OU head coach Patty Gasso a-OK with No. 2 overall seed

For the second season in a row, OU softball is the No. 2 overall seed. That’s fine with head coach Patty Gasso.

OU didn’t have a chance to really play for the No. 1 seed since the SEC Tournament championship between OU and Texas A&M was canceled Saturday because of rain.

The Aggies came into the week as the top seed in the country. And after run-ruling South Carolina (No. 8) and Texas (No. 6) in Athens, Ga., the Aggies played like a No. 1 seed.

It’s just, well, we’ll never know. At least not yet.

“I’ll start by saying that we are not disappointed about not being the number one seed,” said Gasso late Sunday night. “We feel fine where we’re at and I think the selection committee did a great job. It’s probably the most fair and evenly distributed regional in a long, long time – so we’re excited with this young team – excited to get started.

“You could feel their excitement watching the show. Many of them have never seen it before. So, there’s just some wonderful things ahead of us. I love the way we finished against Arkansas, so we do have momentum going forward. I think the thing we’re most excited about is playing it at Love’s Field. I think that will really charge us with some great energy.”

Instead, OU is No. 2 and hosting Boston University, Cal and Omaha this weekend at Love’s Field. The Sooners get started against the No. 4 seed Boston at 5 p.m. Friday.

Cal and Omaha meet 2:30 Friday. The winners will go against each other 1 p.m. Saturday, with 1 p.m. Sunday set for the regional championship game, and the *if game to follow if it becomes necessary.

The big thing for No. 1 and No. 2? Non-conference schedule. A&M earned wins against national seeds like Florida State and Texas Tech.

OU? Gasso knows they eased into things. A little sorry not sorry action there. That was the plan, after losing so much from the four-peat national championship team.

“You might look at our schedule and say they played a weak schedule. That’s fine,” said Gasso back in March before SEC play began. “I’ve got new players that need to learn and adjust. Now we need to be ready. There is no other answer. You have to be ready to go. It’s going to be tough. It’s not like you can go somewhere and can rest your starters. It’s not going to be like that.”

Last year, it was No. 1 Texas and No. 2 OU. Felt like a collision course waiting to happen. Perhaps it’s the Sooners and Aggies this time around.

“Two quality opponents in Texas A&M and Oklahoma,” said NCAA Softball Committee Chair and UT Martin Athletic Director Kurt McGuffinto ESPN2 on Sunday. “I think what set apart Texas A&M is they have 19 top 25 wins which is number one in the country in wins in the top 25. They also had two quality non-conference wins versus Florida State and Texas Tech, and I think those were the two pieces that set them to the number one seed.

“I would say they were 1A/1B, because they’re both fantastic teams. The resume shows that… It was really, really close.”

OU is one of seven top eight seeds from the SEC. The conference earned nine of the 16 national seeds, including a potential Super Regional battle between No. 2 OU and No. 15 Alabama.