All Sooners

OU Softball: Why Players Were Left 'Speechless' by Love's Field Tour

As the Sooners compete in fall ball action at Marita Hynes Field, both Patty Gasso and her players alike have one eye on officially opening Love's Field in 2024.

Ryan Chapman

NORMAN — Oklahoma opened its fall slate in familiar digs.

Patty Gasso’s three-time defending national champions were back at Marita Hynes Field on Wednesday night. OU opened its fall softball slate with the first of five instrasquad scrimmages

Plenty of Sooners fans gathered to get a peek at the new faces ahead of the 2024 season, taking in one of the last times Oklahoma will play at Marita Hynes Field.

Love’s Field, OU’s new 4,200-seat, 44,000-square foot stadium, is still being erected south of Marita Hynes Field.

And while the entirety of the fall slate will happen inside Marita Hynes Field, Gasso beamed with excitement as Love’s Field is on track to be open by the 2024 season.

“It’s like a kid,” Gasso said Wednesday night. “I think I told you guys this — every day you get reminded that you started over at Reaves Park and now you’re here in the duplex with the popcorn ceilings. And now we’re going to a palace and it’s just hard to comprehend

“But it’s what has been built from the ground up and so many athletes are a part of it. So it’s really everybody’s new palace and I can’t wait to bring all of the alums back in so they can be part of it and watch these guys just shine on that.”

The structure of Love’s Field is taking shape, but there’s still plenty of progress to produce the final glittering structure.

“It is plush, it is going to be plush,” Gasso said. “I can’t wait for all of you to see it. I don’t think softball will have seen anything like this.

“… What you won’t see is underground and that’s what the athletes’ amenities is going to be a ‘wow’ factor and I can’t wait for them to see it. We walked through the framing of it. They got to see the places where it’s going to be but there’s nothing there yet and just.”

The field trip over to see the foundation of Love’s Field was a moment that wasn’t lost on Oklahoma’s players — especially the ones who have grown up with the program.

“Definitely eyes a little bit wide,” catcher Kinzie Hansen said. “We came, Tiare (Jennings) and I came on our first-ever visits here at Marita and our eyes were wide here. We were like 12 years old and now we’re 21, 22 years old walking through (Love’s Field) just kind of in awe a little bit and just feeling super grateful that we’re a part of the legacy here because the past four years have been tremendous for our sport and being able to grow the game here in really this softball state has been something that we’re super grateful to be a part of.”

Jennings, who has helped lead OU to a national title in each of her three years in Norman, could barely hide her excitement to play in Love’s Field.

“There were times when I was speechless,” she said, “because I was trying to picture everything. And I’m just super excited and super thankful that I’ll be able to get to be in it for my last year. But it is amazing. There’s nothing there yet and I’m wowed.”

Between the renderings of the project and the portions of construction already completed, it wasn’t hard for the Sooners to visualize what game day will be like in the new stadium.

“I remember,” Gasso said, “just hearing Riley Boone walking out the hype tunnel out on the field and like, ‘This is like the Gladiator arena,’ and it’s like, ‘Let the lions loose, let’s go.’

“I mean, they were just, there was all kinds of talk all around. It was really, really cool. I am thrilled about this and I know Jenny Love and the Love family is as well.”

Currently, Oklahoma is laser-focused on making the most of each fall practice and working to continue to improve ahead of the 2024 season with every scrimmage.

That progress will be on full display at Marita Hynes Field throughout October. But as the season approaches, the opening of Love’s Field adds another layer of anticipation.

“We’re super excited to finish at that stadium,” Hansen said. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is deputy editor at AllSooners and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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