All Sooners

OU Softball: What Oklahoma Learned This Week Will Be Valuable in SEC Play

With Southeastern Conference action now just a week away, the Sooners remain undefeated but gained some important insight about fighting through adversity.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma outfielder Kasidi Pickering
Oklahoma outfielder Kasidi Pickering / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

NORMAN — After watching last year’s senior class sail into softball history for four years, Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso never misses an opportunity to coach up this year’s squad.

And one very valuable lesson the 2025 Sooners learned this week in an 8-5, extra-inning, gritty victory over Bowling Green: Nobody cares. Just win.

“It is important to be able to find ways to win when maybe your body doesn't want to, or whether you're tired, whether you are feeling like you're in a slump,” Gasso said Monday after the game. “Whatever it is, nobody cares. That's the truth. Like, no one cares. I don't care. No one cares. You've just gotta find a way.” 

The Falcons shocked everyone when they struck for three quick runs in the top of the first. After OU set the world back on its axis with four runs in the second, Bowling Green tied it in the fourth inning and then took the lead with a single run in the sixth.

The Sooners tied it at 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth, then won it in the eighth with a walk-off three-run home run by Kasidi Pickering.

But even against a struggling (2-7) mid-major squad like Bowling Green, the undefeated (14-0) and No. 2-ranked Sooners were pushed to their limit.

It happens, Gasso said. Nobody cares. Just win.

“There are many times you might not want to come to the field,” she said. “But softball, we talked about, should be something you can't wait to play. And it's not always easy. Doesn't always work your way. Sometimes you're behind, and you feel the stress. But that's the beauty of the chase.” 

Oklahoma Sooners

Gasso said the Bowling Green coach, Michelle Gardner, is “a good friend of mine” who just took over the Ohio school and has endured some recent struggles as a program.

Seeing them come all the way Norman as huge underdogs to face the mighty Sooners in front of a hostile crowd following a frigid week on the yard — and then take the fight to OU — impressed Gasso.

“To see them show up in front of a crowd and play the way they did made me really happy for (Gardner), because they made some big-time plays. They really did,” Gasso said. 

It was a teaching moment for a young Oklahoma team, a rebuilt roster, that Gasso happily embraced without having to taste defeat. 

“Wasn't really pleased with what we were doing throughout the game,” Gasso said. “I thought we were just a little listless. We just weren't getting anything — if we'd connect, they'd make a play. It was more frustrating than anything because they kept making plays. And credit them for that.”

OU is back home this week for two games Friday and two games Saturday against Marshall and Kansas, followed by one on Sunday against Kansas City.

It’s an opportunity for the Sooners to continue to get used to the energy their devout fan base brings to Love’s Field, an opportunity to continue to blend and meld together disparate pieces into a cohesive team unit, and an opportunity for everyone to keep working on their own game and deal with their own problems so they can help the team succeed together.

Because after that, No. 19 South Carolina comes to town next weekend to formally launch OU’s inaugural journey in the Southeastern Conference. That’s followed by trips to No. 11 Arkansas and No. 26 Missouri, and series against No. 7 Tennessee, No. 22 Alabama, No. 21 Mississippi State, No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Florida.

That’s right: as the calendar turns to March, seven of the Sooners’ eight SEC opponents in 2025 are currently ranked in the top 25, and the one that isn’t stands at 26.

And as the Sooners learned on Monday against Bowling Green, this is a team that’s still finding ways to just win. 

“It's fun to be in those positions and see what you can do with it,” Gasso said. “And so that was a big game for us.”

Published
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.

Home/Softball