Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso feels the Sooners will continue to rise to the challenge of the SEC next season.
Oklahoma softball head coach Patty Gasso anticipates a more difficult challenge in the new conference.
“Well, I started in the Big Eight,” Gasso told Paul Finebaum during OU’s first day in the Southeastern Conference on the SEC Network show. “I doubt many people alive now remember the Big Eight. Big Eight to Big Twelve. Going into the SEC is simply a different beast.”
Finebaum, the SEC’s voice and a nationally syndicated radio station, stated on Monday’s show that he had bet on Texas to win the Women’s College World Series National Championship after hearing Oklahoma was having a bad year. Instead, the Sooners swept the Longhorns, becoming the first collegiate softball team to win four straight national championships.
That has been the norm in Oklahoma softball for the past decade. Whenever they face the most difficult competition, they rise to the occasion. Texas began the tournament as the top seed. And, while the Sooners defeated Texas in the Big 12 Championship game, the Longhorns had won the three-game series earlier in the season. Texas had both Big 12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. However, none of this mattered to the Sooners. And Gasso feels that could be the case in the SEC next season. Even though it’s a tougher league, they’ll continue to rise to the occasion.
“I’m really excited,” Gasso stated. “I believe everyone here in Oklahoma is really excited. But we enjoy competition. We’re never terrified of it. We look it in the eye. That’s why our team has been so successful, as have most of the other teams on campus. So we are looking forward to that. I know it will make us better, but I also know it will help this university grow even more than it currently has.”
As members of the Big 12 Conference, the Sooners won all eight national championships. Along with other conference victories, the Sooners won their first and last Big 12 championships. To add to the absurdity of the Sooners’ dominance, the Oklahoma softball team did not lose a three-game Big 12 conference series until this past season. Now, Gasso is eager to take on the new challenge, even if it will be more difficult.
“I think for the most part, this is going to be the challenge day in and day out,” Gasso told reporters. “It’s a different level in the SEC, and softball is the top conference in the country. So being a part of that is an honor. However, it will be a really difficult task. And I doubt anyone can go undefeated in the conference, but you’ll have to win at least two of three (every weekend). So it’ll definitely be a different level of difficulty.”
