Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso speaks to the media at the Sooners' media day on Feb. 5, 2023.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Now we've been grinding on this field for, it seems like forever.
00:06 So everybody's really excited, team's looking good, playing well.
00:12 Upperclassmen are excited. There's ten of them.
00:17 Ten very, very special athletes that have been in our program that I hope everybody gets to enjoy this last season with them.
00:26 Because they're special. They've done special things here.
00:30 Pitching staff is ready. I mean, we're ready. Now we're just waiting.
00:34 So the wait is over and we're going to be ready.
00:39 I mean, obviously you've got a ton of talent.
00:44 What's your thought process at this point of lineup and then defensive alignment?
00:48 Do you have a sense of where you're going in the new direction?
00:51 First question that way.
00:56 Right now I think Tiare is going to be working over at shortstop.
00:59 Alyssa Brito is so good at third. It's hard to move her out of there and her experience is something else.
01:06 I've got three buying at second. That's Avery Hodge, Quincy Lillio, and Alina Torres.
01:14 But Alina Torres can do a lot of things. Avery can also play shortstop.
01:18 Q can also play the outfield. So there's opportunities for all of them.
01:23 Jada Coleman in center. Kenzie Hansen behind the plate.
01:30 Riley Ludlam's a nice back up there. The outfield is still fighting.
01:34 I mean, there's really good hitters. Our freshman Ella Parker, she's not playing first.
01:41 It'll be Sid Sanders at first, but Ella Parker's got to be in this lineup.
01:45 So that's one thing that I'm certain. Cassidy Pickering is a big time hitter as well.
01:51 Now you've got Hannah Korr who had a great fall.
01:54 And you've got Riley Boone who is the starter of everything.
01:58 So there's going to be a lot of movement this first weekend.
02:02 We've got to give everybody opportunity to see how they handle.
02:05 But likely the opportunity is going to be the matchup that fits them from the opponent offensively.
02:12 So I really can put anybody in at any time.
02:17 So I'm going to really try to unload the bench as much as I can throughout each game.
02:21 Q Is the offensive line, do you expect it to be a little bit of a flux too as the season starts?
02:27 Yeah, it's going to look pretty similar probably from the top to the middle.
02:32 But man, there's some power. These freshmen are special. You'll get to see that.
02:37 But we haven't gotten it down quite yet.
02:42 I think the seniors are so ready to play.
02:45 Some of them are just not hitting the ball the way they want to.
02:48 But once we throw the first pitch, all that stuff goes away and they're ready to go.
02:53 Q Having the last three years going into the season, you always talk about challenging the players, making them compete.
02:59 You've had success the last three years. Do you try to find new ways to challenge the players, new ways to compete with them?
03:04 Yes, always. JT does that as well offensively where we're trying to set up games or challenges.
03:11 Fungo, I'm just trying to hit the ball through the left side, through the right side.
03:16 They love that stuff. They thrive on competition.
03:20 So we're always trying to keep it working hard and competitive and so forth.
03:26 So it's always there.
03:28 Q Do you see the pitching rotation kind of growing like it has in the past few years where you see what you've got, see what you can do?
03:33 Do you think it's going to evolve during this first month?
03:35 I do. I think it's really hard for them. We don't talk much about it.
03:39 But every day they're glaring at this lineup.
03:43 And the lineup knows pretty much everything.
03:45 So they have worked on changing game plans against certain hitters and mix them up a little bit.
03:51 But you're going to see, again, what's the matchup?
03:54 What's the matchup? Is it Carly Keeney to start and someone to close?
04:01 We've got six very viable pitchers.
04:04 All of them could help us in some way, shape, or form.
04:08 It may be very likely you see Nicole May to get started because she is like the matriarch of this pitching staff.
04:17 And she's earned it and deserved it.
04:19 But you're going to see a lot of looks this weekend as well.
04:21 We've got to get this figured out as to who is going to be a game changer for us in the first three weeks.
04:29 Jams on the game.
04:31 Patty, it sounds like you have a lot of depth.
04:35 I've always enjoyed watching you coach and how you do things.
04:39 Do you have, in your opinion, like last year, good pinch hitters, pinch runners, defensive switches that you can do?
