Patty Gasso Says Oklahoma to 'Investigate' if Playing Softball at the Football Stadium is Feasible
Patty Gasso isn’t afraid to dream big.
The softball program she’s built has set the standard for college softball — especially over the past five seasons.
Last year, the Sooners took a chartered plane to a midweek game against Kentucky.
Pouring those kind of resources into the program led Wildcats coach Rachel Lawson to thank Gasso on the ESPN broadcast that night, as the Sooners continue to push for the kind of backing an athletic department can lend toward softball.
This year, the Sooners broke another record.
Oklahoma’s first contest against Texas was moved to Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, where the program set a new attendance record for a regular season game, packing 8,930 fans in to see OU’s 8-1 victory.
So when Nebraska announced plans to play a volleyball game at Memorial Stadium — selling out 82,900 seats in 48 hours — Gasso had another idea.
“If you are looking at what we’re capable of,” Gasso told the fans at Marita Hynes Field during the program’s Senior Day celebration on Sunday, “women’s volleyball at Nebraska is putting a court on the middle of their football field and they’ve sold out 80,000 fans for that.
“So you know what my next conversation with Joe Castiglione is gonna be.”
And while Gasso was smiling through her informal address to the fans on Sunday, she knows her athletic director will leave no stone unturned.
“I'll tell you, because I know he wouldn't, Joe Castiglione is a mover and a shaker,” Gasso said. “And I think we all know that. And if it is feasible, if it fits, which it seems like from the renderings it doesn't. But is it worth us moving things.”
Taking softball games outside of Marita Hynes or Hall of Fame Stadium isn’t something that’s been on Gasso’s radar.
In fact, it had often been used by Gasso as a joke with recruits.
“I went to Long Beach State, right? So when I came out here (and saw Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium), I'm like oh. Breath-taking. Wow," Gasso said. "And then I bring recruits in here and I say, 'wow. Could you ever imagine if we could ever play in front of this many fans?’ (They’d say), ‘oh, gosh, no, I'd be so nervous.’ I'm like 'no, it will never happen.’
“Before I got here, I'm looking at the Hall of Fame with 2,000 people and going, 'oh my God.' Now I'm standing in front of you saying, 'we should play in front of 80,000 people.’
“My life has been like taking on so many 'wow moments' in the last five years or so. I'm telling you, if Joe could find a way and we could find the right time and the right team, I think it would be absolutely amazing.”
Plenty of obstacles on the field lay before Gasso’s Sooners.
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, No. 1-ranked OU is riding a 38-game winning streak, and Oklahoma will put its 46-1 record on the line in Stillwater for Bedlam this weekend.
After that, the Sooners will fight to win the Big 12 Tournament and then capture the program’s third straight national title in June.
The task at hand is to add to OU’s trophy case, but Gasso is always down to break new records in the coming years.
“Now I'm leaving it,” she said. “I put it in the air. Now I just fold my hand and stay quiet.
“… But it got moving and there's renderings out there. So I waited for Joe's call. He's like, 'we're going to investigate this.’ So it's not done.”
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