Spotlight Shines on Title-Winning Sooners

NORMAN -- The morning of June 7, the Oklahoma softball team was riding its school-record 31-game winning streak and was one victory away from claiming its third NCAA championship this millennium under coach Patty Gasso.

Fully utilizing a wicked combination of offense, defense and pitching, the Sooners had steamrolled their way through the postseason with a 9-0 record and had trailed only once – 1-0 for the top half of the first inning – before scoring three runs in their first at-bat against Louisiana-Lafayette in the Super Regional.

OU went 3-0 in its first-round Regional at Marita Hynes Field, outscoring Wichita State and Ole Miss by a combined 19-3 in 19 innings. The Sooners then swept ULL in the best-of-3 Super Regional in Norman to make the program's 10th Women's College World Series appearance and their fifth in the last six years.

Victories over Alabama, Michigan and LSU in the first three games of the WCWS at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City were simply a continuation of OU's wrath. The No. 3-seeded Sooners hadn't lost in more than two months. From April 29 to May 26, they had never even trailed in a game.

Running on Fumes

Through games played June 6, OU sophomore pitcher Paige Parker had overwhelmed opponents, running her overall season record to 37-3 and her postseason mark to 9-0. Parker also had been backed by the nation's No. 1 team in both batting average (.354) and fielding percentage (.985).

With the Sooners just 21 outs away from the crown, Parker understandably was running on fumes, having thrown 958 postseason pitches to that point. That June 7 morning, fresh off OU's 3-2 opening victory over Auburn in the best-of-3 championship series the night before, Gasso had a chat with her First Team All-American left-hander.

“I talked to Paige about what was left in her gas tank. 'What do you have left?' ” Gasso explained. “The night before, she said she had 50 percent in her tank, which was barely enough to win because they (the Tigers) were starting to get on her late in the game. The next morning she said, 'I have 30 percent left in my tank,' which was not enough against Auburn. We all knew that. I said, 'You know what we need to do.' Paige said, 'Yes, and I agree with what you're saying.' ”

Choosing to rest Parker in Game 2 of the best-of-3 championship series was not determined solely by the pitcher and head coach. Gasso made it a team decision by promptly discussing the matter with her staff and players.

"Paige said, 'If I can get to 90 percent, I can beat anybody,'"
— Patty Gasso

“I went in and talked to the team. The pitchers were not part of the group at this point,” Gasso said. “I told them what we were going to do, and our team was puuuumped. They were fired up and smiling and excited for our other pitchers to get a chance to make a difference in the next game.

"Then I went in and talked to the pitchers, and they were just gleaming from ear-to-ear that they were going to get this opportunity. Everybody was on-board and everybody wanted in. Our players came out and scored so fast (taking a 7-0 lead in the second inning). That was their plan. They were saying it out loud, 'We're going to come out and we're going to get on them quick. We're going to get out early and try to get our pitchers settled early,' and they did.”

Auburn responded with five runs in the bottom of the second and two more in the fourth to tie the game at 7. Gasso admitted there was still a scenario where Parker might have pitched. With the score still tied at 7, Parker headed to the bullpen and started warming up in the sixth inning.

“If we could have scored a couple runs after the 7-7 tie, we were ready (to send in Parker),” Gasso said. “We wanted her to be prepared if we scored, but if we were tied and went into extra innings, it would have completely blown the (initial) plan. It was very specific. We were very calculated in what we wanted to do. If we had to surrender this game, at least we'll have a shot the next night. But we won't have a shot at all if we keep throwing her out there with nothing left in her tank.”

The Tigers went on to win 11-7 on Emily Carosone's walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the eighth. OU freshman right-hander Jayden Chestnut replaced senior Kelsey Stevens in the second inning and wound up taking her only loss of the season (9-1). For Stevens and Chesnut, it was their first pitching appearance since May 14 against Oklahoma State.

“Jayden and Kelsey, they did their jobs,” freshman first baseman Shay Knighten said. “They did all they could do. We couldn't have asked anything better from them. We were behind them 100 percent as a team and Paige was there behind them, too. It was about allowing them to play and not worrying about 'What if Paige were here (pitching).'”

