OU softball head coach Patty Gasso reflects on 'joyous' 2025 ride

OKLAHOMA CITY – It sounded ridiculous, but that’s the type of respect OU softball has across the country.

The best pitcher in the nation, absolutely dominating the Sooners all night. A two-run advantage. Final out, final strike.

But what did OU head coach Patty Gasso say? If OU has one swing left, it still has life.

And Abby Dayton gave life to all the OU fans with an improbable two-run home run off NiJaree Canady in the top of the seventh.

From down to 2-0 to tied 2-2. This is the story of how OU would eventually win its fifth straight national championship, except, well, it’s not.

Texas Tech somehow rebounded and won with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh. A 3-2 win for the ages as the Red Raiders will advance to the Women’s College World Series. And the quest for a fifth straight national championship is over for OU.

“It didn’t surprise me at all,” said Glasco about the Dayton bomb. “Like in my gut you feel that kind of thing happening when it happens. And so I was already mentally prepared. We come in, I think I said to the kids: We didn’t want it to be easy. We don’t want it to be easy. It’s Oklahoma. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

It’s always Oklahoma. Always someone unexpected or something where all you can do is shrug your shoulders.

It was that way last Thursday when Ella Parker hit a three-run walk-off home run against Tennessee star pitcher Karlyn Pickens.

This team felt like the one that had no business being on this stage. At least not yet – that comes in the years ahead or maybe just next year.

But they played with the same type of intensity, passion, execution and will to win that had marked those championship teams from 2021-24.

Gasso called it Clutchness, and it was on display one more time.

“I felt like I took a lot of it from the past two years,” said Dayton about facing Canady in the past. “I hit off of her a couple times. But just being able to have my teammates’ back and knowing they have mine put a lot of confidence in myself. But definitely understanding how she throws was in my mind. I was able to kind of use that.”

The champs weren’t simply going to go quietly into that good night. Texas Tech had to earn it. And now the Red Raiders will get the chance to face Texas for the WCWS championship. Canady outdueled OU ace Sam Landry in an intense battle.

“Congratulations to Texas Tech,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “They earned that, played well. They hit well, pitched well. So well-deserved. Just extremely proud of this team, who they are, first, and what they do second. I just shared with them in the locker room how much fun I had with them coaching them, watching them grow, watching them be hungry, watching them never quit.

“I think we learned so much and we’re going to be that much better, lessons along the way. But what I hope is that they learned lessons about themselves, and turning from girls to women is really important to this program and giving them life lessons and versing them in things that will help them throughout life. So it was an emotional, amazing, one of my favorite years of all time, I must say.

“And it’s been a joyous ride.”

The Sooners end at 52-9. Gasso got the joy of coaching again and this team exceeded all expectations. Except for maybe its own.

OU won the outright regular season SEC championship and earned the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

It took a generational talent like Canady to end the championship run. But for the first time since 2019, the OU softball season ends without hoisting the national championship trophy.

“Tip of the hat to Oklahoma,” Glasco said. “As everybody in this room knows, what they’ve done is historic, legendary. When I was a kid, we grew up talking about John Wooden and UCLA basketball. And I still think of John Wooden and UCLA basketball when I think of college basketball.

“That’s what Patty Gasso has done and what Oklahoma has done. Great champions. I just want to be sure that I compliment them. And what an honor to get to play them in the last game of the winners’ bracket to get to the finals. Just a privilege and opportunity for my kids to play against a team that well-coached, that talented and just what Oklahoma is.”

A ride for the ages with Gasso and company. And it will keep going.

“I’ve never seen them dogpile or do anything like that,” Gasso said. “But today was the first time I’ve seen them cry and that was not the emotion that I wanted to see. It happens. It comes with it, but they just have a crazy expectation of greatness, and it happened so fast.

“I’m like, just looking around at some of these connections and just the growth was so fast and so furious, but so beautiful to watch. It really, really was. I don’t know, it was pretty amazing. I’m at a loss for words because it was so far beyond anything that I thought this season would be like and so incredibly proud of them.

“If we would have won the national championship, I still don’t know if they would celebrate. I don’t know. Hopefully we’ll know again sometime soon.”