OU softball welcomes Tennessee, series everybody wants to see

It gets repeated often, but it’s still true when it comes to OU softball. The ridiculous standard just means things are perceived a different way.

It doesn’t matter there is a whole new cast of characters. When you see a 19-16 victory Wednesday like OU had at Wichita State, you’re looking at the 16 a lot more than the 19.

You’re looking at how tight that game was knowing it’s time for that SEC grind to kick back into action.

When the OU schedule was announced, think everybody circled this three-game set. No. 14 Tennessee coming to Love’s Field. Sign everybody up.

“Tennessee’s pitching staff is very, very good,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “I think they probably lead the country in ERA and so forth. Their catcher is someone we know very well, who’s been doing a really great job. So I’m happy for her. They have some big hitters. They have some young players. I don’t know, again, when you kind of put it on paper it’s really interesting to take the stats of one team who we’re playing up against ours.”

That catcher, of course, is Sophia Nugent. She left OU following the third of the four straight national championships. Nugent is second on Tennessee with eight home runs and 36 RBIs. She’s trailing Taylor Pannell in both categories (11, 45).

The Vols enter at 27-6 overall but dropped two of three at home to Arkansas last week. OU, on the other hand, went to Fayetteville and swept the Razorbacks.

Overconfidence, though, won’t be part of the picture.

“Our numbers almost look identical,” Gasso said. “And we do it almost every time just to show where we’re leading, where we’re not. Tennessee is the same exact. They might have a few more strikeouts but we have a few more home runs, like it’s kind of like that.

“We’re gonna pack this stadium. It’s going to be a night game. There’s lots of festivities and so I really hope that we embrace the crowd and they’re caught up in this night game and we just have a lot of fun. We now know how to play in front of our crowd. It took us time to figure that out.”

Rolling with the punches

Everybody knew OU softball was going to lose a game, wasn’t going to have an undefeated season. But going 28-0 is a real nice way to begin the season.

Now? Just breathe, after all, and get back to work.

“I think the biggest thing for me is just knowing that I don’t have to take all the responsibility on just myself, knowing there are so many girls on this team that can and who have kind of taken some of that responsibility with me,” captain Nelly McEnroe-Marinas said. “So I’m just very comfortable in knowing I don’t really have to do anything for myself.

“After that Saturday game, it was flush it and move on. We realized that we’re human. We don’t have to be perfect all the time. Things happen. Losses are gonna come. It’s just how we move on from that, and I feel like we did a good job of forgetting it, keep it in the past and taking that next step forward.”

Pickens one to watch

Not just for the fastest recorded pitch, either. Karlyn Pickens gets the job done in the circle for Tennessee. To have 131 strikeouts in just over 89 innings? You know she’s going to attack the OU hitters all weekend. She has a ridiculous 0.86 ERA in 17 appearances this season.