OU softball hoping to 'bottle up' SEC Tournament performances

No revisionist history here from OU head coach Patty Gasso. Now that it’s days removed from not playing an SEC Tournament championship game, Gasso is not changing her tune.

It was the right decision Saturday and still the right one now. But there is something about the SEC Tournament that Gasso hopes bleeds into the rest of the season.

The performances, the emotion, the determination. The brilliance of Sam Landry in the 4-1 victory against LSU. And the record-setting day in the 8-6 win against Arkansas. A game where OU set the SEC Tournament record for home runs in a single game (six) and had the biggest comeback ever, down 6-1.

Don’t worry about not getting the crack at the Aggies. Do try to find that same type of magic from Athens, Ga., to Love’s Field.

“That’s something you want to bottle up and hope that it maintains,” Gasso said.

OU earned the No. 2 overall seed, with the Aggies getting No. 1. No biggie, said Gasso, as OU gets ready to host a regional for the 14^th consecutive season.

The Sooners welcome Boston University, Cal and Omaha to Love’s Field. Cal and Omaha get it started at 2:30 p.m. Friday, followed by OU and the Terriers at 5 p.m.

The winners meet up 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon, with the regional championship to be decided Sunday afternoon.

Scouting the field

About that regional? Not a lot of respect nationally for what’s coming to Norman. Considered by most maybe the easiest regional, Gasso does not want to hear anything about that.

In one ear and out the other.

“I don’t care what anyone in the world says,” Gasso said. “I know and the team certainly knows that we’re facing champions. You don’t get in this by luck. You get in because you did something really well. So we have faced a couple of these teams before. We have watched and faced Omaha not too long ago. Very well coached.

“Good, good pitchers in this regional. Cal has got that feisty…they still have a feisty, Pac-12 mentality. Feisty, west coast kind of toughness about them. We’ve got our hands full. I’m not listening to one thing because knows. And I’m not listening to what naysayers might say or ‘wow, you’ve got the easiest…’ When people say that to you, you just have to plug your ears.”

Freshmen still growing up

Think about that comeback against Arkansas. Two home runs by freshman Sydney Barker. It was Gabbie Garcia with the walk-off three-run shot in the seventh.

And in the circle? Oh yea, it was freshman Audrey Lowry shutting down the Razorbacks in the final three innings.

The freshmen continue to grow up.

“Very important to see that,” Gasso said. “But I’m not going, ‘Oh my gosh they’re freshmen.’ I forget. I forget that they’re freshmen, forget that they’ve not had this big moment. Gabbie Garcia is playing like she’s a junior. Nothing is fazing her.

“And Audrey, nothing is fazing her. Barker is saying, she wouldn’t say it out loud but it’s like, ‘Give me a chance. Let me show you. Let me show you.’ And she did. And she was about ready to get another start because of it. So I forget.

“I don’t think about that when we’re in it. Probably more when it’s over, like, wow that really happened. Way to go Audrey. Wow, way to go whoever it is. I never classify them by class.”