Tag: Patty Gasso

No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners beat No. 1 Texas Longhorns 5-1, win Big 12 tournament championship

Kelly Maxwell recorded seven strikeouts and allowed just two hits to lead the Oklahoma Sooners to their second consecutive Big 12 tournament title.

Oklahoma Sooners pitcher [autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag] threw a gem, and the Sooners enacted Red River revenge on the Texas Longhorns to win the Big 12 tournament title.

Maxwell threw 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run on two hits and three walks. She recorded seven strikeouts against a vaunted Texas offense that was averaging just over 15 runs per game in its last five outings. Maxwell and the Sooners snapped Texas’ 18-game winning streak, which started with the second game of the OU-Texas three-game series in Austin.

Batting as the visiting team, the Oklahoma Sooners started early. [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] reached on an error by first baseman Katie Stewart. [autotag]Ella Parker[/autotag] picked up an infield single, beating the throw from second base on a slow dribbler. [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] made her presence felt with a double to score Coleman. With Parker on third, [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] came through with a fielder’s choice RBI to put Oklahoma up 2-0 in the first inning.

Maxwell worked a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first but ran into trouble in the second. After a couple of strikeouts, Maxwell surrendered a walk to Joley Mitchell and Kayden Henry drove in the Longhorns only run of the game with a triple to right center. Maxwell ended the threat, leaving Henry stranded on third.

Like they’ve done so many times, the Sooners responded in the top of the third inning. Parker singled and advanced on a wild pitch. She came around to score on a hard-hit ball by [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] to put Oklahoma up 3-1. Hansen brought Brito around to make it 4-1. Hansen had a double that she nearly turned into a triple, but the Texas relay throw was just in time to get Hansen at third and retire the side.

The Longhorns couldn’t take advantage of a lead-off single in the top of the third as Maxwell retired the next three Longhorns in order.

The Sooners tacked on another run in the top of the fourth after [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag] reached on another Texas error. Boone singled up the middle to score Torres to put the Sooners up 5-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, Maxwell needed just six pitches to retire the Longhorns in order. In the fifth, she surrendered a leadoff walk but struck out the next two Longhorns before inducing a ground out to end the inning.

In the sixth, Maxwell ran into trouble after she walked and hit Texas batters to put runners on first and second with nobody out for Big 12 Player of the Year [autotag]Reese Atwood[/autotag]. Atwood lined a ball to straight away center field that Jayda Coleman played perfectly to prevent the Longhorns from pushing two runs across.

But then [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] and Jennifer Rocha went to the bullpen and senior [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag]. May had struggled from the circle, but was flawless in her 1 2/3 innings of work. May recorded three strikeouts to help preserve the victory and give the Sooners the Big 12 tournament title for the second year in a row.

It was Maxwell’s second Big 12 tournament title in the last three years after beating the Sooners as a pitcher for the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in 2021. In this one, against arguably the hottest team in the country, Maxwell was lights out.

With the win, Maxwell moved to 17-2 on the season. Ella Parker continued her incredible tournament with another two-hit game. Parker was named most outstanding player for the tournament. She was 7-for-9 in Oklahoma’s three games with a home run, two doubles, five RBIs and six runs scored.

It’s the Sooners’ ninth Big 12 tournament title since the formation of the conference. Now, they head into the NCAA tournament on a high note. The Oklahoma Sooners will host an NCAA regional next weekend, but we’ll find out who it is on selection Sunday.

After beating Texas to split the four games, the Sooners have a chance to move back into the top spot after Tennessee was bounced early in the SEC tournament by LSU and Oklahoma State lost to BYU in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament.

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Sooners’ Kinzie Hansen named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year

Oklahoma softball’s Kenzie Hansen is the new Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 12.

Oklahoma Sooners’ softball catcher [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag] has been named the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 12. The OU Softball account announced the recognition on Wednesday morning via social media.

The graduate senior and three-time national champion has been a leader behind the plate for [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag]’s team. Hansen leads the Sooners with a .415 batting average and has hit eight home runs along with 28 RBIs. She also has six doubles and 14 walks on the season.

