Patty Gasso, Oklahoma players defend their celebrations after walks

Oklahoma softball is dominant, and they are unapologetic about that dominance. It’s how head coach Patty Gasso wants her team to play and feel, right down to getting hype for a walk.

For a team used to bashing doubles and home runs, it might seem weird to try and pump up the crowd and dugout for a base on balls, but the Sooners feed off it. And knowing how potent their offense is, they know they’re putting pressure on the defense the second a runner steps on first.

“One thing I’ve told these guys is always be — you must be unapologetic about the energy and the celebrations that you have because women have worked so hard to get here yet still get judged for those things. That’s the way we play, and that’s what people enjoy. Or you don’t. You either like it or you don’t, but we’re not going to apologize for these players knowing the game and celebrating it the right way,” Gasso said.

Locked in a tie game with Stanford with a trip to the championship series of the WCWS at stake on Monday, outfielder Jayda Coleman worked a walk to get on base in the top of the 7th inning.

She turned to the Oklahoma fans and dugout and urged them to make some noise, visibly and audibly fired up. And it paid off, as Coleman scored an additional run as the Sooners took a late lead.

“I think, when you know the game, you understand how big those walks come in handy, just like Tiare [Jenning]’s double. Instead of scoring only Grace Lyons, I ended up scoring, too. Now you’re up two instead of just one,” Coleman said.

Coleman, along with her head coach, called out the critics of these celebrations.

“Maybe not tearing us down, but just kind of making it into a negative light when you’re seeing the MLB players doing the exact same thing, the NBA or the NFL throwing their helmets or having emotion. Why can’t we have emotion? We’re at the same stake as them. We’re athletes just like them,” Coleman said. “Why can we not wear our emotions on our sleeves?”

Lyons sought to clarify a point about the energy and celebrations Oklahoma bursts out with for walks, and how they’re not directed at opponents. It’s obviously unavoidable for opponents to experience it, but the intent and the goal is to fire their own up.

“We never mean it disrespectfully or against anyone else, like they’re saying,” Lyons said. “It’s in our circle. So what we do is to bring passion to our own circle, and it’s never against anyone else. So I just want to say that. That’s not how we play. People may take it that way, but it’s all for our own joy and passion, never to tear down anyone else.”