The following day, a replenished Parker said her tank was at 90 percent for the title tilt. “And Paige said, 'If I can get to 90 percent, I can beat anybody,' ” Gasso said.

And Parker did, posting a 2-1 victory over Auburn in the championship game on June 8.

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When it comes to her health, Parker said she's forthright with Gasso.

“I was pretty honest with them (coaches) at that point,” Parker said of her game-day update. “Coach and I had a conversation in the morning. I was just willing to do whatever was right for the team. It was a team decision. Kelsey and Jayden left their heart out on that field.”

This much is certain, Parker never tries to pace herself through fatigue.

“Every pitch is all-out,” she said. “Pacing yourself, I don't think you would be able to have much success doing that because of the level of the hitters that you're facing every day at the World Series. It was just all-out every pitch and, as much as I could, not letting fatigue cross my mind during the game.”

The Naivety of Youth

Parker's exhaustion could not prevent the Sooners from getting fitted for their third championship ring. Nor could back-to-back losses that began their season, nor could an 8-4 overall start, nor could having a roster overwhelmed with eight freshmen.

“I wasn't too worried after that (slow start) because obviously we had some new faces on the team,” Parker said. “We just needed to settle down and find out who we are as a team. I think we started to do that toward the middle of the season. Even at the beginning of the season I knew this team was something special just because of our team dynamic, our team chemistry, just because of how we got along. We kind of needed to get our feet wet at the beginning of the year. Once we did that, it was go time and we really hit our stride. All cylinders started to click.”

Mother Nature was another obstacle that potentially could have stalled OU's momentum entering the WCWS. After playing the first 1½ innings, a rain delay postponed the Sooners' opening-round game against Alabama for roughly 24 hours, but OU responded with a 3-0 victory thanks to Knighten's walk-off 3-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning that shoved the Sooners into the winner's bracket.

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Knighten said staying focused was the key to her enduring what could have been a stressful delay.

“I wasn't going to look at my surroundings until it was over,” she explained of her final at-bat. “It was to try and help me settle in, not to think too big. Try to think of it as any other game like I normally would. Because we were able to get that first inning and a half in (the day before), it probably helped us relax more. We weren't pressing as much once we knew the rains were coming. Just figured it out from there.”

Asked for the best way to pass the time during a rain delay, Knighten said, “For us, it's just listening to music, laughing, playing jokes. We don't really try to do too much. Just spend time with each other in the last few moments of the season we have together.”

Parker said the rain delay, “didn't really matter much to us. We stayed loose during the break. Once they ended up calling the game, we were like, 'OK, we'll come back out tomorrow, come out strong and not worry too much about that inning and a half. We hung out in the workroom underneath. We played some games. We had fun with each other.”

After stumbling out of the gate to begin the season, the Sooners closed with remarkable consistency. Gasso said one constant was key.

"I truly felt our defense won us this championship. We were so solid. Never rattled. Never pushed. Never pressed."
— Patty Gasso

“The defense was something spectacular,” she explained. “You hear football coaches all the time say defense wins championships. Well in our sport, pitching wins championships. I truly felt our defense won us this championship. We were so solid. Never rattled. Never pushed. Never pressed. The defense was so solid and the offense just executed everything I asked. They always found a way.”

Four rookies wound up being key everyday contributors in Knighten, second baseman Caleigh Clifton, third baseman Sydney Romero and designated player Fale Aviu.

“That's what's great about young players. They're unpredictable and they stayed in that mindset of just getting better,” said first-year assistant coach JT Gasso, Patty's son who previously served as an OU graduate assistant from 2012-13.

Parker gave props to the senior class for serving as a welcoming committee for the newcomers.

“They're all incredible athletes,” Parker said of the freshmen. “They really came into their own even before this season started. The seniors did such a great job of welcoming them on to the team. I think they felt free to play like they knew how to play. They did such a fantastic job of coming into their own and not being too freaked out or anything like that. I'm just so proud of our freshmen and how they came in this year. They didn't play as freshmen.”

