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Oklahoma

OU softball 'plan of attack' under microscope this week

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo04/01/25BPrzybylo
Kasidi Pickering7
OU sophomore Kasidi Pickering. (Nate Billings - Imagn Images)

Following the first series loss of the season for OU softball, panic is absolutely the wrong word to be using.

It’s not there from the players, certainly not there from head coach Patty Gasso. But adjusting – yea, that’s true.

OU learned a lot about what it needs to not do the rest of the way in losing two of three games to Tennessee at Love’s Field over the weekend.

The Sooners have a ‘get right’ week in front of them. No SEC play, and it begins Tuesday evening at Texas-Arlington.

What also needs to begin? Breathing a bit. Having a plan, working that plan and going out there and playing like they know how.

“I can tell you, I believe in this team. I really, really do,” said Gasso after Sunday’s 5-3 loss. “They do work and they want to be good. And what I see from that landscape is they want to be good so bad that they’re not. Does that make sense? There are players that are walking out of the dugout and going into the bathroom to take a moment because they didn’t make a play that probably couldn’t have been made by anybody else, or they strike out with the runner in scoring position and they walk away.

“And they’re very, very hard on themselves because they want to be so good. So how do I as a coach and our coaching staff relax this team and get them to understand that they are good enough and they believe that everything is wrapped around them? And I’m like, that’s a selfish attitude to take because this is a team.

“But there’s just a lot of unnecessary pressure that we’re putting (on) each player, not all of them, but enough of them that are in the lineup that they need to just stop because it’s just not working.”

The proof? Leadoff batter Abby Dayton and star sophomore Kasidi Pickering were a combined 11-for-17 with a couple of walks.

The rest of the lineup? A mere 6-for-58 with seven walks. That’s not going to get the job done against the SEC or anybody else as you get closer to postseason play.

Following the short trip south, it’s a two-day event back at Love’s. No. 3-ranked OU (31-3, 9-3) welcomes St. Thomas and Central Florida for three games in two days this weekend.

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