04:48 Do you feel like you have as much depth you can do those things?
04:50 Absolutely.
04:51 We've got speed, which looks quite different than what you're used to.
04:55 You're used to seeing home run trots.
04:57 These guys can move.
04:59 They can steal bases.
05:01 I've got Riley Ludlum, our senior catcher off the bench that can change the game in one swing.
05:07 We've got lethal hitters on the bench.
05:10 We're very deep.
05:12 I can do a lot of different things.
05:14 So it's fun.
05:15 That's fun.
05:16 That's fun about coaching is that you've got so much versatility.
05:19 If there's any injuries, I'm not afraid.
05:21 I'm not afraid of losing anyone because we can still do what we need to do.
05:27 Red shirting.
05:28 I'm assuming with the COVID years going away, red shirting becomes a factor again, or does it in and of itself?
05:35 It does.
05:36 A lot of that has to do with injury.
05:39 We've got Nellie McEnroe-Moranis, a freshman out of Hawaii who just had surgery, so she's going to be red shirting.
05:47 If you have sometimes too many pitchers in the bullpen, you think about maybe red shirting one.
05:52 But I think we need all six of these.
05:54 So right now, that's the only red shirt that we have.
05:58 Mr. Koster, right?
05:59 Yeah, Patty, you brought up Hannah and the fall that she had.
06:03 I wonder how she's doing physically and what kind of progress have you seen from her
06:07 and how important was that fall for her to get back in the swing of things?
06:12 Yeah, it was big for her.
06:14 She works really hard.
06:15 She's got impingements on her lower back that's very painful.
06:20 And some days it's okay and some days it isn't, but she's trying to fight through it.
06:25 And through that, she had the best fall, one of the best falls of anyone on our team.
06:31 So can she maintain that?
06:33 Can we handle the pain?
06:35 What can we do to help her?
06:36 It's something that there's really no solution to.
06:39 So she's having to deal with a lot of pain, and it's just wearing on her psyche a little bit.
06:46 But if we can keep her steady, she's going to be a big help to us as well.
06:52 Ryan, on this end, you started off talking about the 10 that you're hoping everyone's getting to enjoy
06:57 as they kind of go through the last year, but five of those have spent their entire career here.
07:03 Have you had a chance to appreciate and enjoy that?
07:07 Or is it so laser-focused that that's something for you to do later on?
07:11 I think about them more than I ever have because I know this is like the end of--
07:17 well, I don't want to say that because we have a good freshman class.
07:20 It's not the end of a big long string, but it is the end of one of the most elite classes
07:27 that has ever and may ever play softball.
07:30 So that's why I understand that because I get to see it every day.
07:35 They're special. They're different.
07:37 And their style of competitive spirit is very infectious on this team,
07:42 and it's really infectious to our freshmen, which is exactly what I'm looking for.
07:47 So they have big personalities. They're great players.
07:51 They're great young women.
07:53 So it's going to be hard to see them go, and I'm not going to think about it.
07:57 I'm just going to coach the heck out of them
07:59 and try to get every ounce of softball out of them that we can.
08:03 Carly, we didn't get to see her for a big chunk in the fall.
08:06 She got back up and were you near to be able to see her?
08:10 Yeah, I couldn't--I won't get into the story, but I had a big part of her not being--
08:19 I'll give you just the back story on this.
08:23 So we had our first practice, and I always jump pitchers like,
08:27 "You've got to be athletes. You've got to step up.
08:29 You've got to be like infielders." I'm just all over them.
08:32 We're in this drill, and we're moving really fast, and pitchers don't work that way.
08:37 But Carly Keeney does, and she rounds second.
08:41 She's going from shortstop. I'm hitting a ball by second.
08:45 She lays out, dives for it, breaks her finger.
08:48 First practice of our season.
08:51 So I have not seen her pitch until about January 15th or so.
08:58 She's catching up real quick, but she's got a really fun, gritty style about her.
09:06 She is focused. She's a fighter.
09:08 I'm really, really excited to see what she can do for us.
09:12 You mentioned perhaps wanting to use all six pitchers, having a need for all of them.
