Patty Gasso Identifies a Major Area for Growth for Oklahoma's Pitching Staff

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s Achilles heel finally undid the Sooners in the Norman Super Regional.

Though OU’s offense got shut out in Sunday’s do-or-die Game 3, the pitching staff failed to keep Mississippi State’s offense at bay in the pair of defeats on Friday and Sunday.

Entering Super Regional play, the Bulldogs hadn’t scored more than five runs since April 19.

Mississippi State plated 17 runs in the wins that sent the program to the Women’s College World Series for the first time.

Patty Gasso opted to roll with Miali Guachino from the start on Sunday as she did on Friday, but Guachino allowed four runs on five hits and she walked two batters across three innings of work.

“I thought Miali had some good pitches. They were just finding spots,” the OU coach said after Sunday’s defeat. “They were hitting balls; it wasn’t like balls that were driven, even though she gave up one (home run). These were balls that were just dropping in front of us.”

Gasso gave credit to Mississippi State’s approach, as they were dialed in on Guachino all weekend.

“They just swung hard. They found holes, and it just kind of carried on,” Gasso said. “They had a lot of momentum; they had a ton of confidence. You could feel that. That’s why I think they’re a team that’s going to be dangerous at the World Series.”

Oklahoma’s pitching staff has the opportunity to grow.

Both Guachino and Audrey Lowry can pitch in Norman for two more years, and freshmen Allyssa Parker and Berkley Zache have three more years ahead of them.

The flow of the season was disrupted when associate head coach and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha took a leave of absence as the year got going, but Gasso believes the experience gained in 2026 will be invaluable going forward.

“We talk about doing hard things and going through hard things like this to allow us to grow into women,” Gasso said. “So not everything goes your way, but those pitchers really, really wanted it for this team, and so when you really want it and you’re going to pitch, maybe that’s not exactly the feeling that you want.”

The staff struggled in 2026, but Gasso believes the shortcomings were more mental than physical.

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“It’s just getting the confidence down. I think we’ve got the stuff,” Gasso said. “We’ve got to have the trust. We’ve got to have the confidence.”

Kierston Deal and Sydney Berzon will both depart after graduating, though Deal will be back next year as a graduate assistant.

Oklahoma signed a talented trio of pitchers — Keegan Baker, Malaya Majam-Finch and Ella Kate Smith — who will all join the program alongside Lowry, Guachino, Parker and Zache.

“We are excited about this pitching staff, and they did learn—and should learn a lot, and I know they’re getting better each year,” Gasso said.

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