OU softball with off night, BYU capitalizes for stunning upset

OU softball head coach Patty Gasso really stressed this week about her club starting to round into championship form. It was time to start peaking.

It was a step in the right direction Thursday with the run-rule victory. But it was a giant one in the wrong direction in a stunning 9-4 loss to visiting BYU on Friday night at Love’s Field.

It marks the first OU home loss since April 23, 2017. And it is the first time that OU has lost twice at home in the regular season since 2016.

“Sometimes we can be just rolling and good enough, and that’s where we are right now,” Gasso said. “We’ve been handling things and been good enough. The way I look at it, it’s really the response of this team. We’re not good enough right now, and we know that. We’re not denying that. There are a lot of teams that go through these stretches, and we don’t really know how to experience it, to be honest.

“So it hurts, but what do you do when you get knocked down. What do you do when you’re hurt? What do you do? You fix it. You fight for it. Work extra. You do the right things, or you don’t. So we have to have a full buy-in.”

“We didn’t have our game tonight.” – #OU HC Patty Gasso

Mentioned not tough enough or good enough right now.

BYU 9, #Sooners 4 final. pic.twitter.com/gyw7mu7wxl

— Bob Przybylo (@BPrzybylo) April 13, 2024

Even if the hitting hadn’t been clicking lately, the pitching had. Time and time again. Finally had a game where the pitching and hitting, and now? Add in the defense as a part of the game that simply didn’t bring it.

The 11 hits are the most allowed by OU since June 2021. A couple of errors. Some baserunning mistakes. OU earned 10 walks, so the chances were there to make things happen. For whatever reason, it just didn’t happen like it usually does. OU left 11 runners on base.

Tiare Jennings did blast a two-run home run, but the bright spots were few and far between.

“I’d say as much as it sucks, I’m kind of excited just because I’ve never felt this before and I think for me it’s how am I going to respond,” Jennings said. “Am I, as a leadership, going to go down the drain, like, ‘Oh, we’re going to figure it out somehow,’ or are we going to buy in to this team and stepping up as leaders, just play free, keep having fun in the game?

“I think there’s moments where we lose that but as long as we keep having fun, having each others back and just keep fighting. There’s not much more you can ask for on the team to respond. So I think just looking forward to the future, this sucks, but I think this is going to be really good for us.”

OU used five pitchers, and none of the usual suspects had their best stuff. Kierston Deal picked up loss coming in relief of Nicole May.

OU knotted it up 4-4 after the fourth inning. But it was BYU that came through in the clutch moments, including a three-run top of the seventh to put the game out of reach.

The Sooners (37-4 overall, 14-3 Big 12)and Cougars wrap up their three-game series 1 p.m. Saturday.

OU and Team USA

Four current and one former University of Oklahoma softball team players have been named to USA Softball Women’s National Team rosters ahead of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women’s World Cup and Japan All-Star Series, announced by the organization Friday.

Jocelyn Alo, Jayda Coleman, Kinzie Hansen and Kelly Maxwell will represent the United States at the Japan All-Star Series on July 4-8 while Tiare Jennings will appear in the WBSC Women’s World Cup in Castions de Strada, Italy, July 15-21.

Oklahoma leads all NCAA programs with four representatives on the Japan All-Star Series roster while Jennings is one of just two active student-athletes on the WBSC World Cup roster. Athletes were chosen by the Women’s National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC) based on previous and ongoing evaluations at the collegiate levels as well as USA Softball National Team events, trials and camps.