09:19 How has the game shifted away from leaning on one, two pitchers max,
09:24 and not just for player safety but also strategically?
09:27 Yeah, I think you guys--some of you were around when Paige Parker was here,
09:32 and she pitched almost every inning of every game in postseason.
09:36 And I promised myself we won that season, but I could have--
09:42 I mean, it's hard to watch because she is so physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.
09:48 And I promised myself I would never do that again.
09:51 And that is why I'm really trying to get a good stable of pitchers that complement each other.
09:56 But hitters are getting better, and a pitcher can't sustain for seven innings much more these days.
10:03 So you need--I mean, we're looking at who's our starter, who's our middle reliever, and who's our closer.
10:10 Everyone--three of these pitchers have a role in a game, and they know it.
10:15 And I think what happens for us at least is when we get into postseason, our pitchers are fresh.
10:22 They're not worn out, and that's a big plus for us.
10:26 You've found a lot of different ways over the years to motivate your teams--books, movies, songs.
10:32 What's been the message that you've wanted to get to this team before you go to Mexico?
10:36 Have you employed any interesting tools?
10:39 Well, do you understand Spanish? Because I said it to them in Spanish to prepare them for--
10:44 Common folk?
10:45 No, I'm kidding.
10:47 No, I'm kidding. No comprende.
10:52 I am trying to get them to enjoy, you know, the stress of the moment, calms.
11:01 I'm trying to get them to just play free.
11:05 They're used to doing that.
11:07 The new--new athletes come into this program, and they look around at the athletes and like, "Oh, jeez.
11:14 Okay, I've got to perform at this level."
11:16 There's a little bit of that.
11:18 So half of our team are returners, and the other half are newcomers.
11:22 So it's trying to really blend them.
11:25 And I think we're doing a pretty good job of that.
11:28 I just got to get the nerves calm.
11:30 I got to get them to have fun.
11:31 I got to get leaders to lead, and that's the upperclassmen.
11:35 I've got to count on them.
11:36 I've got to have a team that's playing as a team and not as individuals.
11:40 And when the lineup is written out, that they're not having, you know, tantrums and pouting over that, you know,
11:47 that they were just adults, that they're women, playing like women, acting like women.
11:52 And if we can do that, we're going to win a lot of games.
11:55 We're going to have a lot of fun.
11:57 We have time for a couple more.
11:58 We'll go to Jesse, and then back to George.
12:02 Patty, you talked a lot about how special this upperclassmen group is,
12:05 but you've also talked about how talented the freshman group is.
12:07 And you mentioned a little bit in the fall that kind of having to prepare the next generation of players.
12:13 What is that balance between obviously leaning on this special group of experienced upperclassmen
12:18 but also trying to get these freshmen ready to, you know, to get them experience and everything too?
12:22 Is there a balance there between those two things?
12:25 No, you know what, it started to where usually when freshmen come in and they're lost,
12:30 people kind of stay away from them, like figure it out.
12:34 What this upperclassmen group has been doing for us is really taking time to teach them.
12:41 So if something happens in the outfield, Jada Coleman is right there saying, "Hey, look, you've got to do this."
12:47 So is Riley Boone. They're doing good jobs of that.
12:50 Hitting wise, you've got Alyssa Brito, T.R.A., Kinsey Hanson will bring them in and hit extra with them.
12:56 So I have to lean on this upperclassmen group because I've asked them, "Who was that person for you?"
13:02 "Oh, that person was Lindsey Elam. That person was Grace Lyon."
13:06 They all had a name. I'm like, "Don't you want to be that name?
13:09 Don't you want them to say that about you when they're seniors?"
13:12 And just trying to get them to understand their worth and handing the torch to this next group
13:18 because it's going to be tough as we go into the SEC.
13:22 We're really starting from ground zero with a whole new group.
13:26 And I'm excited about that because I get to coach again.
13:29 I know everything. They don't need us anymore.
13:32 So it's going to be nice to do my job again.
13:37 Patty, it's probably difficult, maybe impossible, to replace Grace Lyon at shortstop,
13:43 not only on the field but off the field.
13:44 How have you seen T.R.A. maybe step up into that role as a leader and at shortstop?
