COLUMN: Oklahoma Has Plenty of Flash, But OU's Grit is What Will Deliver Another Title
NORMAN — Oklahoma has a habit of making winning look easy.
The top-ranked Sooners have reeled off an NCAA record 48-straight wins, and will head to next week’s Women’s College World Series an astounding 56-1.
Twenty-seven of OU’s 56 wins this year have come via run-rule, as Oklahoma has seemly blown past all challengers.
Many talented teams thrive as front runners.
What makes Patty Gasso’s team special is how they respond to adversity.
Four times this year OU has entered the seventh inning trailing.
Three of those have turned into wins.
“The Sooners aren’t over until the last strike,” catcher Kinzie Hansen said Saturday after Oklahoma’s dramatic 8-7 win over Clemson. “We’re not done until the last out is made and is sealed.”
Not only has OU found ways to rally late, the comebacks have come in some of the most emotional contests of the year.
Oklahoma battled to victory against its rivals in Texas and Oklahoma State, needing late rallies to win Game 2 of both Big 12 series against the ‘Horns and the Cowgirls.
The 16-seeded Clemson Tigers and the Sooners don’t have any history, mainly since the Tigers began play in 2020, but the two teams met in the biggest moment of the year so far.
Squaring off with a trip to Oklahoma City on the line, the eyes of the nation watched OU jump out to a 4-0 lead only for Clemson to reel off seven unanswered runs.
But the Sooners didn’t wilt.
Rylie Boone and Haley Lee singles set the table for Hansen’s clutch two out, final strike blast, and Tiare Jennings completed the comeback in the top of the ninth.
“We're never out of a game,” Gasso said on Saturday. “No matter what. We could be down by five, four, whatever. We're not out of the game. And we believe that.
“… I don't even know how to explain it. You can feel it around you. No one is caring about results… We're just caring about creating momentum.”
Oklahoma celebrates returning to the Women's College World Series for the seventh straight season after beating Clemson 8-7 on Saturday.
SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN -USA TODAY NETWORK
Even if the Sooners had dropped games to Texas and Oklahoma State, they still would have likely been the nation’s No. 1-overall seed.
No team has beaten the Sooners in a best-of-three series since UCLA in the 2019 WCWS Championship Series in part because of OU’s unwavering belief.
“I would never bet against this team because they have a willpower,” Gasso said. “… All these guys are just in with every pitch and the momentum is on every pitch. Not just the at bat. Every ball they celebrate. Every foul ball they celebrate. And it's like a party in the dugout. It's just a party you want to be at.
“… It's like this wave that's building and you can feel it get ready to come down on you."
Almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Gasso’s belief in her team only adds to their confidence.
“it’s really easy to believe in ourselves and each other when your coaching staff never has a doubt that you will get it done,” Hansen said. “… We got into some trouble and they could have easily given up on us.
“And down to the very last pitch, they believe in us. And when we feel that, there’s never a doubt in our mind we can do it.”
The home runs, the run-rules and the swagger have played a big part in Oklahoma helping push college softball’s popularity into the stratosphere.
But it’s the Sooners’ grit that keeps them playing at championship levels, even when they’re not completely overwhelming the opponent at hand.
“It’s hard work,” Gasso said. “We have sat in a room together and we have had conversations that were hard conversations for me to hear and for them to hear.
“So we played like it adults, right? We said what we had to say and I listened and they listened. So we had some of that. They believe in our training and they live by that training because it is constantly competitive.”
OU’s hard work has paid dividends, and the Sooners are now hunting down another piece of history.
Oklahoma heads back to Oklahoma City looking to become the first program in over three decades to capture back-to-back-to-back national titles.
Nobody was supposed to break Arizona’s 47-game win streak.
Why shouldn’t OU’s hard work help the Sooners become the only program to match UCLA’s three-straight championships?
“It’s an honor. It’s a privilege,” Gasso said about breaking Arizona’s record. “Somebody eventually will break it, I would assume.
“But to do it with these players, there’s no other team I think that I’ve ever had that could do what they’ve done this far.”
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