Best of OU HC Patty Gasso: Not Sooners fault WCWS is in OKC
OKLAHOMA CITY – OU softball is back in very familiar territory. The Sooners have returned to Devon Park in Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series.
OU is, of course, gunning for its fourth consecutive national championship. The No. 2-seeded Sooners get things started against No. 10 Duke at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Wednesday, though, was about media day. The final thoughts on head coach Patty Gasso as OU attempts to write itself in the history books again.
Anything stand out about first game vs. Duke (3-0 win)?
“It was a very exciting game. It was one of our first games of the season. Both teams I know have gotten that much better. I think they would see us look different. I think we’re going to see them look a little bit different. But it was fun. That game made us better. They were really good on all sides: offense, pitching, defense. I expect more of the same.”
Is it an unfair advantage to have the WCWS in OKC?
“Well, it’s no doubt that Sooners fans come out. If you have it in Omaha, Nebraska fans are going to come out. Where are you going to take it? Who has a 15,000-plus stadium to have it? There’s nothing we can do. It’s not our fault. It’s no one’s fault. It’s the people of Oklahoma City that put in the money to make this happen. It’s a celebration of that.
“You can look at it any way you want. Someone’s going to have to put up big bucks to try to get it somewhere else. I know this is a long-term contract, as well. I don’t know. Everybody has their opinions. As long as it’s here, we’re going to take advantage of it, just like anybody else would.”
Top 10
- 1Trending
Kyle McCord
Historically miserable night ends with self-sack
- 2
USF MBB coach dies
USF men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim dead at age 43
- 3New
CFB25 player ratings
Massive changes to the game
- 4Hot
AJ McCarron slams Bama
'Everyone's worried about f-----g TikTok'
- 5
Grayson McCall retires
NC State QB announces retirement from playing football following injury
The key to WCWS success?
“You want to really play well right out of the gate. It’s important to try to get that first game. But we have been in a position where we’ve lost our first game and came through the losers’ bracket all the way through to meet Florida State who did the same a few years ago.
“We know what’s important, it’s to win early. But you have to play well. Obviously it’s getting the breaks. Sometimes you’re earning things, sometimes you’re getting breaks. We just got to take everything we can from it, learn from it. We got to make quick adjustments at the plate, pitching has got to be good enough for us to make plays on the field, keep the ball in the park, minimize free bases, and we can have a lot of success.
“We’ve got to have at least two parts of our game working really, really well. If we get three, we’re going to be a very, very hard team to beat.”
Final word
“I think this year we definitely saw us go through a little bit more adversity than normal on the playing field, which now we can look back and say it was pretty fun. Going through that made us all the more better. I think that’s what is so special about this team, is the love we have for each other. You have 10 seniors that are world-class athletes on this team. Being able to celebrate one another, being able to be here for a fourth year in a row, just celebrate one another, in this beautiful stadium. You see the freshmen kind of following in the lead of not only the seniors but just the standard of excellence at Oklahoma that we’ve been able to see throughout this entire decade.” – Kinzie Hansen on the year’s journey
