OU softball (and its fans) officially turning the page

OU head coach Patty Gasso has been trying to prepare everybody about the weight of expectations for the Sooners.

Take a deep breath because, as you might know, this is a much different team. It still says OU on the jerseys, but it’s going to take a while for OU to become OU in 2025.

Not a bad thing, just the way it is. However, when you’re the four-time defending national champions, there are just those expectations.

You can’t fight them. But give it time. Allow Gasso and staff to figure things out.

“We’re getting there. I don’t know,” Gasso said. “Our product that you’re going to see is not going to be perfected, but it’s going to be good, and it’s going to fight. That’s one thing I know is, these guys are not going to quit, and I felt that from the start. So they’re hard working, they’re focused.

“It’s just, if you could imagine coming in as a freshman and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, this team has won four national championships, so what is my job? To win them a fifth.’ That’s not what we’re asking for, but it’s just common feel for them. And if we can just get them to settle in and not worry about the outcomes but really about the process of learning and together and those kinds of tough situations, fighting through them, you’ll start to see us rise.”

Eight returning players, nine freshmen and five transfers. So although those eight have won at least one national championship, you have a hungry group.

Like nobody scratches their head when an elite transfer picks OU. Everybody knows why. Get better and get a championship.

That’s what Gasso has done with the program. So it’s definitely not complacency. There is a hunger, but we’ll all find out the toughness the newcomers will have this season.

“I love that Abby Dayton is here. That Ailana Agbayani — all of our incoming transfer athletes came here for a reason,” Gasso said. “And I know what that reason is and I don’t even need to ask them. They want to get trained hard and they want to win a championship. And having them here, you can feel their energy.

“This one over here (Dayton) is full of energy every day, every second, every moment. You do sleep right? Good. So there’s just I think a burst of energy that we got from the transfer athletes on top of our returners saying, okay we’re here. We’re five strong or whatever they are and they needed these transfer athletes to come in and say hey we’re with you, we’re jumping in, let’s go.” 

You’re not wrong to believe that are stars of the future for OU’s freshmen class. On paper and based on fall ball? Definitely feel like there are going to be names to circle and remember.

If it doesn’t happen on the first weekend? Slow down, no panic.

“It’s the freshmen that are — it takes them a little bit longer to learn the system and just to get their feet settled. They don’t want to make mistakes,” Gasso said. “They don’t want to let us down. And the harder they try, the less smooth it is. The harder the decision making is for them. So we’re just trying to smooth this out and I think once we get on the field and we play against somebody else, it’s really going to show us where we’re at.”

There are a lot of elements of turning that page. From saying goodbye to all the familiar names to just preparing for the season, it’s a new era for Gasso and company.

Doesn’t mean it won’t be as fun. Doesn’t mean it won’t be something special. And that OU name? Oh, still has respect. All the losses and still ranked No. 3 in all the national polls.

“During the last four years, two weeks before the start of the season, I’m like, ‘OK, we’re ready. Let’s go. We can go now. We’re good.’ This team, I feel like we’re going to take it to the midnight hour before we get on that plane – not literally. I can’t do that – but I think we want it. I think we need it. But I can tell you that I just have a really, like a, I don’t want to say like a mom, but like a cool older sister who is watching her younger sister in college.

“I’m fired up. I really am fired up. I am so excited because they’ve worked really hard. We have shared a lot of things from the personal side, as well as sharing a lot of things on the field. The way I know them right now? I’m not just coaching them. I am so rooting for them. I really, really am. It’s just a different feel.”

Time to get it going Thursday in California.