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AllSooners Softball Show, Ep. 6
Transcript
00:00 Welcome in, welcome back.
00:01 It's that time, another edition of the
00:04 All Sooners Softball Show.
00:06 Ryan Chapman here for allsooners.com,
00:09 bringing you another episode as we prepare
00:11 for Oklahoma to head out to the West Coast
00:14 to take on one of the showcases
00:16 of the entire softball season,
00:18 especially the non-conference slate,
00:19 the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
00:22 Five games for the Sooners, but before that,
00:25 I'll catch up with everything Patty Gasso had to say.
00:28 It was a really interesting, really informative
00:31 press conference, I thought, from Coach Gasso
00:33 as the Sooners, 9-0, still unbeaten,
00:36 still the unanimous number one team in the country,
00:38 but didn't perform exactly how Coach Gasso
00:42 wanted of her squad at the Micanese State
00:45 Cowgirl Challenge in Lake Charles last weekend.
00:48 So, we're gonna dive into all that,
00:49 everything she said, coming up here
00:50 on the All Sooners Softball Show.
00:53 (upbeat music)
00:55 Welcome back yet again.
01:02 If you're watching this on YouTube
01:03 and you've liked what you've seen so far,
01:05 give us a thumbs up, leave us a comment.
01:07 It helps us just grow the show
01:09 and find more Oklahoma softball fans.
01:11 But as I said, we are preparing for Oklahoma
01:15 to head out to the West Coast,
01:16 one of the most exciting times every single year.
01:18 No marquee UCLA matchup this go-around,
01:22 but still some pretty good games.
01:24 Mississippi State has had a really, really strong start
01:27 to the season.
01:28 Wisconsin, they've been frisky.
01:29 They took a lead on Oklahoma State early
01:31 out at St. Pete Clearwater.
01:33 Didn't win the game, but they're shown a little bit of fight.
01:36 San Diego State was a story of the postseason last year.
01:39 Then Oklahoma will close out on Sunday
01:40 against Seattle and Loyola Marymount.
01:42 Very familiar with Loyola Marymount.
01:43 They've played them a bunch of times.
01:45 So, we shall see how Oklahoma handles this weekend.
01:48 But first, looking back to last weekend,
01:51 Patti Gasso was juiced about her pitchers.
01:53 If you caught the show on Tuesday,
01:54 Alex Starocka was really excited as well.
01:57 Not just about SJ Guerin,
01:58 who we'll talk about here in a second,
01:59 but about Kirsten Diehl.
02:01 And Patti Gasso said,
02:03 coming back in from Puerto Vallarta,
02:05 she felt a little bit of nerves,
02:07 but she was really, really pleased
02:09 with how her sophomore left-hander pitches.
02:11 She gave you a complete game, 10 strikeouts,
02:14 very few base runners against Lamar on Saturday
02:17 at the Cowgirl Challenge.
02:19 - It's extremely important for us right now
02:22 for her to have that.
02:24 She went out in Puerto Vallarta,
02:25 and she will tell you that she was definitely nervous.
02:29 And you could see it.
02:30 You could see it in her face.
02:31 She came in locked in,
02:33 and it really didn't matter to me who the opponent was.
02:36 She was gonna have a good game.
02:37 You could see that.
02:39 And it was exceptional.
02:40 So, our pitching staff just got stronger in one outing.
02:44 So, she needed that, we needed that,
02:46 especially going into Palm Springs.
02:48 - And for Kiersten's money,
02:50 she said she shook off a little early nerves,
02:52 but she's been putting in the work all off-season long.
02:54 She feels like she's really improved.
02:56 These are the areas she's hoping to add
02:58 to Oklahoma's pitching rotation this year in 2024
03:01 as the season continues to play out.
03:03 - Just the amount of growth of learning
03:05 the middle side of the game,
03:07 coming out here, obviously,
03:09 being on a big stage like this,
03:11 just kind of own your moment.
03:12 And definitely coming out of last year,
03:14 I gained a lot of confidence.
03:16 So, that's a big thing that I've been working on right now.
03:20 - Not only was KD, as the Sooners call her,
03:23 dealing this past weekend,
03:25 Oklahoma got contributions from SJ Geeran,
03:28 the redshirt freshman.
