OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooners are on to the Women’s College World Series Semifinals. They defeated their arch rival Texas Longhorns 7-2 Saturday afternoon in the winners bracket to advance and move within one win of the Championship Series.
Afterwards, head coach Patty Gasso met with the media to give her thoughts. OUInsider.com brings all of those to you right here.
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Q. Obviously got some big moments, Tiare’s [Jennings] home run, Rylie [Boone] started off the fifth inning with a hit. Jayda and Jocelyn have that combo where Jocelyn was able to bring Jayda in today. How big is it to have them back to back in that lineup?
PATTY GASSO: Yeah, they’re elite athletes. I have felt that since I recruited them. So to have that dynamic duo pretty much start the game, it’s nice that it’s on our side.
Jayda has so much energy. She can get on in a lot of different ways. Jocyy has so much power. The combination just really sets a great tone.
Q. What went into the decision to throw Hope [Trautwein] again today? What did you think about her performance of hers?
PATTY GASSO: I thought she was stellar, fantastic. Looking at her numbers di lei, I’m seeing them for the first time really: One strikeout. Our defense, she fed our defense. Our defense played great. She doesn’t have to try to overthrow to get strikeouts because our defense is great.
I thought she had good command. I thought she did a great job.
What was the second half? I have a problem with recall (laughter). Did I get it? All right.
Q. You get the day off. How much is that going into your decision to maybe roll with the same pitcher?
PATTY GASSO: I think Hope is kind of on fire right now. She’s really found her comfort zone di lei. I think the matchup was better for us with Hope.
But we had a plan to bring all kinds of different looks at different times, including Jordy. Everybody was all hands on deck. But Hope is just never making me feel it’s time. It was getting close later in the game, but never made me feel ready to do that.
The day off, we just had a short little dance party in the locker room because we have another day off. I don’t even know what to do ’cause having been here, it’s just like chaos. It’s get to your hotel, okay, get your stuff, let’s get ready, look at video, eat fast, eat fast. It’s like that.
So for us to – now I’m like, What are we supposed to do? Lay around the hotel? What are we going to do here?
It is great for your pitchers. One thing that my coaching staff and my training staff has done a great job with is recovery and hydration and mobility and all of those things are really paying off for this team right now.
Q. In the Women’s College World Series history, there’s not once been a game on ABC, but that changed today. What can you say about that for the sport of softball and that your team got to represent the entire league?
PATTY GASSO: Yeah, absolute honor. Absolute honor. I think of ABC, maybe nobody even thinks the same way, but to me it is the Wide World of Sports. I’ve been watching it for that long.
To think that we are in a game on ABC is just a wow factor for me personally. I don’t even talk to our team about it because they don’t watch ABC, they watch Netflix (laughter). For me, it was a wow moment.
For our sport, for women’s athletics, it’s just off the charts. I am really anxious to see what kind of viewership there was because it’s just going to continue to help this whole sport just continue to grow.
Q. Back to Hope. She held Texas to 2-for-13 just with runners on. Your pitching staff has done that all year long. To have Hope do this on this stage, what does that mean mentally for her and the staff di lei?
PATTY GASSO: It’s a game changer. This was a big game. This obviously was the biggest game of our season and the biggest game in Hope’s career.
I felt like she did a really nice job with Northwestern, that built her confidence. But to be honest, we talked a lot about playing in the Big 12 tournament here in Oklahoma City. There was about 7,000 fans here. That kind of preps you. I don’t think there’s any other teams in the country that play in front of that many fans. So that really helped our cause.
We’re lucky to be living in a place where the College World Series – I know some people think it’s an unfair advantage. I can’t help where we live. We live here. It’s a beautiful stadium. We’re going to take advantage of it. That’s what I felt like today.
Q. I was speaking with some parents that raised questions about what the impending repeal of Roe versus Wade, they may not necessarily be sending their daughters to places where there’s anti-abortion bills, like there is in Oklahoma. What would your message be to recruits’ parents if that comes up? I ask that, too, because you recruit so heavily in California. It might be viewed differently than it would be in Oklahoma.
PATTY GASSO: I really don’t feel equipped to answer that because it’s never come across. I don’t even know how I would go about it.
I just don’t feel comfortable on this stage to be talking on those subjects, to be honest.
Q. Would you be happy to talk to me afterwards?
PATTY GASSO: I’ve got a team to take care of. I’m not ready for that. Sorry.
Q. I don’t mean to –
PATTY GASSO: It’s just not the right place right now. That is not where my mindset is. I don’t want to say one thing that would make me regret anything. My mindset is not in that space right here.
Q. Can I just ask?
THE MODERATOR: It’s asked. We’re moving on.
Q. You’ve seen a lot of home runs in your time. I’m just kind of curious about your perspective on Tiare’s home run. It was in the second to the last row of the venue. Have you seen a home run hit that far? Is it the farthest home run you’ve seen in your time?
PATTY GASSO: I’ve seen a lot of far home runs, but that was elevated to allow her to really get underneath it and get her power in it. So it was definitely another momentum builder for the team.
Q. From a softball standpoint, obviously it’s a lot more fun when you win the way you did today, but how much fun is it to watch the matchups between Dolcini and your group of batters?
PATTY GASSO: Dolcini is really a fighter, she’s focused, she’s hard working. She has helped carry Texas this far. So we have to respect her for her. She is really, really crafty with the way she throws.
We were ready for it. Then you see a couple innings where we just didn’t have a lot of success. That is a tribute to how she can mix up her speeds di lei and so forth.
To be able to turn out 10 hits with a few against her was like a big victory for this team. We worked really hard to prepare for her of hers.
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Q. Today Jocelyn sent her batting average back above .500. She just missed on the pop-out. You’ve seen her di lei at every stage of this, but what about her di lei impresses you most?
PATTY GASSO: As you can see, she’s very, very confident. That’s what confidence looks like and what it sounds like because she is not afraid to say how good she is.
I’m just so proud of her because she is not allowing the outside to get in. Our focus this week is on winning a championship, and she is doing a very good job of allowing all of the players to get in her ear di lei. She’ll speak to what we’re dealing with, how we need to deal with it properly.
But that is where our focus is and where her focus is, not how many home runs I can hit, look at my numbers, it’s let’s walk away with the notes, fight for another one, do everything we can to get another one. The team is really responding to her.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
PATTY GASSO: Thank you.