Knighten, who beat Alabama in both meetings this season with walk-off home runs, led the Sooners in hitting (.397), slugging percentage (.670), home runs (13), RBI (62) and was selected as a Second Team All-American at-large player. A product of Sunny Hills High School in Buena Park, Calif., Knighten said she felt comfortable from the start.

“I remember that vividly,” Knighten said of the seniors' unselfishness. “They said, 'We know there's eight of you guys and we're not going to treat you any differently. You're on our team for a reason. You belong here just like we all belong here.'

"They didn't want us to feel the pressure of freshmen needing to step up. They knew it would take some time for us to get adjusted. If you're not sure of something, ask. It was a feeling of 'don't let what's going on around you keep you from playing the game you all love and have played your whole life.' To us, age doesn't matter. It's about playing a sport we're passionate about. A lot of us went over to their house just to hang out. Anything they could do to make us feel more comfortable, they did.”

Stepping into the Spotlight

Last season ended prematurely for the powerful Sooners with back-to-back losses at the Alabama Super Regional. Then came the departure of the most prolific home-run duo in Division I history in Lauren Chamberlain (an NCAA record 95 career home runs) and Shelby Pendley (84). Attempting to replace all that power and might with a slew of first-year teenagers didn't exactly spawn national title aspirations for 2016.

“We weren't like, 'Hey, national championship. Here we come,'” JT Gasso said of the team's preseason attitude. “It was more like, 'Hey, every game we play, we're going to fight. We're going to battle. We're going to compete. We're going to find ways to win.' It just so happened we did that 31 straight times into the championship series. The idea of getting better every day, the girls totally gravitated toward it.”

"The idea of getting better every day, the girls totally gravitated toward it."
— JT Gasso

The previous generation of OU teams hammered opponents into submission with the long ball. Not this year's team, which ranked 29th nationally in home runs per game.

“I knew I had to come in with something different,” Patty Gasso said of her team's new offensive approach. “I kind of presented it to the team. The coaching staff knew pretty much what it wanted to do. Not only was the team new, but so was the coaching staff (with the additions of JT Gasso, volunteer assistant Andrea Gasso and graduate assistant Jackie Bishop).

"It was creating a different culture to really buy in and kind of start over. We know the tradition in this program, but this was a new beginning in many ways. Our offense was going to have to change in the direction of more contact and an attacking style of hitting. I was calling two-strike, two-out, bases-loaded squeeze plays with everyone asking, 'What are you doing?' When you go into a tournament like that, my attitude was, 'You know what, let's just go for it.' ”

The players quickly embraced this kamikaze plan of attack. Some Sooners even joked they didn't know exactly what to expect from their Mad Scientist head coach.

“It's fun,” said the immensely talented Knighten. “Going back to the basics of softball – sacrifice bunting, sacrifice flies, hit-by-pitches, taking those walks, ground ball to the right side to move the runner – I think the basics of softball are so much fun to watch and for us it's fun to be a part of. We're always going to try to do something. And if it doesn't work out, we know we have the whole lineup to try to figure it out. Coach makes it a game within a game for us. We're all so competitive, we want to win each challenge that's given to us.”

OU played four different teams the first four days of the WCWS and then closed out with two more championship series games against Auburn. In the end, four different scouting reports had evolved into one.

“For me, a variety is fun,” Knighten said of playing a different team every outing. “It's a challenge each and every day. You face pitchers who have different things. That's the fun of the game, if you face more than one pitcher. If you get a different look, I think it betters you as a hitter because you're not sure what's coming. You've really got to think what's coming next rather than knowing what's coming.”

This year's Sooners became champions, despite a dozen players being either freshmen or sophomores. Needless to say, there will be championship pressure for an encore next season, and the next, and the next.

“I don't know if we understand what mess we just got ourselves into because all eyes are going to be on the Sooners next year, I'm assuming,” Gasso said with a laugh. “We've got to approach it the right way. But no one has even mentioned next year since we won because they're still on Cloud Nine. The freshmen working our camps right now are all laughing and having a good time – although they're tired. They're still tired.”

But just like Parker, they're not too tired to win.