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OU Softball: Patty Gasso Says Oklahoma Players 'Embarrassed' By Performance, But Won't Panic

The Sooners' 71-game winning streak was great but is a thing of the past now, and with the start of Big 12 play this weekend, the team has already refocused.

John E. Hoover

Leave it to Patty Gasso to put the proper perspective on the shocking end of an unprecedented winning streak.

“I think they were embarrassed a little bit by Sunday,” Gasso said, “because they knew that they underachieved.

“And I do not have any worries.”

At her weekly press conference Tuesday at Marita Hynes Field, Gasso clearly expressed that both things can be true.

No. 1-ranked Oklahoma’s unsteady defense, shaky pitching, staid batting and sloppy base running culminated in a 7-5 loss to Louisiana — a team that came to Love’s Field last week with a losing record this season — and left the Sooners “embarrassed.”

A team loaded with seniors who have won three straight national championships and orchestrated the bulk of a 71-game winning streak were “embarrassed” they got caught napping on the bases or couldn’t pick up a routine grounder or catch a short throw or move baserunners in key moments.

The standards at Oklahoma are appropriately lofty. Playing at a high level is why those players came to OU. Playing fundamentally good softball and being consistent is the key to achieving that standard.

But Gasso is unconcerned about the level of play on Sunday — or even elsewhere in the season, when subpar play might have been papered over by winning. Mistakes were made — and will be corrected, she said.

“I’m not at home going, ‘What are we gonna do?’ ” Gasso said. “We had a bad game. We had a bad game at the World Series one year — I think we had five errors in one inning — and ended up winning a national championship. So I’m not panicking about one thing. We’re fine. We’re athletic. We know what it takes.”

Oklahoma will look to bounce back immediately this week, first with a Wednesday night home game against Texas A&M-Commerce, then with a weekend series against Iowa State.

That’s right, Big 12 Conference play opens this weekend. There’s no time to feel morose over the end of a winning streak. There’s no time for a forensic breakdown into what happened Sunday. There are games — conference games — to be played, and there is either winning or losing.

“Commerce is a new program with new coaches, and they’re trying to get themselves up and running,” Gasso said. “So we are not gonna worry about how good they are. We’re gonna worry about what we need to do to be better. So that’s the focus tomorrow night.

“Iowa State always gives us fits. … It’s the start of our last Big 12 Conference play. I know these guys will be fired up for that. So we’ll have a battle this weekend, no question.”

OU is now 18-1 on the season and is still ranked No. 1 in two of the four major college softball polls.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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