Just like that, it’s May for OU softball. And just like that, it’s the final Big 12 Bedlam series between the Sooners and Oklahoma State.
So much on the line, not just bragging rights.
Everybody is fired up about what’s to come, including head coach Patty Gasso. It’s time to crown a Big 12 regular season champion.
It’s the best of the best from Gasso, getting ready for Bedlam this weekend at Love’s Field.
Are you ready for Bedlam?
“That’s really what I came away with. One, KD (Kierston Deal) is a hot pitcher right now. Kelly (Maxwell), we extended her some and pressed her. The humidity is something we hadn’t felt in a while. I felt really good about the fight, the focus, energy and all those things that make us who we are. Have been in spurts, sometimes you don’t see as much as you see it at other times. They’re waiting for this part of the season. I talked to them today. Our schedule has not been really heavy hitting because not a lot of teams wanted to play us.
“So it’s a little bit different than it was last year, and they love those big games. We got that experience at Texas, and we weren’t quite ready for it. But we needed it because we had to learn from it, and we did learn from it. And I think all the things are starting to fire on all cylinders right now, so I’m excited about the way this team has come out to practice and I know they’re ready for the weekend.”
Love’s Field is a destination spot at OU?
“From a coaching standpoint, I remember when I got a call from — I think it might’ve been Stoops back there, where he was calling me like, ‘I’m coming, I’m bringing some recruits to watch your postseason game.’ I’m like wait, let me see if I can get you guys tickets. I wasn’t ready for that comment. So now you’re using our stadium and our play and young men are watching women play, and that’s gonna impress them in some way, shape or form. If the coaches didn’t think that, they wouldn’t do it. So it’s an honor. It feels good. It feels good to be that program that people are dying to get a ticket for, that coaches are wanting to bring recruits to, that other coaches are wanting to come see it, see the stadium.
“Some want to come and kind of follow us around and learn how we run practice. It’s an honor and again, it’s all about growing. Growing this game. One thing we want to do as a program, I want to do as a coach, is leave this sport somehow better, however that looks. I think we’re doing a good job of that.”
The final Bedlam in Big 12?
“I’m not really looking at it like that. I mean I’m readily admitting that I am a coach of the Big 12 and I will be because I’m not going to be coaching for another 30 years. I just want to be alive in 30 years, I don’t know that that will even happen. I’ve left everything I could on this field as has our program to the Big 12. We’re ready to march into the SEC the best we can. There’s no sentimental anything quite yet because it’s still very much business. And if you play or you coach or you think with too much emotion you’re going to get lost.
“So we’re staying in the moment. We’re staying locked into every pitch, every inning, every at-bat. So that’s all we can do this weekend so I’m just really not thinking about the meaning of it. I probably won’t until after it’s all over.”
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