Patty Gasso shares unusual mindset of Oklahoma facing non-conference opponents

Oklahoma softball was awarded the first-overall seed in this year’s tournament, and coach Patty Gasso praised their non-conference schedule. The Sooners are entering regional play with an incredible 51-1 overall record — winning 43 games in a row.

Their journey for a third-straight national title begins on Friday with a matchup against Hofstra (29-25). Awaiting them if they handle their business will be the winner of Missouri (34-24) and California (33-19-1) as the final bracket for this year’s NCAA D1 Softball Tournament was made official.

During the bracket reveal on ESPN, Gasso was asked about the success her squad found this season. Gasso explained that depth was a massive factor in their consistency, and that their lack of fear facing tough opponents helped keep them focused.

Patty Gasso praises non-conference scheduling

ESPN’s Holly Rowe opened her short interview with Gasso by asking about how good it would feel for Oklahoma to begin the tournament at home in the regional.

“We gotta do like we play every game,” said Gasso. “Come out, play hard, be focused, execute… all the things you need to do to win.”

Gasso went on to explain that their dominant 51-1 record was a result of inside competition between her lineups and players.

“I think we just competed against each other, day in and day out. We have a very balanced lineup, very balanced team. Bring in athletes any time I want. If we have injuries, it’s something we would panic about — we have a good contingency of players that can come in at any time. So it’s consistency, it’s hard work, it’s grit, it’s clutch. It’s all those things you need in postseason.”

Finally, Gasso explained that tough non-conference games were a great thing for their program and not something to be avoided. This season, Oklahoma was 20-1 against opponents ranked in the top-25 of RPI.

“Thankfully we got in some really good tournaments. Great teams agreed to play against us. I’m appreciative of that. We’re not afraid to lose games. We like to go in and just give it all we have. And if it’s not good enough, we know what we need to do to get better. But the goal was to load it up and see how we handled [it]. We had a good pitching staff to handle it. A good offense, a good defense and just a lot of players that are hungry to get in. Was hoping to give as much opportunity to everybody on the team as possible.”