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    OU Softball - WCWS Championship Presser

    OU Softball: How Oklahoma's Fall Scrimmages Laid the Groundwork for Success in 2023

    The Sooners worked to get new faces acclimated in the Battle Series last October, and those experiences are now paying dividends ahead of the WCWS Championship Series.

    OKLAHOMA CITY — Championship teams aren't built in a day.

    Patty Gasso, who has won six national titles at the helm of Oklahoma softball, knows that as well as anyone.

    The top-ranked Sooners are an outstanding 59-1 overall and roll into the Women’s College World Series finals on a 51-game winning streak. OU is two game away from going back-to-back-to-back as national champions, but as easy as the team makes things look between the white lines, the road back to Oklahoma City was far from smooth.

    Oklahoma had to replace long-serving members of the program in slugger Jocelyn Alo and Lynnsie Elam, as well as key infield pieces in Taylon Snow and Jana Johns and a steady arm in transfer pitcher Hope Trautwein.

    There was no time to rest on any laurels after last Junes’ WCWS triumph, and the Sooners had to quickly get back to work with a new roster.

    “I think October was a big time for us,” Gasso said on Tuesday. “To be honest, it hasn't been rosy and wonderful. In the fall, we had to learn a lot. I had to learn a lot. We had a lot of newcomers... We had eight newcomers, and that's almost half of our team.”

    Out of the transfer portal, Gasso had to get Haley Lee, Cydney Sanders, Alynah Torres and Alex Storako acclimated to life in Norman.

    Though they all had prior experience with college softball, stepping into the Oklahoma locker room is a different animal.

    Along with the transfers, Gasso’s coaching staff also had to get a number of freshman up to speed.

    Left-handed pitcher Kierston Deal and utility players Jocelyn Erickson and Avery Hodge have all contributed to the 2023 Sooners in different ways from the ranks of OU’s true freshmen, another testament to the work done last fall.

    Oklahoma transfer Alex Storako's first experience pitching at Marita Hynes Field was during last fall's Battle Series

    Oklahoma transfer Alex Storako's first experience pitching at Marita Hynes Field was during last fall's Battle Series

    “There was a lot of learning, a lot of getting to know each other,” Gasso said. “A lot of good leadership as well. A lot of expectations of what our program is like and newcomers and some kids from the portal coming into a new program that they're not used to.

    “So we had a lot of work we had to get through in the fall, and I think, without question, paying off now.”

    Gasso set up a series of scrimmages, called the Battle Series, to test her team.

    The contests held at Marita Hynes Field were sellouts with plenty of fan support, and the scrimmages were broadcast on ESPN+.

    “Playing against each other, that's what sets the tone for the rest of the year,” shortstop Grace Lyons said on Tuesday. “If we know that we can compete at that high level in practice, the game comes naturally.”

    But that didn’t mean the Sooners were a finished product when the 2023 season got underway.

    Oklahoma swept through the Mark Campbell Invitational, notching wins over a Super Regional participant in Duke and a pair of WCWS teams in Stanford and Washington, but the level of play wasn’t up to Gasso’s lofty standards.

    “I think our first weekend there were just a lot of big eyes,” Gasso said. “So we won. We played okay. But there was just — the groove was different because we had always been playing against each other, and now we're all in one dugout, and it's just different.

    “… We learned a lot of things. I had to learn a lot about them. They had to learn a lot about who's playing next to them because, when we're in those Battle Series or whenever I'm doing practice, a lot of times the full starting infield is not together. They're split in half.”

    The offseason work built depth.

    Oklahoma was able to withstand brief absences from Lyons and catcher Kinzie Hansen early in the year, only dropping a single game to Baylor in the process.

    SB - Jocely Erickson

    OU freshman Jocelyn Erickson played a big role early on for the Sooners as Patty Gasso worked through different lineup combinations. 

    The Sooners staged late comebacks against Texas, Oklahoma State and Clemson, as well as a pair of pitcher’s duels against Stanford to get to back to the Championship Series.

    Lyons credits the offseason to Oklahoma’s ability to, from the outside looking in, glide through the rigors of the NCAA Tournament.

    “You can see with a couple tough wins in postseason,” said Lyons, “just knowing how to compete with adversity and almost feeling like a loss but not actually losing, that's a really cool feeling for us to be challenged with early on in postseason.

    “Then now, now is when you've got to be gritty. We're tired. People can say that it's long days. Those are just excuses that people could have at this point in the season.

    “But we practice that in the fall, and I think now is just when we can go out and compete with the abilities that we've been given and not press too much because the hard work's already been put in.”

    Ahead of this week’s highly-anticipated battle against 3-seeded Florida State, Gasso still thinks back to the hard work and sacrifices made this fall as foundational in how the 2023 Sooners have preformed.

    “I think that Battle Series that we played was just a whole other level of — it felt like to me two top ten teams playing against each other,’ Gasso said. “… I think that was extremely valuable, and it was so competitive. There were sellout crowds for it in October. So that's taking the game to a whole other level.”

    While Oklahoma is not taking its fourth-straight trip to the Championship Series for granted, merely playing for the title isn’t enough for the Sooners.

    Winning at the highest level is expected from OU, and that pressure has been on the team since the first game of the Battle Series.

    Gasso will hope the fruits of her team’s labor is on full display in the World Series finale.

    Game 1 between the Sooners and the Seminoles from Hall of Fame Stadium will start at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, and the contest will be broadcast on ESPN. 

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