OU Softball: Oklahoma 'Taking Pride' in Preparing For Opponent's Pitching Strategy
Oklahoma’s offense has tackled a new challenge this season.
The top-ranked Sooners entered the year trying to replace the production of Jocelyn Alo, and coach Patty Gasso assembled a balanced lineup that has still paced the country.
Midway through the season, OU’s opponents switched strategies, trying to confound the explosive attack.
Inserting a new pitcher every inning has become one popular method to deal with the Sooners hitters as coaches have tried to prevent the Sooner lineup from getting a good, long look at any one pitcher and make adjustments as the game progresses.
Texas Tech coach Craig Snider took it to the extreme when the Red Raiders rolled into Norman.
In the series opener, Snider deployed a different pitcher in every single inning, tasking each member of the pitching staff with only producing three outs.
And while the Red Raiders lost the game 3-0, Texas Tech did become the first Big 12 opponent since 2019 other than Oklahoma State to make it through an entire series against the Sooners without getting run-ruled.
Other notable teams also have turned to the strategy to try to put Oklahoma’s offense on its heels.
Both Florida State and LSU used four pitchers in midweek contests to try and upset the Sooners.
OU (39-1) resumes Big 12 play this weekend as the Sooners return to Waco to face Baylor. The Bears handed Oklahoma its only defeat this season in a non-conference game back in February, and it's unknown if Baylor will try a more traditional pitching approach or if the Bears also will jump on the trend.
Through 40 games this season, Oklahoma’s opponents have averaged 2.03 pitching changes per game, a number that’s risen from 1.48 pitching changes per game last year and 1.35 pitching changes per game in 2021.
As a result, pitchers are only seeing 9.91 OU batters per outing this year, barely rolling the lineup over so the Sooners can get a second look at opposing pitchers in the same game.
All 2023 stats are through 40 games compared to the entire 2021 and 2022 seasons
A strength of Oklahoma’s lineup has been its ability to communicate and make adjustments to what’s happening in the batter’s box throughout the game, but that’s more difficult if the pitcher doesn’t face the lineup twice.
Gasso has worked with the team to keep the same mentality regardless of how long a pitcher is left in the circle, and OU has responded.
OU still leads the country with a .380 batting average. Not only are the Sooners out in front, the gap from Oklahoma to second-place Marshall is as large as the gap from Marshall to teams that rank 30th in batting average nationally.
Last weekend, the Sooners put 10 runs on the board against Louisville, who also threw four pitchers throughout the game.
“They now have taken pride. 'You got us once but you're not going to get us again,' kind of attitude,” Gasso said on Wednesday. “So they look forward to it. It's almost like please do it. Because we want to show you that it doesn't trip us up. That's the attitude that they have.”
The lineup hasn’t abandoned its constant communication in-game to try and improve on the fly, catcher Kinzie Hansen said, but there is a greater emphasis on bringing the right approach to every single at-bat.
“It’s just the ability to reset in-between,” Hansen said on Wednesday. “Because you can’t take the same mentality of one pitcher into the next one.
“You kind of have to reset your game plan and the way you approach one has to be different than the other one. Especially if they’re two totally different kind of (pitchers) — what they’re trying to do to us.”
The work required to scout an entire pitching staff starts during the week, and the team has started to look deeper and deeper at every potential pitcher on their own.
“They're ready for it. They're now expecting every team to do that,” Gasso said. “… The pitcher with the least amount of innings might start. They're already getting it all lined up for themselves.
“… They have prepared for it and that's the difference.”
Not only has Oklahoma risen to the challenge, the Sooners have managed to piece together a 31-game winning streak while still making offensive adjustments.
And despite the adversity, OU’s offense is finding joy in taking on a new approach.
“Our lineup loves a good challenge,” Hansen said. “And I think that because we have been successful we are challenged. But we enjoy when people throw new things at us.
“… When people are like 'OK, we’re going to try something new,' we got a little bit of pushback. And we’re not really used to that as much. So when that does happen, I personally like to see everybody bow up, and (see) what kind of adjustments are we going to make to that. Like it’s a new challenge, a new stepping stone to make towards our peak on the first week of June.”
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