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Oklahoma

Lessons truly learned for OU softball? Find out vs. Alabama in Super Regional

Bob Przybyloby:Bob Przybylo•05/23/25•

BPrzybylo

Abby Dayton3
OU OF Abby Dayton. (Bryan Terry - Imagn Images)

It’s easy to tell OU softball has been a lot different since losing two of three at Alabama. The Sooners were 10-5 in the SEC at that point before winning seven straight games.

Included in that were sweeps against Mississippi State and Texas and clinching the outright SEC regular season championship.

Head coach Patty Gasso has said that’s when she felt it changed, or at least when she changed the mode of preparation.

Now it comes back to the Crimson Tide. For the first time ever, Patrick Murphy and crew are coming to Norman.

Game 1 of the Super Regional is set for 4 p.m. Friday on ESPN2. Game 2 is 2 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. The if game would be Sunday at a time and TV network to be decided.

OU has been noticeably different, earning the No. 2 overall seed. But what about Bama? How different will the Tide be this weekend?

“I’ve known Pat Murphy for quite a while,” Gasso said. “A long, long time actually. And he is really, really good at getting his team ready. And they’re fast. They’re aggressive. They have a good staff and he mixes them up really good, so you’ve gotta be ready to flip your script quickly as to who he brings in.

“Challenge you. They challenge you on base paths. If you bobble, they’re gonna score. If you do anything bad and it’s not clean, they will make you pay for it. But he is a master of motivation and getting his teams ready to be their best in this type of postseason setting.”

The Alabama pitching was lights out, especially Catelyn Riley. The OU bats just struggled to fight through the moment.

That feels like eons ago, though, with the way the Sooners offense has come along in recent weeks.

“I think our team went in there with all the knowledge we could have had for the pitchers,” outfielder Abby Dayton said. “I think because it was such a new team and it was early on in the season, we kind of let the emotions get to us. It was our first away crowd that really was a standout and I think we let those emotions get to us.

“But, I mean, we have all the same information and we’re a different team now and it’s completely different. And I’m glad that happened early on in the season, because it made us grow, and we’re a different team now.”

OU has preached about all the lessons learned. OK, we’ll find out if it’s true. Love’s Field will be electric this weekend.

Final word

“I think the biggest thing that we took away from that last series was, like she said, the crowd. And I feel like with this team now and being able to experience all that we have since then, I feel like we have kind of learned to embrace it and kind of just think like ‘We’re playing and they’re watching’ and that’s all it really is. Just not making the moment too big and not making this game bigger than it is. So I feel like we’ve grown a lot in that way, and then just trusting what we’ve been doing and the work we’ve been putting in.” – Nelly McEnroe-Marinas

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