In the Wake of Tragedy, Oklahoma Softball is Playing for Something More

NORMAN — Moments after Oklahoma’s exhilarating 8-0 win over UCF to open Super Regional play on Friday, the scene at Marita Hynes Field turned somber.

Jocelyn Alo took a few steps outside the third base dugout to participate in a postgame interview with ESPN, and her Sooner teammates stepped behind her into the shot holding four signs.

Emblazoned across the poster boards were the words “Pray 4 Uvalde”, as well as the photos of four of the victims from this week’s mass shooting tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX.

The four students shown were youth softball players, and Patty Gasso’s team felt moved to honor their memory after the contest.

After the game, Gasso said she was connected to the coach of two of the victims honored through a social media direct message.

“It was from a young coach who coached two of the girls who lost their life and it just affected me, affected this team,” Gasso said after the game. “(We) knew we needed to respond. If there’s anything that we can do to bring joy or hope or just acknowledgment of these young lives and make these families feel better, we’ll do whatever we have to do because this sport has allowed us to do these kinds of things.

“Otherwise we would be one like anybody else. But we’re able to do those things. And we have learned that this sport allows us to reach people. And if that means bringing them some kind of comfort, that’s our hope.”

Alo said the horrors of this week hit home with her due to how tight-knit her own family is.

“I am very close with a lot of my younger cousins,” Alo said. “And I see my cousins in them. So for me it was hard to manage.

“But I know that coach is always going to have my back on stuff like that.”

The coaching staff were the ones to help print out the photos and put the signs together, Alo said, and then the team stepped in to write messages of prayer on the signs.

Friday’s show of support wasn’t the first time the Oklahoma program has stepped up to show support for victims of a tragedy.

In 2013, the Sooners marched to a World Series crown while playing for the victims of the massive tornado that ripped through Moore just weeks before.

That season, Gasso’s team honored 9-year-old Sydney Angle, inviting Sydney’s sister Casey into the dugout throughout the title run.

From the youth levels all the way up to the massive stage of the Women’s College World Series, the softball community is close.

“These athletes up here and those before them started when they were (7 or 6 years old) screaming in dugouts and just cheering,” Gasso said. “This camaraderie that softball has, there’s a sisterhood that you can feel on about every team. And they fight in the dugout together in that way of cheering and having fun and rallying.

“And it’s just always been that softball programs are accessible and seem like they’re accessible to the community.”

So when presented with the opportunity to try and brighten someone’s day or honor a loved one gone too soon, the Sooners decided they weren’t going to pass up the opportunity.

“I think that is part of the appeal to watch,” said Gasso, “is not just good athletes, but also just good-hearted young women who love to do what they do.

“But also love to make somebody feel good about what they’re doing.”

It wasn’t an easy week mentally on the program, but Alo said she’s just proud that her team wanted to step up and make a difference.

“Whenever girls that play softball that just so happened to be in that were affected by that,” said Alo, “it kind of hits a little bit closer to home.

“So it was pretty tough to manage. But I’m also just happy that we’re talking about it and we get to just honor them the rest of the way out.”