OU Softball: Oklahoma's Abigale Dayton 'Excited' for Reunion With Arkansas' DJ Gasso

DJ Gasso recruited the Sooners outfielder to Utah before he made his move to the SEC.

Oklahoma's Dayton Abigale / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s series with Arkansas will have members of the Gasso family in both dugouts, creating a unique dynamic, but one of the Sooners’ new faces will also enjoy a reunion in Fayetteville. 

Abby Dayton, who transferred to Norman over the offseason after two stellar years at Utah, will get to see her old hitting coach DJ Gasso in the Razorbacks’ dugout this weekend. 

Gasso spent three years as an assistant with the Utes, and he recruited Dayton for her freshman season — one that proved to be his final year before making the move to join the SEC outfit. 

“I love DJ,” Dayton said shortly after transferring to OU. “He was basically the main reason I went to Utah, so it was kind of a little hurtful when he left. I was like, ‘Oh man.’ But he was a game-changer for me, at least hitting-wise, which is why I love being with JT (Gasso) so much, because a lot of the things that DJ did teach us was from JT.”

Though Dayton will be hitting for JT this weekend and trying to rob hits of DJ’s hitters when the No. 1 Sooners and the No. 12 Razorbacks hit the field, DJ said he still will relish getting to see Dayton again. 

“She’s a stud. I recruited her for a long, long time,” DJ Gasso said on a Zoom call this week. “It’s almost like she didn’t want to say yes to Utah… She was the 9-hole on a team that OU has a lot of players from. So that’s one cool thing that maybe she got overlooked in some of her recruiting. 

“But no, I believed in her since she was in high school and knew that she was a very athletic, competitive and fiery kid.”

Dayton burst onto the scene as a freshman working under Gasso. 

She hit .368 for the Utes, totaling 16 RBIs while hitting three doubles and two triples.

Even though Gasso departed for Arkansas, it didn’t stunt Dayton’s growth. 

She hit .431 last year, totaling 10 doubles, six triples and two home runs while ending with 28 RBIs. She also drew 27 walks, a jump from the 11 walks she had as a freshman, while her strikeout numbers remained steady. 

Those performances saw her earn NFCA Third Team All-American honors. 

“I didn't know how to hit the ball before,” Dayton said. “Going into my freshman year, like I said before, he kind of learned everything he knows from JT. Don't tell him that. I mean, he can hear it, but ... It definitely helped me coming into the process here just because I knew a lot of the same language that JT was talking about. But yeah. I'm excited to play them as well.”

So far this year, Dayton has consistently been on base serving primarily as the Sooners’ leadoff hitter. 

She has a .323 batting average in 62 plate appearances, but she’s already drawn 13 walks and been hit by pitches seven times in 23 contests. Dayton also has three roubles and a home run as she’s gotten adjusted to JT Gasso’s hitting style. 

And while things are not totally the same, as Patty Gasso said her sons talk about hitting less than you’d probably think, JT Gasso has clearly shared some of his knowledge with his brother when it comes to his approach to coaching. 

“The offensive philosophy really was designed by JT,” Patty Gasso said on Tuesday. “And JT was kind of a GA with us and then he went off and kind of created his own hitting style and then I hired him back and that's when he implemented it and it's just been growing and growing and growing through new technology and new science and things that are really changing the way our team is swinging and DJ is jumping on board. 

“At first, he was like, 'JT, tell me,' and JT's like, 'No, figure it out yourself.' That's how they were doing things… They tell me they don't talk a lot but I think that they talk hitting some, but then they go so far and then they stop. They won't go too far.”

Oklahoma rolled past Tulsa 10-2 on Wednesday night, clearing the path for the top 15 clash in Fayetteville. 

Everyone in OU’s dugout will get their chance to catch up with DJ Gasso ahead of the 6 p.m. clash on Friday that will kick off the Sooners’ first road series in the SEC. 

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