Hansen has been a vital part of this four-year run, in the latest installment of the Gasso dynasty. In her time at Oklahoma, she’s hit 57 career home runs, 246 career hits and national championship rings from 2021, 2022 and 2023.

 

Hansen celebrated senior day along with her teammates last week, and the Sooners enter the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 2 seed this week. Oklahoma will face off against either Houston or Kansas on Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

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Oklahoma softball seeks bounce-back in Big 12 tournament

Oklahoma Sooners softball will need to channel their dominance early in the season if they want to win the Big 12 Tournament.

The Oklahoma Sooner softball team enters the 2024 Big 12 Tournament this week as a 2 seed behind the Texas Longhorns. It’s the first time OU isn’t at the top in 12 years.

But the Sooners still have a chance to earn the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament if they can win the Big 12 Tournament this week.

It hasn’t been as clear a run to this point for [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag]’s team, which lost a three-game series at Texas and a three-game series at home against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls. Everybody in the world of NCAA softball knows the Sooners can flip the switch, however, and run past any and every team they face.

Oklahoma won Game 3 at home against Oklahoma State last week by a score of 8-2 to secure the 2 seed in Oklahoma City. The top of the Big 12 standings features three of the top four teams in the country: the Sooners, Cowgirls and Longhorns.

Oklahoma is sandwiched between their two rivals at No. 2. Texas is No.1 and Oklahoma State is No. 3.

The Big 12 Tournament will run May 8-11, but Oklahoma’s first game will not be until Thursday. The Sooners face No. 7 Kansas, which won the first-round game against No. 10 Houston. First pitch for Oklahoma’s quarterfinal game is 1:30 p.m.

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Bedlam Softball to continue in 2025

On Tuesday, Patty Gasso revealed that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State administrators have been working toward getting Bedlam Softball on the schedule for 2025.

Oklahoma’s move to the SEC has cast doubt on the future of Bedlam on the football field. Given the proactive nature of nonconference scheduling, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State don’t have many open dates in the near future to keep the in-state rivalry going.

But other sports aren’t scheduling their nonconference games too far out and the diamond sports often add nonconference games midseason. So, it comes as no shock that administrators from Oklahoma and Oklahoma State reached an agreement to play Bedlam softball in 2025.

“Our sport administrator reached out to theirs. I think we came up with a mutual date, I don’t know what it is, but the plan is to play at Hall of Fame Stadium,” Patty Gasso shared with the media on Tuesday. “There’s been rumblings that I don’t know about, but I do know that we reached out to them and it sounds like it’s happening.”

Two of the best teams in the sport reside in the state of Oklahoma. The Sooners and the Cowgirls have been a big part of the growth of the sport. The rivalry that has often had Big 12 title and postseason implications needed to continue. It’s a matchup that moves the needle in the state and in the world of softball.

Oklahoma State head coach Kenny Gajewski told The Oklahoman on Tuesday night that he’s “always been open pretty open about” keeping the matchup going beyond 2024.

“I know that recently our sport administrators, Jesse Martin and Toby Baldwin, have been talking about a single game in OKC,” Gajewski added. “I know we looked at a couple dates. I didn’t know anything was official yet, but I knew we were working toward that. I think it will be good for the state of Oklahoma and I think it’ll be a marquee game whenever it’s played.”

The details may not be ironed out at this point, but it sounds like it’s just a matter of time before those get worked out. Putting the game in Hall of Fame Stadium would be fantastic for both programs and the sport. It would provide more seats for fans creating a great atmosphere for both teams.

Their final series as Big 12 foes takes place this weekend at Love’s Field. Beginning on Friday, 2024 Bedlam will have huge implication in the regular season Big 12 title race.

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‘Our pitching staff is going to have to be really good’: Patty Gasso’s Sooners ready for UCF’s offense

It’ll be no easy task but the Sooners are ready to face UCF’s offense this weekend.

