OU softball starting to figure things out for 2025

We’re going to be saying constantly regarding OU softball and 2025. It’s just a different feeling. Spots you knew from the last few years are now up for grabs.

It’s one of the goals of the Battle Series and fall ball. The Battle Series takes a break this week as OU heads to Texas A&M-Commerce on Wednesday evening for a scrimmage.

OU has had two Battle Series events so far.

And here is what head coach Patty Gasso and players Sam Landry and Ella Parker had to say about last week’s matchup and the progress so far.

Patty Gasso

Starting to realize the lineup?

“I’m not too far off, but what’s great about them is they can play all kinds of positions, so you can look up and see Ailana at second, at short, on the mound, she can play pretty much anywhere. Ella can play the outfield, she can play first, she can pitch. They all do a lot of things very well so much of our decision-making is going to come from who’s on the mound and the matchups that happen because right now everybody can handle themselves really well on defense. I was really having fun watching Tia Milloy tonight. I liked her in the leadoff and she just moves, I mean she really does. There’s just so much… It’s going to be really, I hope, you would think, very fun to watch this team as we start to figure ourselves out a bit.”

Back to coaching again?

“I was ready. I am much more vocal than I have been in a long time. Just because I didn’t need to be. They knew what they were doing and I was just there to almost facilitate. Now we’re into really coaching and a lot of learning going on and a lot of quick adjustments and things like that. We’ve almost got everybody out of the injury box here, except for Corri Hicks, and we really need her behind the plate. I think we’ve got some inexperience with Riley Zache, and it might look that way. She’s fighting really hard, but she is a little raw back there still.

“But everything else… Our pitchers were not great tonight, and I know Coach Rocha let them know that, which I loved, but you’re also facing a very good offense, and we get to see them a lot. So you got to, as a pitcher, you have to really have thick skin in the fall because you just keep facing very good hitters that pretty much know what you’ve got. That’s why to have any of our pitchers get a shutout in their innings is a big deal.”

Thoughts on Nelly McEnroe-Marinas?

“It’s good, it feels good. She reminds me so much of Syd Romero, and that’s a very good comparison and something that I think she would be excited to hear. She’s still a redshirt — she’s a freshman, not completely though. But she’s fallen in and is really fighting for that spot. So I’m really excited for that for Nelly.”

Thoughts on Isabella Emerling?

“I thought she caught it really well tonight. I tried to run on her a little bit. She’s been working at practice on delivering the ball a little quicker. She did really well at that tonight. She takes big swings. I can hear the fans go ooh when she swings and misses. It was good to see her get some super solid contact tonight. I think that was good for her.”

Freshmen integration going?

“When freshmen come here, they come in pretty intimidated. You’re walking into a program that has just won the last four national championships. They come in here and go, I’m not good enough, not worthy to be here. You have to get them to understand that they are. Because otherwise you’re telling us we don’t know how to recruit. Get them on the field and throw them right in the mix with everybody. What’s really important for our program is culture.

“They don’t have to be best friends, but they have to respect each other and freshmen sometimes come in and are youthful and silly. That’s OK until it becomes a distraction. I think our team has done a good job, the elders, of letting them get that out and said, OK, but here’s where you need to stop doing that. Our freshmen are going to be a very integral part of this program and this season. We need them, and they’re falling in very well.”

Ella Parker

Growing into that leadership role?

“It’s definitely been a different role, but just appreciate what we had last year and just taking all the lessons that I learned into now and just kind of trying to be really welcoming to all the freshmen and the transfers. It’s a new year, new team, same goal. We’re really excited.”

Getting back in the circle?

“It was a breath of fresh air. It was a lot of just like the past couple weeks just a lot of like relearning my steps and all that. But being able to go back on the mound was really exciting, and I was like ‘Let’s go, let’s see where this takes us.’”

Sam Landry

Portal process?

“So the portal process was actually pretty smooth sailing. Coach reached out to me…… It was good. I very much enjoyed my visit out here to Oklahoma, and I knew almost immediately this is what I wanna call home. My only hiccup I had was how far it is from my family. I’m a big family person. But we’ve been doing really well. My parents just switch off every week that they come because we have little ones at home. But we figured it out.”

Getting adjusted?:

“It’s actually been a lot better than I anticipated, which is really good. I’m really big with my family so being away from them was hard. But this is one of the best teams I’ve ever been on and they’re going to invite you to do everything or they’re just going to show up to your house and hang out with you. Which I love that, so it’s been really good. Working with Coach Rocha is just a blessing in itself. She’s a very confident person which gives me a lot of confidence when I go out there. So I’m loving it.” 

First call with Patty?

“I think I blacked out. I would say a lot of what we talked about was faith which is really big to me. I’m big into my faith and anybody that will sit there and have a 45-minute conversation with you and most of it is about your faith, that’s where you want to be.”