03:29 She worked and worked and worked all year last year.
03:32 A lot of that was behind the scenes,
03:33 but she made her debut across two games
03:36 at the Cowgirl Challenge,
03:38 and Patty Gasso and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha
03:40 could not be more thrilled
03:42 with what they saw from the youngster.
03:45 - She's been ready for the last two years.
03:47 So, it was a big moment for her.
03:50 I'm really proud of her, too.
03:52 I got to see her.
03:54 I thought she would have nerves as well,
03:56 but she's having good success here at practice.
03:59 And we really wanted to bite off a small piece for her.
04:03 So, we had her come in for two hitters,
04:06 and she would take her breath,
04:08 and she's very locked in and focused.
04:10 So, we wanted to try it again the next day.
04:13 It was so good, we didn't want to take her out,
04:15 but we did want to give feed to others
04:18 'cause we were closing up onto a run rule.
04:21 So, SJ is another viable option here,
04:26 and now you've got six truly viable options.
04:30 An opponent has to prepare for all of them
04:34 'cause you don't know who's coming
04:35 and when they're coming,
04:36 and that is a nightmare from a hitting coach perspective
04:41 and a team trying to gather up all that information.
04:45 So, that was probably the best thing
04:47 we got out of last weekend,
04:49 was our pitching staff really handling their business
04:53 and doing it very well.
04:54 They were the star of the show out there this weekend.
04:58 - So, that was the good from this past weekend,
05:01 but by Patty Gasso's own admission,
05:02 she still thinks that there's a couple other levels
05:05 for this Oklahoma team to find,
05:06 which is the Oklahoma standard, right?
05:08 They played five games, three of them,
05:11 two against Central Arkansas, one against Lamar.
05:13 Those were all run rules.
05:14 They were pretty economical run rules.
05:15 Didn't get way out of hand.
05:17 You're looking at eight-ohs, nine-ohs, stuff like that.
05:19 Then the two games against McNeese State,
05:21 an eight-one win, and then Saturday night,
05:23 Oklahoma was really pushed.
05:24 Another instance, it was three-nothing, so a victory.
05:27 It didn't really feel like McNeese State
05:29 was ever threatening offensively in large part
05:31 due to what Oklahoma's pitching staff was doing,
05:32 but you look back to that Duke game, weekend one,
05:35 10 runners left on base.
05:37 You look back to that Washington game, weekend one,
05:39 10 runners left on base.
05:40 Fast forward Saturday night, what did you get?
05:43 Again, another 10 runners left on base,
05:47 less the bases juiced in the second inning.
05:50 You then had a full bases loaded, full count strikeout
05:53 as well later on in the game,
05:54 and overall, Patty Gasso talked a great deal
05:57 about McNeese State and how hard they work,
06:00 and that's something that she's proud of this program on.
06:03 In years past, she's talked about,
06:05 even after winning national championships,
06:07 making sure that the team is tarping the field,
06:09 making sure that they're double-checking
06:11 that the hitting facility is clean,
06:13 finding different chores to remind them
06:15 that all the glitz, all the glamor,
06:17 that's a privilege that comes with playing
06:19 really, really good softball,
06:22 and that they want to be a team that works and works hard.
06:25 And so right here, I'm gonna slap together
06:27 two clips from Patty Gasso.
06:28 They'll be separated by the little flash,
06:30 you know where it ends,
06:30 but the first one comes from straight up
06:32 her opening statement.
06:32 That shows you it was top of mind from Coach Gasso.
06:36 I then circled back later on in the press conference
06:38 and asked her about, hey,
06:39 she mentioned over swinging that first weekend.
06:42 Well, on Saturday, you saw some people
06:44 get moved around in the lineup.
06:45 Riley Boone was brought all the way to the top.
06:47 Was that a way to try and jolt this team back in?
06:50 And Coach Gasso gave a really long answer,
06:52 kind of talked about the different things,
06:53 but the mindset of the team as a whole,
06:55 and I thought it was fascinating how she talked about
06:58 what she's doing to try to push the right buttons
07:00 and motivate this group.
