OU softball (48-8, 20-5 SEC) will open NCAA tournament play in the Norman regional this weekend, as it hunts for a ninth national championship.
“We’re facing very good, historic teams,” said head coach Patty Gasso, “Michigan has won a national championship, they know how to win, they played very well in the conference. Kansas, I love (head coach) Jen McFalls, she was a coach of mine.”
The Sooners are coming off a 10-5 loss in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament to Georgia (38-18, 12-12 SEC). During that game, OU’s pitching staff gave up 10 runs in the final four innings.
OU’s pitching also had late struggles in the regular season, allowing five runs in the sixth inning during a loss to Texas A&M (36-17, 16-8 SEC), and four runs in the seventh inning of OU’s final regular season game against the Aggies. Gasso is hoping to see those performances improve before regionals.
“Just get the out,” said Gasso. “However it looks, if it’s a screaming line drive, we don’t care, let us make the play. I need them to understand that, and not get caught up in their own performance, one pitch at a time, one out at a time.”
The Sooners will look to get out to a strong start against Binghamton (20-25, 15-5 America East), who won the America East conference. Gasso said winning the first game is critical in tournament play.
“Being aggressive and trying to snag those first game wins is really important,” Gasso said.
The Sooners will open regional play at Love’s Field at 2:30 p.m. Friday against Binghamton and, with a win, would advance to face the winner of Michigan (34-20, 11-14 Big Ten) and Kansas (35-19, 14-10 Big 12).
This story was edited by Charlie DiVincenzo.
