AllSooners Softball Show, Ep. 10
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00:00 Welcome in, Ryan Chapman here, the all Sooners softball show firing off right now as Oklahoma
00:07 turns the page for the last time. The Sooners will open Big 12 play at home in Norman. For the first
00:15 time they'll open Big 12 play at Love's Field as Oklahoma hosts a three-game set against the Iowa
00:20 State Cyclones. Big weekend for a couple reasons, obviously Big 12 conference play getting underway,
00:25 but also part of Oklahoma's response after seeing their 71-game winning streak come to an end last
00:32 weekend at the hands of Louisiana. Talk to Patty Gasso, Alina Torres, Sydney Sanders this week.
00:37 Stick with us because on the other side, tell you everything they got into as Oklahoma looks to
00:42 start anew, sharpen, hone, all of that stuff headed into conference play here on the show.
00:47 [MUSIC]
00:57 Hello, hello, like I said, we are firing off here, the all Sooners softball show. Full disclosure,
01:01 peel the curtain back, the schedule absolutely slammed. If you're on allsooners.com, you see
01:07 we are flooded with football content, which means I had to record this show Wednesday afternoon
01:12 before the Sooners took on Texas A&M Commerce. So don't have anything on that result for you here.
01:18 If they lost, you'll never see any of this, wipe it away. It will be a new show, all that stuff.
01:25 Obviously Oklahoma being backed by Patty Gasso to respond in a big way. She's been, I mean,
01:31 frankly, if you're still thinking about the streak, you've thought about it four or five
01:34 days longer than I think Patty Gasso or the team or anybody thought about that. At the end of the
01:38 day, Patty Gasso said the team was a little embarrassed by how they played all the errors,
01:42 miscues, things like that. But she had no worries about how the team would look when they came back
01:47 to practice on Tuesday to get mentally locked in and fire off as the Sooners have a big week ahead
01:52 with conference play open. I think the bodies are still a little bit tired. When you think about
01:58 where we've been and what we've been doing, everybody's kind of in the same boat. You're
02:02 playing five games every weekend. It wears you out. I've got some seniors. They definitely feel
02:10 it differently than they used to, but we had a good day today. We talked a lot. We talked about
02:18 what we felt and how we need to make some changes. There was a lot of conversation in the classroom
02:24 and then just feeding them confidence. I think they were embarrassed a little bit by Sunday
02:33 because they knew that they underachieved. I do not have any worries. I'm not at home going,
02:41 "What are we going to do?" We had a bad game. We had a bad game at the World Series one year,
02:48 and then I think we had five errors in one inning, and we ended up winning a national championship.
02:53 So if I'm not panicking about one thing right now, we're fine. We're athletic. We know what it takes.
03:02 If anything, I think many people on this team are able to play free and loose. We talked to
03:06 Jada Coleman on radio on Monday, and she said that Oklahoma can focus on just playing relaxed
03:12 and not playing like not to lose, things like that. And Alina Torres kind of mirrored that.
03:17 Now, everyone always has said to a tee, "No one's thinking about the streak. No one's talking about
03:23 the streak," all that. But she did acknowledge it could be a little reset button for Oklahoma
03:27 as they're 20 games in now, getting ready to turn the page. That second third of the season,
03:31 as Patty Gasso says so much, the conference portion, we could go win something, which is
03:36 a big, tough, regular season title. Here's what Alina Torres had to say. Yeah, I think it keeps
03:40 us free, honestly. I mean, we weren't really worried about the streak or whatever was going
03:43 on with that. But you said the tip of our cap, so they had a really good game. And I think that
03:47 really just kind of put a fire under our team. And I think it's going to help us along, like Sid
03:52 was saying. So, I mean, you reset every game. And I mean, it's hard to go out day in, day out and
03:57 just perform at your best. So I think it's really good for us that we kind of got hit back in the
04:01 face and we know how to respond. So it's going to be exciting. One thing that will need to get
04:06 tightened up, absolutely, is Oklahoma's pitching staff. It's one of the strengths of the team to
04:09 this point. Outside of maybe a nervy performance from Kirsten Diehl in Puerto Vallarta that she's
04:15 recovered from in a big way. Outside of maybe some weirdness as far as that Nicole May outing
04:21 against Washington, where she gave up no earned runs. We have the obstruction call, stuff like
04:24 that. The Sooners pitching staff had been pretty nails. They'd only given up two home runs total
04:30 all season long. Gave up eight combined over opening weekend at Loves Field. Five of those
04:35 at their hands in Miami of Ohio. One thing that Patti Gasso said, it's just, yeah, she acknowledged
04:40 it was not what they needed it to be. But there are many, many different fixes that they can make
04:45 across that group of pitchers as they go six deep, as she said here. Again, just to settle yourself,
04:52 have confidence. I feel like we might have been trying a little bit too hard. Too many walks,
04:58 too many hit batters, too many free bases. Balls started getting, and then it just starts to
05:04 like a snowball rolling out of control. Just then people start squaring up the ball,
05:10 things like that. One player who didn't look out of sync at all for opening weekend was
05:15 first baseman Sydney Sanders. She's someone that took a lot of time to really come online last
05:20 year. It was about maybe the last weekend before conference play started, where Oklahoma headed
05:25 out to Miami of Ohio to take on the Red Hawks. And that's where she kind of got her season going.