The Oklahoma Sooners have had the week to rest after their series sweep of Houston. Now, they are off to Orlando to play the [autotag]UCF Knights[/autotag] this weekend.

UCF brings in one of the best offenses in the country. They rank No. 38 in the nation in batting average, are tied for No. 62 in scoring and are No. 84 in on-base percentage. That means the Oklahoma pitching staff has to be on their “A” game. The Knights also don’t strikeout a lot, so the Sooners defense will have to be on point.

Patty Gasso spoke about the challenges of UCF’s offense. “They’ve got power, they’ve got speed, they’ve got slappers; I mean, they played Baylor this weekend, and over three games, they scored one run,” Gasso said. “Which is unlike them because they can put up big numbers. Our pitching staff is going to have to be really good. We are going to have to keep their playmakers off the base path. They’re going to bow up. There’s going to be a lot of noise. There’s going to be a lot of fans.”

The Sooners’ pitching staff has risen to just about every occasion. They’ve been arguably the strength of the team. Gasso will need them to rise once again in this weekend’s series if the Sooners want to stay on top of the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] conference standings.

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Patty Gasso wants more ‘consistency’ before postseason play

So far the Oklahoma Sooners haven’t shown the consistency that their head coach is used to seeing.

While their offense and elite defense get the headlines, their consistency is one of the most important things to the Oklahoma Sooners’ historic run. You rarely, if ever, see an off-game from the team.

This year has been a little different. There have been several games that have left fans scratching their heads and not recognizing the team on the diamond. Still, they are 42-4 and No. 2 in the nation. So, it’s not like they’ve fallen off, they’ve just not been as consistent as in years past.

Patty Gasso talked about how they need to find that before postseason play starts. “I think we just want consistency,” Gasso said. “We’re able to win games. We’re winning a lot of games. We’re still in charge of our own destiny. I think it’s (having) zero regrets as we go through this and finish it and look out for your teammates. Communicate with your teammates. Check in with your teammates. Sometimes, we get lost in what we’re doing here. The expectations are grand, and it can just get really tiring. They’ve been doing it for now their fourth year in a row. It’s hard to outdo yourself year after year.”

That’s why these last two series are so important. The Sooners can not only clinch the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] regular season title but they can also build a ton of momentum toward the postseason while also working on that consistency that Gasso wants to see.

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‘We’re going to fix that’: Patty Gasso on the Sooners leaving too many runners on base

The Oklahoma Sooners are having another really good offensive season, but can improve when they get runners on base.

The Oklahoma Sooners softball team lost another game this weekend giving them four losses on the season. They still won the series over the [autotag]BYU Cougars[/autotag].

But throughout the series, the Sooners’ batters looked off balance, thanks to a really solid performance by the Cougars’ pitching staff. Still, Oklahoma did what they’ve done almost every time they’ve had a letdown: respond.

This team’s issue recently is hitting with runners on. We are not used to seeing this from Oklahoma, but it’s a concern. There have been a number of occasions when a runner runs themselves into an out or gets doubled up on a line drive. Oklahoma just hasn’t been as sound on the base paths or at the plate when they have opportunities to cash in.

Patty Gasso talked about that after Saturday’s win. “We’re getting on but we left 11 runners on base and that’s just too much for this team,” Gasso said. “But we’re getting on base so we can be encouraged by that and we’re going to fix that. I’m certain of that.”

If the Sooners are able to fix that, they probably will win their fourth straight national championship. They’ve been great in 2024 yet again and still, there’s room for improvement, especially with runners on base.

Now, Friday the pitching and defense weren’t great, but it’s been pretty good all year. It’s the hitting that has cost them more than the pitching. They need to find a way pick up if the Sooners want to win the NCAA overall No. 1 seed and win another national title.

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Texas Longhorns shut down Oklahoma Sooners’ high-powered offense

Oklahoma’s offense was held in check in their first conference series loss in over a decade.

The Oklahoma Sooners were unable to leave Austin, TX with a series win over the Texas Longhorns. It was the first time the Sooners dropped a series to their Red River Rivals since 2009. OU took Game 1 but scored two total runs in the next two games, losing both 2-1.