13:50 Yeah, T.R.A. is quite different than Grace.
13:54 She's handling shortstop really well.
13:57 She's not a big vocal. She's not that at all.
14:00 So we have co-captains this year, which is Kenzie Hansen, who has more of the voice,
14:06 T.R.A. Jennings that has more of the talk-it-out type.
14:11 I've used Riley Boone. Riley Boone's the one that checks on everybody individually,
14:16 "How you doing?" Kind of that social.
14:19 And Jada Coleman is just the hype girl that's really, really smart about softball.
14:25 And you might look at her and go, "Gosh, she's incredible and she's crazy."
14:29 She's really, really smart.
14:31 She would be a really, really good coach if she wanted to,
14:35 but she doesn't have the patience for that.
14:37 So she's going to go off and be a trophy wife for some football player someday.
14:48 Last one for you.
14:51 I was just going to secondly ask, are you getting antsy at all to go play at Love's Field?
14:56 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
14:58 I just got a tour of it today and I haven't seen it in a couple months.
15:03 And I actually went with Jenny Love, and her and I were both enjoying it together.
15:09 And there are things that I did not know were happening,
15:12 so we got down onto the actual field.
15:15 And I'm looking up. You saw the--that was Joe Castiglione's idea to create the outline of Oklahoma.
15:23 And I'm like, "Okay, that sounds kind of corny."
15:27 But when I see it, I'm like, "That is awesome. I think it's the coolest thing."
15:31 So I got to see Jenny, see the Love's family, their logo up there.
15:37 But I was standing on the field right by home plate, and I'm looking out into the outfield.
15:43 And they have grandstands on top of the--what do you want to call it?
15:50 Like the walkway.
15:52 And I didn't know that, so they just added another 500 or 600 seats.
15:57 So now I'm standing there going, "Oh, my. It's grand. It is grand."
16:03 So I'm trying to explain to our team, and they're just going nuts because they are dying to see it.
16:08 But I got to see what their lockers look like.
16:10 But we're not able to go in it.
16:13 We're going to play on it, but we're not able to go in it quite yet because there's still a lot to do.
16:19 Probably by mid-April, it should be completely done.
16:23 You all are already in unprecedented territory, having won three straight.
16:29 And now the thought of going after a fourth.
16:32 Are you ever able to step back and instead of looking at these seasons individually,
16:37 kind of have that broader perspective of what you all have been able to accomplish over the last several years?
16:46 I'm not a real deep thinker when it comes to things like that.
16:50 I just go. I just go.
16:52 I think that's why you don't--I know we try to be a very humble group.
16:57 We don't look back at our laurels.
16:59 We just want to keep running forward, keep raising the OU flag,
17:05 keep being that team that everybody's trying to get.
17:08 They have embraced that.
17:10 That's a tough place to be.
17:11 We were always a team that even though we were not underdogs, I would talk them into the fact that we're underdogs.
17:18 Now I can't do that anymore.
17:20 They understand where they stand, but they're ready to fire back.
17:26 They're ready to fire first.
17:28 That's really the attitude.
17:29 So they're ready.
17:32 This is going to be a tough one.
17:34 This is going to be a really tough season for us.
17:36 I feel that coming, so I'm able to see what kind of women rise from the ashes here.
17:43 That's going to be the most important thing.
17:46 You might have just answered it in part, but even though the group changes a little bit year after year,
17:51 does it get progressively harder knowing that maybe the target on your back gets bigger and bigger every year?
17:59 Maybe a little bit.
18:00 This one is just different.
18:02 The expectation.
18:05 Winning four in a row is unheard of.
18:07 Unheard of.
18:08 You can't even wrap your mind around it.
18:12 Even winning three.
18:14 For them, they want to be a team that did something that maybe nobody in maybe my lifetime will ever do on the softball field again.
18:25 That is something special.
18:27 They like to be able to chase those moments.
18:31 But we've got to do it without thinking of outcomes and results.
18:36 We've got to do it just in a free manner, which is when they're their best.
18:41 Awesome.
18:42 Thank you, everybody.
18:43 Thank you, guys.
18:44 Good to see everybody.