05:31 And suddenly she looked a lot closer to the player who banged over 20 home runs her freshman year at
05:36 Arizona State. Opening loves field, she went four of eight across the five games, six RBIs, drew
05:43 three walks, a huge weekend for Sydney Sanders. Patti Gasso's talked about how first off, she
05:48 knows Sydney Sanders. She's backed her to respond to the kind of slump to start the year. But also,
05:54 Patti Gasso's been quick to point out, hey, when Sydney Sanders isn't necessarily hitting the ball,
05:59 she's still getting on base. She's still drawing those key walks. And she's still with that
06:03 competition at first base, some Riley Ludlum, Ella Parker, all of that, wanting to make sure
06:08 she holds on to that starting spot. Here's what Sydney Sanders had to say about settling in and
06:12 finally kind of seeing the results come to her this past weekend as soon as open loves field.
06:16 Just playing free, honestly. Like, I felt myself a little this weekend, like, just not really
06:23 thinking about anything and just going for it. Like, I feel like that's when I play at my best.
06:28 So I think that's something I should be doing going forth. And I think we'll see a big difference.
06:35 I feel like I try to have a really good eye at the plate, just getting on base whenever I can
06:41 for my team. Yeah, I finally was able to hit the ball this weekend. So it was fun. I don't know.
06:48 It was like a different story from the previous weeks. But I like walks, too. They're just as
06:55 good as I hit. Up first on the Big 12 slate, it's the Iowa State Cyclones coming off a rough
07:02 weekend, Iowa State. But Patty Gasso has plenty of respect for the Cyclones. It was a madhouse
07:07 in Ames last year. People hanging from the rafters, people on top of the dugout, craziness
07:13 all around. But Patty Gasso said Iowa State, one to keep an eye on is they've always matched up
07:18 very well with Oklahoma. Iowa State always gives us fits. They've got good pitchers. They're
07:25 coached well. They hit the ball notoriously pretty hard. They always give us good runs for our money.
07:31 It's a start of our last Big 12 conference play. I know these guys will be fired up for that.
07:39 So we'll have a battle this weekend, no question.
07:42 As always, the All Sooners crew will be out at Love's Field every single day, bringing you
07:49 everything from postgame against Iowa State, all those game stories, anything else that comes out.
07:54 I'll have my Sunday wrap that drops Sunday after things settle down. About six o'clock is usually
07:59 the target. Might get moved back a little bit if the game's a little bit later in the day. All that
08:02 stuff. But all that content will be at allsooners.com. Not just the softball show that you're
08:08 watching here, obviously, but all those videos, all those stories, and all the great work from
08:13 John Hoover, Randall Sweet, Bryce McInnis, Ross Lovelace, and myself, Ryan Chapman. So be sure
08:18 you're rocking with allsooners.com. Exciting time. We've got the NCAA tournament, Big 12 tournament
08:23 is about to fire up for the men's and women's basketball teams. Spring football is upon us,
08:27 kicking off officially. Practice one, March 11th, and of course, the continued coverage of everything
08:32 OU softball. Be sure you're there, allsooners.com, and I will talk to you on the All Sooners softball
08:38 show next Tuesday.