It was shocking to see the nation’s top offense held in check like that. They entered the series averaging nearly 11 runs per game in conference play but mustered just two runs per game against Texas. The Longhorns deserve a lot of credit for how they played, but still, we aren’t used to seeing that from an Oklahoma team.

Alyssa Brito discussed the offensive struggles after the game. “I think that we didn’t adjust when we knew they were making adjustments themselves,” Brito said. “They did a really great job of constantly changing up their plans, and I think that we knew we were better than what we showed and how we responded. But I also just think we need to stay within ourselves. I’m not too worried about it, honestly.”

There isn’t much cause for concern right now with the Sooners and their offense. Coming into the season, the question marks were around the pitching and not the hitting. But the pitching was outstanding against a very good Texas offense.

That’s a positive you can take away. I think the hitting has been so good for so long that they get the benefit of the doubt moving forward.

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Oklahoma Sooners’ pitching the lone bright spot over the weekend

While there isn’t a lot of positives to take away from the weekend, you can take away just how great the pitching was from the Sooners.

When you lose your first conference series in over a decade, there aren’t a lot of positives for fans to take away. Especially with how you lost the series.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ offense managed to score just seven runs in the three games, but there is one bright spot from the weekend. The pitching and defense were really good against one of the best offenses in the country.

[autotag]Kelly Maxwell[/autotag], [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag], [autotag]Karlie Keeney[/autotag], [autotag]Kierston Deal[/autotag] and [autotag]Paytn Monticelli[/autotag] held one of the best offenses in the country to just six runs in three games. Maxwell was dominant in Game 1 and got the start again in Game 3 and threw really well.

Patty Gasso spoke about her thought process giving Maxwell two starts in the series. “Another level,” Gasso said. “This is the best I’ve seen her. (She is) confident, cool, calm, execution, getting ahead. I liked it so much the first night, I wanted to see it again. She handled herself really well. I’m telling you, their offense and our offense, it’s almost side by side, identical. So, for us to shut them down to two runs, that’s a big deal.”

Holding them to two runs per game for the series would normally end in a series sweep for the Sooners. But Texas shutting Oklahoma’s lineup down to one run in the final two games of the series was the difference.

“I knew that today (Sunday) was going to be tough,” Kelly Maxwell said. “Credit Texas’ offense for picking up on my mistakes. I think there is just more opportunity to learn and grow from this weekend.”

The Sooners will have a day to regroup before traveling to face Wichita State on Tuesday.

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‘We needed to feel this’: Patty Gasso on Oklahoma’s first conference series loss in over a decade

It was a tough weekend for the Oklahoma Sooners but Patty Gasso has faith her team will bounce back.

It was a tough weekend for the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners took on their Red River Rival, the Texas Longhorns, and dropped their first conference series since 2011.

If you had told me the Sooners’ pitching and defense would have held Texas’ high-powered offense to six runs in three games, I would have thought the Sooners would have swept the series. But the Sooners only mustered seven runs themselves and five of those came in the game one win. Over the final two games, Oklahoma was held to just two runs.

It was a very uncharacteristic performance for the Sooners, who have had one of the top offenses in the sport for several years now.

But Patty Gasso feels they can take some positives from those performances. “We needed this,” Gasso said. “We needed to feel this. Are we broken? Are we shaken? Absolutely not. What we need to do, and we know, is go back to Norman and reset. To face a crowd that was outstanding, and I’ll tell you, as someone who is advocating for growing our sport, we love those crowds even though they’re against us. They are very vocal. We love it.”

The Sooners don’t have much time to sit on the loss, which can be good sometimes. They have a chance to respond to what happened this weekend on Tuesday against Wichita State.

One thing we are seeing from this team that we may have not seen in the past is they aren’t as invincible as they once were. Is that because they have fallen off a bit, or has the rest of the softball world started to catch up? It’s probably a little bit of both, but if there is one team or one coach that can figure it out, it’s the Oklahoma Sooners and Patty Gasso.

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