Getting to know OU softball 2025: Abby Dayton

The OU softball season is almost here. Almost. The four-time defending national champions, obviously, have a very different look in 2025.

So many of the names OU fans had grown to love like Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, among a bevy of others, have moved on.

Only eight returning players from the four-peat squad. That means a whole new crop for head coach Patty Gasso and staff to try to get playing at a championship level.

Whether it’s through recruiting or the transfer portal, nobody is crying for OU. And Gasso landed some of the best of the best.

Now? Let’s get to know them. Before the season is underway, SoonerScoop is going to let the freshmen and transfers introduce themselves.

Abby Dayton (OF, Jr., No. 16)

Embracing the OU legacy?

I would definitely say coming in and trying to get a 5-peat is an amazing thing to be able to accomplish, but also realizing that the entire team, most of us, is going to be our first. So it’s kind of understanding that we are new, but being able to talk to all these past players, like having Tiare as one of our grad assistants, has just been a game changer. Being able to hear from these people that have played and succeeded in this game has really helped us and being able to grow our mental game. We kind of understand who we are as a team, and being able to take away the pressure, but also living in the pressure, I think that’s going to help us a lot. 

Transfer portal process?

I would definitely say it was crazy. For me, from high school, at least, it was COVID, so we didn’t really have any schools you weren’t allowed to go visit. And so entering the portal and being able to go to schools was a very different scenario than what it was in high school. I was super stoked and excited when Coach Gasso reached out to me, just because it was always a dream for me to play here.

Since I was 10, we were playing on the field out here, and we were just always at Reaves playing in tournaments, and it was just every 10-year-old girl dreamed to go to OU. And so when I got that call, it was definitely just all the emotions running through. Definitely a little scary when she called me to come out and visit. I was like, me? Are you sure you got the right phone call? But just coming here, as soon as I got here, I knew. I knew this was the place for me.

The childhood dream?

I think it’s great that women’s sports has changed so much to where we’re able to have this field and facility. I mean, I loved it at 10 years old going over to Marita and being able to be in that locker room. But I mean, this place, it’s insane. And I hope that one day every single facility can look like this. It’s just crazy that at 10, I thought that was like insane. Like that’s still insane to me, honestly. Like if I was playing at Marita, it’d be the same as playing at Love’s. Like it’s just a dream come true. But being able to have this facility and being able to work with the girls that I am able to work with here, 10-year-old me would be kind of going crazy right now.

Playing against OU?

We played against them my freshman year. And I just remember I was, like, guns to the wall, like, we’re going. Like, you just want to play your A-game against them because they were so good. And it was, like, how do I play my best and beat them? And it was like, How do I play my best and beat them? And it was just like, it brought out a different emotion and player in every single girl that was on the field that day. And I think that’s what OU softball has brought to the softball program in general, just like softball all over, that they have brought a different competitiveness, and just being able to see the game grow in that kind of aspect.

Playing against them, it was like, you’ve got Rylie Boone and Jayda Coleman, they’re screaming and, like, after that day, I was like, ‘OK, that’s how I want to be.’ Like, ‘I want to have that energy.’ I want to bring my team with that kind of just emotion, they get on base, and they’re like screaming at their dugout. And it wasn’t like against the other team, like they were excited for their team, they were excited that they got on base. And I was like, that’s the emotion I want to have. And so I think they just grew the game in that type of way where it’s like everyone wanted to be like them, and not more of like a… yeah, it was competitive, and that was great, but it was like they showed what a good role would be like, what you want to be like.

You’re at OU, welcome to having the target on your back?

I’m ready. I’m going to have my best, the team’s going to have their best, and we’re going to give our all. But I’m really excited to see how teams compete against us and I’m ready to destroy. But yeah, I love competitiveness, I love competing. I am competitive at heart. So I’m excited to see, I want everyone’s A-game. I don’t want anyone to give me a 50 percent, like I want to see everyone’s 100, 110 percent.