COLUMN: Patty Gasso's Pursuit of Perfection is Keeping No. 1 Oklahoma Grounded

NORMAN — Patty Gasso strives for perfection, just not in the win column.

The legendary coach again has a juggernaut on her hands. Her No. 1-ranked Sooners have raced out to a 30-0 start in 2022 as the team shows no signs of a championship hangover.

They’ve survived a couple of close calls, most recently on Sunday after trailing Baylor 1-0 and down to their last out, but every time the team has been able to find a clutch hit to stay unbeaten.

But still, Gasso wants more from her squad.

Just two days after the dramatic victory over the Bears, OU got back on track.

Hosting the Wichita State Shockers, who hit the second most home runs per game behind Oklahoma, the Sooners rolled to a 10-1 run rule victory. The win was the team’s 25th victory via run rule in 2022, but Gasso wasn’t as cheery as one would expect in the postgame press conference.

“Quite honestly run rules are good, but they’re become a little bit poisonous to us,” Gasso said after the game. “… We’re getting I think kind of lost in the idea that we are that good right now.

“We can get a run rule on somebody, but it doesn’t make us good enough. So I’m continuing to get on these athletes as to what we need to do, the little things, attentive, focused, all those things. It’s easy to get away from those things when you get big scores.”

Gasso pointed to a pair of defensive errors, one of which allowed Wichita State’s lone run to score in the first inning, as well as focus in the batter’s box as aspects of Tuesday’s game that she was unhappy with.

“We allowed the run to score when we didn’t need to,” Gasso said. “So it was a little bit of that, but it was more the first two innings that we left six runners (on base) in scoring position. And that’s just lazy at-bats sometimes.

“… We are too good of a team to give up free outs the way that we’re doing. We’re giving up outs by leaving (base) early. We’re giving up outs by swiping at bad pitches. We’re just, we’re better.”

Already this season, Gasso has said multiple times that the team isn’t afraid of losing a game and that she knows the Sooners will drop a contest at some point. The regular season losses can actually help shape the team and spur them on, just as the mid-week loss to Georgia did last year.

What Gasso won’t accept is the team playing below her standards, even in a win.

Former Sooner Nicole Mendes spoke to that fact on the Road to OKC radio show on 107.7 The Franchise on Wednesday evening.

The two-time National Champion recalled a time when Oklahoma did in fact lose, and Gasso was proud of the team because they played great softball and were just beaten by a better team.

“I think of 2019. … It was UCLA,” Mendes said. “They were the better team that year and they beat us. They won (the WCWS). It wasn’t the outcome we wanted but after the game Coach Gasso comes and talks to the team.

“Like 30 seconds in and ESPN is knocking on the door and we’re all crying. … Coach Gasso ignored the knocking and took the time to address the team. And she said that she was proud of us and she said that she respected the fight that the team gave that year and especially that series. And she said thank you. … She never once reamed us for losing a National Championship.”

The first goal is always to win the big one at the end of the year. Gasso knows what it takes to get to the top of the mountain, as she’s guided teams there five times and fallen one step short twice more.

But to get back to the Championship Series at the WCWS, Gasso is chasing her own standard for how the team should play this season. And that's why she’ll continue to be unhappy with how the top-ranked team performs if they're not focused on the little things it takes to be great, even in a lopsided victory.

“Our goal was not to go 62-0 unless we’re playing for a National Championship,” Gasso said. “I talked to them the other day. We’ve won a National Championship as the No. 1-ranked team and the No. 10-ranked team. So it doesn’t matter where you are as long as you’re in.

“… These guys are so good, I’m just a coach that — I just don’t want to allow that to happen because we can get away with it, if that makes sense. We can get away with it and no one notices. But as a coach and I know what it looks like. I’m going to keep going. And that’s what I was doing (in the locker room). You have to tell the truth or I will sit back — and they all want it and they need it, and I’m not afraid to say it.”

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