Best of OU HC Patty Gasso: It's FSU one more time

Surprise, surprise for OU softball as it is paired up with Florida State once again. Except this time? We’re not doing it in Oklahoma City in the championship series of the Women’s College World Series.

One of these teams, actually, won’t even punch their ticket to the WCWS. No. 2 OU hosting No. 15 FSU in the Super Regional at Love’s Field in Norman on Thursday-Saturday.

Game 1 is 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by Game 2 at 7 p.m. Friday. If there is a Game 3, it will be Saturday at a time to be decided in the best two-of-three event.

OU head coach Patty Gasso was back holding court to preview all things Sooners and Seminoles.

Playing FSU again, help? Hurt? Doesn’t matter?

“I think it helps both teams. You know exactly what you’re getting instead of having to research, research. I think both teams have significant elders. I know some of these names by heart because we’ve played them so much. There is good leadership on both sides. Elderly roster for both who have been done there and done that.

“So there’s no surprises. Nothing new. They hit the ball hard. We hit the ball hard. There’s kind of trade offs, right? We might hit a few extra home runs, where they will maybe steal a few extra bases. So there’s trade offs on both sides. But top to bottom, they’re very explosive and they do the same thing.”

The confidence level of Cydney Sanders?

“Get it out of her head and stop thinking or letting it — it’s just body language. You can see that she’s mad at herself and then it kind of sinks in. She’s got 40 walks, which is unbelievable. So she is finding her way on base, and I’m saying when she swings a bat, if it’s a swing and miss, you hear the crowd going, ‘Oooh.’ I mean, she’s got the swing. It’s just not clicking for her right now. And it’s not us saying, ‘Well OK, you go sit over here right now ‘til we call on you.’ She’s too good at first. She really has a great glove at first.”

Anything necessary to tell Kierston Deal after not starting last weekend?

“I think Coach Rocha had a conversation with her today. But they know. This is part of what they’ve been taught, is certain pitchers are very successful against certain kinds of swings. So Nicole May knows that she doesn’t match up for certain teams as well. They all know that. There’s some who have a repertoire of pitches that can work against anyone. So I think, obviously, you want to get in there, so there might be a little disappointment, but she’s smart enough to know why we did it.”

OU freshmen continue to shine?

“They’re just kind of cool about it. They’re very mature, they’re kind of quiet, they don’t say a lot. They just do their job. I really enjoy watching them from the third-base coaching box because I can see them kind of talking to themselves after a take, you know.

“Pickering is very like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, no, didn’t like that, ooooh, I should’ve… I had that, I had that.’ They’re talking out loud and I’m reading their lips and I’m like, ‘As long as you know what you’re doing, I’m going to stay out of this.’ Ella can do it. Ella can make something faces like, ‘Oooh, ahhh, I missed that opportunity.’ But it’s just kind of setting them, you know. It’s just kind of settling them I think because before the pitch crosses the plate, Pickering’s like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, oh no.’ I’m like, ‘OK.’

“There’s a maturity. In the locker room, they don’t say a whole lot. They do listen. They’re hard workers and they’re smart players. What a group of young freshmen to build a foundation off of as we go into the SEC so I’m really looking forward to that.”