OU Softball: Oklahoma's 'Unapologetic' Mindset Towards the Outside Noise Sets the Team Apart
OKLAHOMA CITY — Although the team’s eye-popping record would suggest otherwise, the Sooners have battled through adversity all season long. From adding eight new players to an already stacked roster, to a rocky first weekend California, and even an early-season loss to a conference foe, Oklahoma has had to overcome.
Through the highs and the lows, though, the team has displayed an unyielding passion for the game that adds a special dynamic across the roster.
Over the course of the fall season and the Battle Series, where Oklahoma faced … Oklahoma, time and time again, it brought about intense competition and a unique sense of urgency from top to bottom. Day in and day out, players were competing for starting spots and every outing mattered — even if it didn’t count on the schedule.
In part, that’s one of the biggest reasons why Patty Gasso’s 2023 team has learned to celebrate each other’s successes — and celebrate them big.
"One thing I've told these guys is you must be unapologetic about the energy and the celebrations that you have because women have worked so hard to get here yet still get judged for those things,” Gasso said Tuesday. “That's the way we play, and that's what people enjoy. Or you don't. You either like it or you don't, but we're not going to apologize for these players knowing the game and celebrating it the right way.”
During Oklahoma’s run through the Women’s College World Series, the team has been under the microscope every step of the way. The Sooners are noticeably excited every single time someone reaches first base — whether it’s by big hit or a free walk or getting hit by pitch. The Twitter police have been out in full force critiquing OU’s emphatic celebrations on the base path.
But if Tuesday’s press conference taught us anything, it's that the Sooners don’t care.
“When you really think about the game, walks are so important,” Alyssa Brito said. “That's something that we stress, especially as an offense, of how getting runners on is runs.
“So to us, we're going to celebrate it, and we're going to celebrate it really hard, and it's just as good as getting a base hit in my eyes. When I bring energy like that, I think we all feel it. As a team, we're all collectively there, and we're on the same page of how important a walk is.”
The reason for celebration was on full display in the bottom of the ninth inning against Stanford on Monday afternoon.
Grace Lyons started Oklahoma’s run with a heat-seeking double towards the left field wall, bringing Jayda Coleman, arguably the team’s best hitter, to the plate. Instead of playing hero again, Coleman accepted the purposeful walk orchestrated by the Stanford pitching staff, and celebrated her free walk to first base all the way down the line.
When Tiare Jennings crushed an eventual game-winning shot to deep right-center, the Sooners were able to net two runs instead of just one. The two-run cushion was game changing, and was a big reason Oklahoma ended up walking away victorious.
“When you know the game, you understand how big those walks come in handy,” Coleman said. “Like Tiare's double, instead of scoring only Grace Lyons, I ended up scoring too. Now you're up two instead of just one.
“Celebrating those little things is the same thing as getting a hit. I didn't get out. I didn't have to walk back to the dugout. So I'm at first base, and that's all I need for my team.”
Oklahoma’s emphatic celebrations have rubbed some softball fans the wrong way, but for the team, walks equal runs. If the Sooners can put runners on the base path, of course they have a solid chance to win any game.
On a team that tries to intentionally celebrate each other’s successes, and has become so tight-knit through intrasquad competition, the fiery passion and excitement for putting runners on base makes sense. Gasso has instilled a mindset of positivity surrounding runners on base — no matter how they get there.
“I think understanding that no one's ever going to be happy no matter what, you can't satisfy anyone,” Brito said. “That's not why we play this game, and that's not why we're here doing what we're doing is to satisfy anyone.
“For me, I'm going to stay being who I am and stay true to who I am, and if that passion that I have offends anyone, it's just kind of like, 'OK.' I'm not going to allow anyone to kind of change my game. I think that's a huge thing that we stress here is there's a reason why we have an excellence and a standard here, and that's because we have never changed for anyone exactly who we are.”
As the Sooners march towards a potential third straight championship trophy, the team’s unapologetic mindset is shining through — and keeping the group together. The outside noise hasn’t been able to cause cracks in the foundation because of the standard of excellence set by the leaders on the team.
Even if some see a double standard.
"I kind of talked about the double standard thing," Coleman said. "I really don't get it. I think we continuously, and softball itself, are just breaking barriers. I've seen it with my own eyes. I feel like it's just very disappointing to just see people just trying to tear us down in that type of way.
"Maybe not tearing us down, but just kind of making it into a negative light when you're seeing the MLB players doing the exact same thing, the NBA or the NFL throwing their helmets or having emotion. Why can't we have emotion? We're at the same stake as them. We're athletes just like them. Why can we not wear our emotions on our sleeves?
"I just think that's kind of disappointing ... I try to stay off of social media because that would fire me up and make me just want to do it even more, to be honest.
"No, it really disappoints me on the double standard and just seeing how male athletes slide with things and how female athletes don't. Hopefully that stuff will change very soon."
"We never mean it disrespectfully or against anyone else," Lyons added. Like they're saying, it's in our circle. So what we do is to bring passion to our own circle, and it's never against anyone else. So I just want to say that. That's not how we play. People may take it that way, but it's all for our own joy and passion, never to tear down anyone else."
Said Brito, “I think just carrying that mentality throughout this Champ Series and the rest of the way is a huge thing. But just not really feeding into what the negative talk is and focusing on the good things, and that's exactly in our circle and on this team.”
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