Oklahoma Softball: Sooners Ready to Run Like 'Well-Oiled Machine' at the Big 12 Tournament
Oklahoma’s road is set.
The No. 1-ranked Sooners will open their Big 12 Tournament defense on Friday afternoon against the 4-seeded Iowa State Cyclones.
After sweeping Bedlam last weekend, OU (48-1 overall, 17-1 Big 12) was the only team handed a bye in this weekend’s tournament.
The Cyclones (28-26, 6-12) topped Baylor 2-1 to advance to play Oklahoma, though Iowa State lost by a combined score of 24-4 in three games in late April.
Where, When, How to Watch:
- Big 12 Semifinals: Oklahoma vs. Iowa State, Hall of Fame Stadium, 1 p.m., ESPNU
Though they’ve been dominant, the journey for the Sooners this season has been far from straightforward.
Coming off the program’s fifth National Championship last June, Oklahoma had to deal with massive exceptions, both on and off the field, in 2022.
“I’ve been really proud with how they’ve gone about the season,” OU head coach Patty Gasso said during her weekly Zoom press conference on Wednesday. “There’s been a lot of pressure on us. I feel that… And quite honestly it’s been exhausting.
“There’s been a lot of requests for this team, for all of us. And it’s been hard. It’s been different than any other year I’ve ever been a part of. People want access to us more than ever.”
Gasso said she’s also been proud of how the team has handled the abundance of requests.
Whether it’s been media requests from all over the country or just the drive to send Oklahoma fans home happy each and every weekend, Gasso said her team aims to please and serve those around them.
“It’s been a distraction for sure,” Gasso said. “So I’ve been really proud because it’s hard for us to say no to them, you know? If this program and it builds our sport because ESPN is tracking us and following us, how do you say no to that? You don’t. You don’t. You just do it, and that’s kind of it.
“… And they don’t decline anything that we ask… They’re very genuine.”
Entering postseason play, all of the other distractions will fall to the wayside.
The team will have to continue their winning ways, regardless of if it’s a one-run win or a blowout via run rule, and Gasso said the focus from the coaching staff has been to push the players to raise their game another level.
“I feel like we’ve been a little bit lax because we’ve had those run rules and it looks very easy,” Gasso said. “Then we get a little lack of focus in the dugout when that happens… We’ve got to fine tune our tools here as we go into postseason, and that’s been the focus of the coaching staff.
“We need it to be running like a well-oiled machine versus just, we kind of put it on cruise control. And you’ll never know. If you’re out here in the stands, you don’t know that. But we’ve got to get the cruise control off, completely out of our equation.”
Oklahoma will get its chance to start the 2022 postseason off on the right foot at 1 p.m. Friday, and the contest from Hall of Fame Stadium will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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