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OU softball 'climbing' process on full display

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•04/30/25•

BPrzybylo

patty gasso20
OU HC Patty Gasso. (Bryan Terry - Imagn Images)

Almost every coach would agree with it, but it’s something OU softball head coach Patty Gasso has said repeatedly this season.

The Sooners are on their climb. They haven’t peaked yet. Don’t want to peak yet. Not the goal, even as late into the season as April.

But they’re getting there. After dropping a couple of SEC series, OU stood 10-5 in its initial year in the SEC. Since? A perfect 6-0, no place like home with Love’s Field. A three-game sweep of Mississippi State, which had not been done by anybody this season.

Followed by the dominating three-game sweep vs. Texas, that now has OU as the consensus No. 1-ranked team in the country.

What’s that ‘peaking’ process like?

“No, it’s definitely hard work that goes into it,” Gasso said. “And it’s just patience, you know? You’ll go through, kind of you’re up and then you’ll go down. We were kind of doing a little bit of that this year. I think the response after the Alabama weekend, I think that really was so uncharacteristic of us out there and I think after that the attitude was, okay, let’s just do this right. And that’s what I’ve been feeling.

“And we’ve been in some — I don’t know how many one-run games we’ve been in. It feels like a lot. And we’re on the right side of those so that is telling. That’s a big telling sign of a team as well. So I like where we’re going right now.”

Three of those six wins were indeed by one run. The run-rule life in the Big 12 is over, but OU is showing it can handle those tight ones just as much as it could enjoy the five-inning blowouts.

You’re seeing the contributions coming from everywhere. At the plate, in the circle. It’s not just one or two players carrying the day. That, obviously, is the best sign of the last couple of weeks. 

“The flow is good so everything’s working,” Gasso said. “And I feel like the lineup has really found each other. So it’s passing the bat. There’s no holes. I felt like we had some holes or let off the gas a bit. So I feel like the lineup is really merging well together.

“I think KD (Kierston Deal) and her performance was big for us. I think it helped Bella Smith have a good outing. So when everything just seems to start clicking together is what we’ve been feeling.”

OU closes out the regular season with a three-game set at Florida, from Thursday-Saturday. If the Sooners win two of three in Gainesville, they will win the SEC regular season championship.

There are still ways OU could claim the title even if it loses the series, but victorious in two? There’s nothing else the SEC could do to stop the Sooners from claiming the crown.

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