• last year
AllSooners Softball Show, Ep. 11
Transcript
00:00 For the final time, Oklahoma opened Big 12 play and they did it in style.
00:06 A three-game sweep over Iowa State, a doubleheader last Saturday as Friday's game got moved to Saturday.
00:12 One game on Sunday, three wins, one shutout, two run rules.
00:17 All part of a day's work for the Oklahomas.
00:20 We're gonna break down that.
00:21 What changed for Oklahoma between game one and game two that propelled them through?
00:26 And why does Patty Gasso feel like Oklahoma's on the right track?
00:29 We'll talk about all that next here on the All Sooners Softball Show.
00:33 Welcome in.
00:43 Ryan Chapman here back with the All Sooners Softball Show as we carry on and Big 12 play,
00:49 as I mentioned earlier, open in style.
00:52 Oklahoma 3-0 over Iowa State and they're alone atop the Big 12 standings.
00:59 Texas went down to Houston, welcomed the Cougars to the conference, went 2-1 though as Houston won the Friday game.
01:06 Actually 6-6 in the seventh inning.
01:08 Texas comes all the way through, I guess not technically from behind,
01:12 but Texas puts up a couple runs there in the top of the seventh, wins that contest.
01:17 Oklahoma State goes down to Waco, wins game one against the Bears, drops Saturday's game,
01:22 needs to come from behind, down 2-0, puts a couple up in there, one up in the sixth, a couple up in the seventh.
01:28 Oklahoma State wins, but Oklahoma all alone atop the Big 12 conference thanks to three wins against Iowa State.
01:36 Game one, game two on Saturday looked a lot different in how they were played out.
01:42 Oklahoma wins 4-0 behind Kelly Maxwell's Heroics in the first contest of the weekend.
01:48 It was a complete game shutout for the senior transfer, eight strikeouts for Kelly Maxwell,
01:55 and it was a statement for Oklahoma pitching staff that had given up two home runs going into last weekend's opener at Love's Field,
02:02 combined to only allow five home runs, or combined to allow eight home runs, excuse me,
02:07 through the five games that opened Love's Field last weekend.
02:10 Very uncharacteristic, but Kelly Maxwell credited the work that associate head coach and pitching coach
02:15 Jin Rocha did all week long to make sure Oklahoma's pitchers were ready to come out firing against the Cyclones.
02:22 I'd definitely say it was the response from last weekend.
02:25 We had a really good week in the bullpen with Coach Rocha, and I think it just showed today all that hard work I put in,
02:33 just being able to go out to hitters and really believe in myself.
02:38 A lot different story from game one to game two.
02:40 It was a doubleheader as Friday's game got pushed for weather.
02:43 Oklahoma's offense, handful of wasted opportunities in game one.
02:47 It was 4-0, never really looked like it was in doubt, but it wasn't kind of the avalanche, the pylon,
02:53 the pass the bat that Oklahoma likes to have offensively.
02:57 Game two, that shifted.
02:59 They took the big 30, 40-minute break as they rake and shake the field, move the fans out, move the fans back in,
03:05 and Oklahoma just looked like a fully different team.
03:07 They fell down 2-0 after Nicole May had an uneasy first inning, but then Oklahoma rallied five runs in the first,
03:14 six runs in the third.
03:17 Oklahoma poured it on, and if you looked, like, Riley Boone was in the dugout like a madwoman leading all the chants.
03:23 Jada Coleman was on the front step of the dugout, going insane, going nuts for every hit, everything that happened.
03:31 There was just a different energy, and that was intentional.
03:35 Patty Gasso talked to us after the two-game set on Saturday.
03:39 She had some strong words for her team.
03:41 She said she was bored, that the style of play was boring.
03:45 It wasn't Sooner softball.
03:46 She said that they had a big conversation, and it all amounted in this, the big shift from game one to game two.
03:54 -First game, to be honest, I was telling them, like, "This isn't you.
03:57 This is almost a boring style.
04:00 This isn't us."
04:01 And so there was just some conversation about who we have been in the past and where we need to go.
04:07 And so game two was fun.
04:10 It seemed like it went by really fast, and I know it was a shorter, you know, five-inning game,
04:14 but everybody was invested, and momentum was big.
04:19 Momentum's big in softball.
04:21 I was talking to these guys a little bit about, you know, when you're four years old, you're doing cheers in t-ball, right?
04:27 That's where you learn, but you're in college, and you're still doing the same stuff.
04:32 Versus baseball, it's just not like that, but I think that creates that energy that a team needs to create momentum
04:40 and creates force at the plate.
04:42 It creates all of it, if we can maintain that.
04:46 It can get a little exhausting, but it's a fun style, and the fans love it, and the coaches love it.
