OU softball and the SEC: It's here, finally

One of the arguments against OU softball is officially out the window. Even though it sounds silly to dispute the four-time defending national champions, a common complaint was the Big 12 just didn’t bring it like the SEC.

Top-heavy with OU, Texas and Oklahoma State, but what about the weekly grind? That grind, well, it is officially here.

One ranked opponent after another. One big weekend after another. And it all starts with No. 9 South Carolina coming to Love’s Field for a three-game stint.

South Carolina was, on paper, supposed to be the breather. Or the get your feet wet series. Instead, the Gamecocks are 20-0 and the only other undefeated team in the country to go with the second-ranked Sooners.

“It’s going to happen week-in, week-out,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “If you look at our schedule, it’s a tough schedule. We start at home. You might have looked at South Carolina and go, hmm, how are they gonna be? Right now, I think they’re in the top 10, hello. Arkansas is in the top 10. You have Alabama, Florida, Tennessee.

“You might look at our schedule and say they played a weak schedule. That’s fine. 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, not going to be like that. Gonna have to play on tired legs, with injury. Gonna have to play. That’s going to be something new.”

You can’t fight the conference schedule, but the non-conference slate is being criticized. You hear Gasso and no apologies. A whole new team, for the most part, was going to take time. The next two months will show if OU is worthy of a No. 2 or a No. 1-like ranking.

Gasso knows that. The team knows that. It wasn’t all easy, as OU has won three games in extra innings. But according to Softball America’s rankings this week? Zero ranked victories.

Here comes South Carolina, fresh off a sweep of Duke, in what is being billed as the No. 1 series of the weekend by Softball America.

Is it all going to be easy? Or will the Sooners have to show some fight? We’re all going to find out together.

“I think adversity and seeing what we look like when we are down and trying to catch up, get back in the game, or if we have a lead, maybe we’re losing it – what adversity is going to feel like to them?” Gasso said. “Are they going to panic? Are they going to bow up? Going to clutch up? What are we going to look like? I feel very confident that they are going to stand tall. 

“I feel our upperclassmen know how to do that as well. Told them, like, no offense to any teams, but just run-rules don’t do it for me. I love the intense, tight, elite style of games where it goes back and forth if there’s a big play here, a big hit there and that’s what I’m expecting this weekend. I told them straight up when you are in the trenches, when you are against your toughest competition, those are the greatest memories you ever have. You remember how much fun it was.”

Next week? Yep, OU is at No. 10 Arkansas. But this week is all about South Carolina, all about silencing some critics. Love’s Field will be ready.