07:01 - I would tell you that I thought this last weekend
07:05 we were good enough to win.
07:07 We were more average than above average
07:11 or even exceptional.
07:13 And we got away with it.
07:15 Where our team, we had this discussion.
07:18 The goal here is to amp up practice
07:24 and demand better at practice
07:29 because it's showing in game
07:31 and that is not what we want.
07:33 So the pressure is kind of on me to make sure
07:37 that I am paying attention to these things
07:39 and stopping, calling them out, do it over again.
07:43 Hustle, athletic movements, athletic hustle.
07:48 I hope that you will be saying
07:51 the next time you see us play in person,
07:53 which will not be at this field.
07:55 What is this material?
08:00 Certainly not wood.
08:01 I think you're going to see something
08:06 that might look a little bit different
08:07 than what you've seen.
08:08 I know you haven't seen this in person,
08:10 but I'm hoping it's going to look stronger, faster,
08:15 momentum building, aggressive, hustling, blue collar,
08:19 all those things that this program was built off of
08:23 is what we need to bring back to this team.
08:25 And you know, when you think about it,
08:27 this is a fourth year in a row
08:29 that they're walking in as, you know,
08:32 starting in the fourth year as national champions.
08:34 And it's like, this is uncharted territory.
08:39 I don't even know what to tell you
08:42 on how to manage them differently,
08:44 'cause it's a challenge.
08:46 It's like, how do I keep it fun and keep them hungry?
08:50 And you know, they've got three rings on their finger.
08:53 What else more do you want?
08:55 And that is what we have to keep our focus on.
08:57 It's not so much the outcome,
09:00 but like creating a team that is just loving the process,
09:05 loving each other, loving, committing to, you know,
09:11 what we're doing every day.
09:12 I think we've been a little sloppy,
09:15 and I blame that on me.
09:17 I blame that on me.
09:18 I'm sitting back and I'm watching.
09:19 Today I was much more vocal and it felt good.
09:23 The old me is a little bit different
09:26 than they experienced the old me
09:29 for one of the first times this season.
09:31 - Pretty strong, pretty interesting words
09:33 from Coach Gasso there.
09:35 Not worried about this team by any means.
09:37 If you look, the last two years,
09:39 Coach Gasso has talked about coming back in,
09:42 opening weekends, first, second, third weekends of the year
09:44 and asking her team, scale of one to 10, how you feeling?
09:46 A lot of fours, a lot of fives.
09:47 It's the same thing she said up to Puerto Vallarta.
09:50 And by the end of the year,
09:50 they're always humming and playing
09:52 national championship level softball.
09:54 So it's not a panic button.
09:56 It's not a worry.
09:57 It's just an adjustment that needs to happen
09:59 early on this year.
10:01 It'll be really interesting to see what happens this weekend.
10:04 This team tends to shine when the lights are the brightest.
10:06 Think about what they did to UCLA last year
10:10 at the Mary Nutter, a Sunday game,
10:11 a game that was gonna be aired on MLB Network on tape delay.
10:14 And it was an onslaught.
10:16 A Zocomo was coming off a loss at the Gatineau Classic,
10:19 a kind of touch and go game against Utah
10:21 early on the Mary Nutter.
10:22 And then they rolled through.
10:24 Then here in this instance, it was a run rule of UCLA.
10:28 Not gonna have that marquee like top five,
10:30 certainly not a top two matchup or anything like that,
10:33 but it's a really good Mississippi State team
10:35 that Oklahoma's familiar with.
10:36 Obviously a Ricketts in charge there.
10:38 Everyone knows the connections that Patagasso has.
10:41 And then a San Diego State team
10:43 that should have everyone's attention
10:44 for what they did in the post-season run.
10:45 So fascinating to see what happens there.
10:47 But the biggest thing is the atmosphere
10:48 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
10:50 This is a spot where last year,
10:52 Patagasso dubbed Oklahoma's experience.
10:54 It was like the Beatles.
10:55 There were people hanging from the rafters
10:58 and standing room only at every single matchup
11:01 and having to move in and out throughout the crowd.
11:04 So I asked her about that as well.