04:53 That energy shift carried over into Sunday's contest as Oklahoma explodes a 14-1 run rule over Iowa State.
05:01 Both that second game on Saturday, the Sunday game, five-inning run rules.
05:05 Kirsten Diehl got the start on Sunday.
05:07 She was calm, cool, collected.
05:08 She only had to pitch three innings as Patty Gasson wanted to get Peyton Monticelli some innings.
05:12 She pitched the fourth and the fifth, but it was an absolute power show.
05:15 Tiare Jennings had a three-run shot.
05:18 It was Kinsey Hanson with another three-run shot.
05:20 Those were two of six home runs, but the one that stole the show was a two-run blast.
05:26 Sydney Sanders absolutely wallops the softball, puts it over the bleachers in right center field.
05:33 The shorter bleachers, the one that's four rows, not the big double-stack bleachers,
05:37 but it was her fourth home run of the weekend, her sixth home run in the first 10 days of March.
05:44 And while Sydney Sanders is on an absolute heater, she actually credits it to not getting excited,
05:49 not getting juiced, but taking a step back and taking a deep breath as she steps into the batter's box.
05:54 Just seeing a strike and swinging, honestly, like, in my last at-bat,
05:58 I told the coach that I was going to swing at the first pitch strike, and I ended up not.
06:02 But it ended up working out in the end, so just seeing pitches and taking good swings on them.
06:07 I think I'm just focusing on, like, playing free, not really worried about any outcomes,
06:13 just kind of getting in the box and just looking for a pitch to hit,
06:17 not really thinking too much at all.
06:19 So it's working out a lot, so.
06:23 It wasn't just the weekend against Iowa State.
06:24 Like I mentioned, Sydney Sanders, six home runs, 10 RBIs in the month of March.
06:28 She really started it last weekend as Loves Field opened up.
06:31 She started the weekend at a .250 batting average.
06:35 She's moved it into the high .300s across basically the five games set at Loves Field to open the OU tournament,
06:41 the midweek against Texas A&M Commerce, and those three games against Iowa State.
06:45 It's something that you saw last year, right?
06:47 Sydney Sanders, a slow start to the season.
06:50 She came online about midway through the year when Oakland made the trip up to Ohio to play Miami of Ohio and Louisville.
06:55 And then she was a lot better.
06:57 It wasn't a total just absolute takeover by any means, but she did end up with eight home runs after a really, really slow start.
07:04 Now this year already, nine home runs a year ago, she already has eight home runs this year,
07:09 and it's something that Patty Gasso said she's been brewing, waiting to see for a really long time.
07:14 She's been waiting to break out for about a year and a half.
07:19 I mean, she has had some streaks, but this is what she looked like her freshman year, which made her, I think,
07:26 she was up for freshman, national freshman player of the year.
07:31 This is what it looks like.
07:32 It's just a really, some of the swings that you're seeing are just really legitimate swings,
07:39 and it just doesn't take much for them because the contact and what they have behind their swing
07:44 is so powerful that, I mean, it just flies.
07:48 Sandra's, of course, had that huge freshman season.
07:50 She lost out on the national freshman of the year to Jordie Ball a couple of years ago,
07:55 but 20-plus home runs, and you're really starting to see that quiet confidence.
07:58 All year long, she's battled really long at bats to draw walks and things like that,
08:03 but now the swing is free and loose, and you look at this lineup.
08:06 Tiare Jennings, her three-run shot on Sunday snapped a little mini slump.
08:10 She was 0-7 when you go back to the Texan-M Commerce game and those first two games,
08:15 the Saturday set against Iowa State.
08:17 She got rolling.
08:18 Alyssa Brito didn't really need to have a huge home run derby or anything this weekend
08:23 at Love's Field, but you look at it.
08:24 If Sanders can roll that through, then suddenly, Oklahoma's getting that power back.
08:28 Jennings, Brito, Hanson, Sanders.
08:31 If Jada Coleman continues to grow into the season, she's been excellent at getting on
08:36 the bait, hitting the contact, haven't quite seen the absolute just home runs over and
08:42 over again like we saw a year ago, but you know she has that in her, and suddenly, you're
08:45 starting to stare down a situation again where half of Oklahoma's lineup has this huge,
08:50 massive power threat, along with what you saw to Riley Boone, which was she can lay
08:54 down bunts for a single or she can score up, and she launched a ball out of the park this
08:59 past week against Iowa State.
09:00 It was an all-around great showing, and now the challenge for Oklahoma is to keep that
09:06 momentum rolling, keep that energy up.
09:08 They'll have a pair of games against Tarleton State on Tuesday.
