OU softball a No. 1 seed and an underdog in SEC Tournament?

Maybe it’s just the way the weekend ended, but it feels like OU softball is a No. 1 seed that not many believe are going to run the table.

The Sooners get things going in the SEC Tournament against LSU at 10 a.m. Thursday on SEC Network.

LSU took down Mississippi State 5-0 on Wednesday morning. The Tigers and Sooners have not played this season.

And in the RPI? Actually, it’s LSU that is No. 4 and OU that is No. 5.

OU enters at 43-7 overall and 17-7 in the SEC, winning the regular season title. But feeling like an underdog just a bit. The one big reason?

Pitching.

Ace Sam Landry has been gritty but not spectacular in her last few outings. Kierston Deal, Isabella Smith and Audrey Lowry have only been consistent in their inconsistency.

Landry has thrown a lot of big games, and Athens, Ga., will be another environment to show everybody if she’s ready.

Think head coach Patty Gasso is as excited as anyone else to find out what her team has for this weekend.

“I mean, we’ve had our ups and downs, and I’ll tell you, we were voting for SEC all conference teams, and you’re looking at just all the pitchers up and down the line of all the teams, and just everybody’s struggling in their own ways, different programs,” said Gasso on Tuesday. “They have the stuff. Can they get their feet grounded? Can they exhale? Can they leave all the ugly feelings and doubt and all the things that are going on internally aside and go after it? 

“So you can’t fault them for wanting to be so good, but we’re on a different track than we were with this team the last four years. They’re different, made different. They do things different, still learning to this day. So we’re learning how to exhale and just play with freedom. And some of them are just so locked into the name across their chest and wanting to make the fans happy, make the school happy, make the program happy, but it’s not what we’re doing it for, really. So we’ve had conversations about that. I think we feel like we’re going into the tournament like an underdog, and it feels nice to be on that side of things. So I’m looking forward to this.”

OU, of course, clinched the regular season title despite not being on the field to win it. But it’s not like Gasso coached as if that was the case.

Series on the line at Florida. Gasso threw Landry out there. She didn’t have her best, walking a season-high six. However, Gasso thought it was necessary. 

“She needs to throw against Florida,” Gasso said. “She needs these big games, needs to feel the pressure. I felt her succumb to some of that on Saturday, and she gets so mad at herself when she doesn’t — like that overthrow at second base, we had a very good opportunity for a double play. Those little plays that you know that if we would’ve made it, this could’ve been different. So she can’t let go of that. I’m like, it’s over. Let it go and learn from it.

“But that’s the mentality. They’re competitors.”

 Competitors who are going to a whole new environment in Georgia compared to Devon Park. You have to continue to find out what you have and you can trust. Another weekend to figure it all out.

And maybe walk out with a championship.

Final word

“And whatever we do, I mean, we’re going to be in the top eight. I feel very confident of that. I trust that we’re going to be in the top five. We can’t win the SEC and not be, in my opinion. So we’re going to go in and work our hardest to be our best to lend us into hosting at home. So I do feel if we have a good SEC tournament, that might secure us to move up just one spot or so, which would make a difference.” – Gasso on OU overall seeding