it stays, Marita Hynes Field stays here for a little longer. I don’t know what is going to become of this space, but I think I feel it more than anybody,” Gasso said.

“You know, the players are like, ‘Yeah, let’s get out of here. Let’s get bigger,’ and I’m just like, ‘Wow, what are we going to do with the water-leaked ceilings over here?’ It’s just, you know what this is, it’s the blue collar stadium. It’s what it is, you know, and our players don’t complain. They don’t gripe about it. This is home. It will always be home.”

At Oklahoma, Patty Gasso has won six national championships, 15 Big 12 regular season titles, and eight Big 12 Tournaments.

Patty Gasso on preparing for the NCAA Tournament

Another NCAA Tournament is coming up for Oklahoma and Patty Gasso says that the team is more than prepared for the challenge.

“We’re ready. We just need to rest and have good practices and make good choices and all of those good things. But we’re ready. There’s nothing else I can practice with them. Well, there is but we’re ready,” Gasso said.

“From this point on, what they need is rest. They need rest. They’ll tell you that, I’ll tell you that. We are all kind of spent. We’ve been traveling a lot, we’ve been playing a lot. So, they need rest but we need good, focused practices and we can. We’ll have time to hang out as a team and do some fun stuff as well. So, it’s important for them to laugh and have a good time and have some fun. Now that we have those evenings open, we might be doing some cool stuff.”