09:11 Before they head out to Lubbock, we'll preview that on Thursday as Oklahoma will take on
09:16 Texas Tech, their second Big 12 weekend, but part of what made Oklahoma so steady, so good
09:21 all weekend long was that pitching that we mentioned.
09:23 It wasn't just Kelly Maxwell.
09:25 Nicole May settled in and threw a lot better after that.
09:27 First inning against Iowa State, Carly Keeney came in, looked good.
09:30 Kiersten Diehl, Peyton Monticelli, they were both calm, cool, collected all weekend long.
09:35 Now, Kiersten Diehl, don't look up, but she had that really bad start in Port of Iard against
09:39 Long Beach State.
09:41 She has not given up a run since then.
09:43 That's almost a 22-inning long, or over 22 innings, long scoreless streak for Kiersten
09:48 Diehl.
09:49 She rebuilt that confidence, and now she's working in it.
09:51 She's just now pitched maybe two outings away from her total number of innings all year
09:58 long last year as a true freshman.
10:00 Kinsey Hanson, the catcher, she has an incredible view of everything that Kiersten Diehl does,
10:04 both on the practice field, but once they step in between those light lines and in the
10:09 circle on game day.
10:10 Hanson was just really proud of all the progress that Kiersten Diehl has made since arriving
10:15 as a true freshman.
10:17 One of the most things that I admire about our pitching staff is that their failure,
10:23 their rollercoaster, they adjust and they respond so fast.
10:26 I think that they play so well off of one another.
10:32 They're cohesive, they are one, and I think that that's what makes them so special and
10:36 so good.
10:38 When one's not doing well, one comes and instructs everybody out, and then it'll be reversed
10:41 the next day.
10:42 And just to see them bounce off each other, and just the mentality and the locked in and
10:46 the focus this weekend, it was so much more dominant.
10:49 And I think that they're starting to feel themselves, they feel the dominance in themselves,
10:54 and their confidence is starting to grow and grow.
10:56 And we can see that in the results, but the process of them learning that has been super
11:00 cool to see.
11:01 Like I said, two games against Tarleton State on Tuesday.
11:06 That doubleheader, last little bit of this homestand here before Oklahoma hits the road.
11:10 They'll head to Lubbock, they'll take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
11:13 That was the spot a year ago where Texas Tech pitched a new pitcher every single inning
11:18 for Oklahoma.
11:19 We'll see if the Red Raiders have anything up their sleeve for the Sooners.
11:22 They also took a step forward a year ago in the power department.
11:25 This year they're hitting home runs again, about 23 home runs through 22 games.
11:29 That's in the top 30 in college softball, so the pitchers will have to be on point as
11:32 Oklahoma's offense carries through.
11:34 But the real question will be, can Oklahoma keep that energy up?
11:38 Because the way the dugout was humming, the electricity in game two and game three, that
11:43 is what clicked for Oklahoma this past weekend.
11:46 That is how the Sooners started to look a lot more like the team that's been dominant
11:50 the last couple years, as opposed to the team that, as Patty Gasso has said, has done enough
11:54 to win, but not playing up to their standards.
11:56 If Oklahoma can keep that momentum rolling, it should be a great month of March for the
12:02 Sooners, and we'll find out on Tuesday if that continues.
12:06 We'll be back here with the All-Sooners Softball Show next Thursday.
12:09 A little bit of recap of the Tarleton State doubleheader, but mostly it'll be eyes forward
12:14 ahead to Texas Tech, what everything Oklahoma is going to see down in Lubbock as the Sooners
12:19 take on the Red Raiders in the second Big 12 series of the season.
12:23 But for everybody at AllSooners.com, John Hoover, Randall Sweet, Bryce McInnis, Ross
12:28 Lovelace, I'm Ryan Chapman.
12:30 As always, All Sooners is the place to be.
12:34 Spring ball, spring practice fired up.
12:36 Oklahoma got the pads on on Monday.
12:38 We'll have a ton of content all throughout spring.
12:41 Football@AllSooners.com.
12:42 You're going to have men's and women's tournament action as the women wrapped up play in Kansas
12:46 City with their loss to Iowa State.
12:48 They now await where they're headed on Selection Sunday in the women's NCAA tournament.
12:52 The men, they have a Wednesday date with TCU.
12:55 We'll see if they can continue to either win and roll through or if they will be down on
12:59 Wednesday awaiting their fate on Selection Sunday.
13:02 AllSooners.com is the place to be for all of that.
13:04 And as always, every single video, every single game recap, my Sunday wraps for the softball
13:10 squad.
13:11 Everything that happens every weekend can be found at AllSooners.com.
13:14 But until Thursday on the AllSooners Softball Show, we'll talk to you then.
13:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]