11:06 What are you looking for, for not just the young box,
11:09 but the new faces, the transfers,
11:10 as they look to handle what they're stepping into
11:13 this weekend?
11:14 - It's funny, 'cause I'm looking at their faces
11:16 in the circle and I'm looking at them,
11:18 I'm remembering when they had committed to us
11:22 and they're out there and they're watching the games
11:25 and they're like little, they're seniors,
11:27 but they look like little kids.
11:29 Like, oh, Coach Dan's like,
11:31 I can't wait to be here next year.
11:33 And now here they are.
11:34 And I'm like, oh my gosh, okay.
11:37 It's going to, it's chaos out there.
11:41 It is just people everywhere.
11:45 We try to get, we bring administrators
11:48 to help move us around.
11:49 They bring security to move us around.
11:52 'Cause you have to walk through crowds to get there.
11:55 So it's going to be quite different
11:58 for a lot of these athletes that were on the other side,
12:01 sitting in the stands, watching.
12:03 Now you're in the middle and this is like
12:05 their dream come true.
12:07 'Cause it's a California player's dream.
12:09 This is the Mary Nutter, it's the premier tournament.
12:13 And as bad as the fields are, they don't care.
12:16 They want to play in front of their family
12:18 and their friends.
12:19 And that's what they grew up on.
12:22 So it's a big deal to them.
12:25 And that's why we got to fine tune this.
12:29 - It's that time, Mary Nutter, Collegiate Classic.
12:31 The two games, late, late, late.
12:34 You got 7.30 and 10 p.m. on Friday night.
12:36 Here's our coverage plan at allsooners.com.
12:39 I'm going to have the live blog humming.
12:41 One live blog for both games on Friday night.
12:44 So be sure you circle back to allsooners.com,
12:46 especially if you didn't get Flo.
12:48 Allsooners.com, that'll be the place to be.
12:50 I'll be updating with everything I see.
12:53 Score updates, observations, knickknacks,
12:56 little news and notes, all of that stuff.
12:58 Then obviously our game recaps
12:59 that are always at allsooners.com.
13:01 They'll have a game recap on Saturday.
13:02 Two game recaps for the Paragames, one against Seattle,
13:05 one against Loyola Marymount on Sunday.
13:08 So as always, allsooners.com is the place to be.
13:10 And if you've missed it, I did a longer read
13:13 on allsooners.com about Patty Gasso
13:15 and her trying to switch up the philosophy.
13:17 There was a big piece about Kirsten Diehl
13:20 that rolled out on Thursday morning,
13:22 as well as our entire preview
13:24 that will be up there on Friday morning.
13:26 So if you're watching this on Thursday,
13:27 circle back Friday morning, preview of the weekend,
13:29 everything that everybody had to say.
13:31 Kirsten Diehl's memories of this event last year,
13:33 all of that fun stuff as we roll on.
13:36 Allsooners.com, your one-stop shop
13:38 for a ton of softball coverage,
13:40 especially start looking next week
13:42 as we ramp into the opening of Loves Field
13:44 as Oklahoma comes back home and plays a Norman
13:46 for the first time at the OU tournament.
13:49 As always, be sure you follow us on Twitter @all_sooners.
13:53 You know where to find me.
13:54 Follow all of our friends too,
13:56 John Hoover, Ross Lovelace, Randall Sweet, Bryce McInnis,
14:00 everyone doing a great job, everything wall-to-wall,
14:02 especially as spring football gets closer and closer.
14:04 And you know this, as always, Tuesdays, Thursdays,
14:07 all throughout the season, right back here,
14:09 the All Sooners Softball Show will roll on.
14:12 But for Hoop, for everybody at All Sooners,
14:13 appreciate you being along with the ride.
14:15 Once again, thumbs up, comment, subscribe,
14:18 all that helps us grow the show.
14:19 The bigger the show gets,
14:20 the more cool stuff I get to do,
14:22 which is what I love to do,
14:23 bringing the content back to you guys
14:25 surrounding this really, really fun softball team.
14:27 But I hope that you'll kick back,
14:29 enjoy watching this team take on the Mary Nutter Classic
14:31 as much as I will.
14:33 We'll talk to you next Tuesday.