Home Run U: Oklahoma Proud to Keep the Crown in the Family

Oklahoma softball has always been a family affair.

Patty Gasso has worked hard to foster a culture of love and support around her softball juggernaut, and over the past year it’s been on full display.

Last year at the Women’s College World Series, former Sooner stars flocked to the front row to show support for the team on the field.

The OU alumni section brought the energy, willing the surrounding Sooner fans to their feet as the team worked its way back through the consolation bracket.

“The alumni … was just so fun,” Oklahoma legend Lauren Chamberlain said during a Zoom press conference on Tuesday. “It was just the Sooner sisterhood of being able to connect with all of your people. And not only like putting on for your class and being like, ‘Man, like we went through all this stuff,’ but acknowledging that you've got however many athletes that are going through the same thing.”

Chamberlain was at the heart of the group, flaunting a homemade Jocelyn Alo jersey in the process, a full-throated endorsement of the slugger chasing down her own home run record.

𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.

👑 x 👑@78jocelyn_alo | @LChamberlain44 pic.twitter.com/nTGMFnATz2
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) February 21, 2022

Now, it seems impossible Alo won’t surpass Chamberlain.

Just 10 games into the 2022 season, the Hawaiian native has pulled level with Chamberlain, hitting her 95th career home run. The entire season still lays ahead of Alo, but Chamberlain is at peace with Alo’s historic hunt.

She’s even expressed as much to Alo herself, as the pair have grown close over Alo’s career at Oklahoma.

“We're really good friends,” Alo said on Tuesday. “I can call her right now and just talk to her about anything and it doesn't even have to be about softball.”

The reason Chamberlain is content with her record getting broken? It’s all staying in the family.

“It's really just a Sooners sisterhood thing,” Alo said. “And just as far as the record and stuff, I feel like she's kind of happy about it because like yes, it's been broken but it is staying in this program. So it's just a win for all of us Sooners in general.”

As the sport continues to evolve and grow in popularity across the country, Chamberlain said she’s actually happy Alo can take her place at the forefront as the face of college softball.

“I think it's gonna be kind of like a cool transfer,” Chamberlain said. “Like, 'OK, this is your time, like, the sport’s growing, we're moving in a new direction, like, you're the queen now.' That's just cool.

“It’s Home Run-U baby. Like, that's it.”

As Alo continues to push the record to new heights, Gasso is happy with what the record means for the program.

Alo, Chamberlain and Shelby Pendley all rank in the top 10 for career home runs, meaning the Sooners are well represented among the Arizonas and UCLAs of the world who dominated the early days of NCAA softball.

“I think it really cements the Sooners as one of the best hitting programs to have played the college game,” Gasso said Tuesday. “ … It's just a celebration of hitting excellence in this program.”

And while Gasso is undoubtedly overjoyed for Alo and the record she is about to break, she said she’s just as happy to see how Chamberlain has embraced Alo’s record chase in the name of the program as a whole.

“Another proud moment for me just to see (Chamberlain’s) selflessness,” Gasso said. “ … She's prideful of our program. She's not walking around going 'Boohoo,' like, 'She's taking it from me.'

“She's just happy that it's staying in this program, and that says a lot (about) Lauren and who she is now as a woman.”

For Chamberlain, it all goes back to the foundation laid by Gasso well before she even arrived on campus in Norman.

“There's this built-in bond,” said Chamberlain. “There's a built-in sisterhood that nobody can understand unless you’ve worn the Sooner jersey, and that's it. And that's that's how that culture really starts.”

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