Weekend Wrap: Oklahoma Nearing Full Health With Massive Week Ahead

The Sooners will take on Oklahoma State and Alabama this week as Patty Gasso hopes her team can add to their strong postseason resume.

NORMAN — Oklahoma dodged the cold weather while still getting a pair of games in at this weekends’ Okana Invitational, which served the Sooners on two fronts.

First, OU was able to get freshman pitcher Audrey Lowry back into the circle after she missed a couple of weeks with a muscle strain.

Then, the No. 2-ranked Sooners were able to rest on Saturday and Sunday, which coach Patty Gasso felt was much-needed ahead of a busy week.

Bedlam returns on Wednesday in a one-off at Devon Park before Oklahoma returns to SEC play with a road series against Alabama this weekend.

Feeling Fresh

Gasso’s talented lefty, Lowry, got the ball on Friday in OU’s 6-0 win over UCF.

She pitched 2 1/3 innings against the Knights where she allowed no runners to reach base and she struck out three of the seven batters she faced.

The relief appearance was a confidence builder for the freshman, who is still working her way back to full health.

“I’m working on that every day,” Lowry said on Friday. “So it’s just staying consistent with all of my treatment and such.”

Lowry’s return is welcome for Oklahoma’s pitching staff.

Veteran left-hander Kierston Deal enjoyed her best start of the season in the Sooners’ Game 2 victory over Tennessee on March 29, and transfer Sam Landry has excelled throughout conference play.

Lowry’s injury came right after the South Carolina series, where she pitched a gem to seal an OU sweep, and Oklahoma will need her as it prepares to face No. 24 Alabama, No. 17 Mississippi State, No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Florida before the postseason gets underway.

“(Lowry) looked really good, really good. Very happy with that,” Gasso said. “This pitching staff needs Audrey back. I think we all feel that, so it’s not labor-some on the other arms.”

Ben Ready’s Debut

Thursday’s schedule change created a unique situation for Oklahoma.

Gasso had already agreed to speak at a banquet at Oklahoma Christian University — an engagement she did not want to back out of. So when the contest against St. Thomas got brought forward from Friday, OU associate head coach and hitting coach JT Gasso was left to lead the team for a night.

“Oklahoma Christian University has this big gala, and I was a keynote speaker, and I could not — I mean there were 500 or more people there in evening gowns,” Gasso said. “I mean, it’s another level of responsibility for me.”

Gasso had no doubt her son could step in for a night, along with associate head coach and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha and graduate assistant Tiare Jennings.

“JT has named himself ‘Ben Ready’. And so he makes sure that I know that Ben Ready is ready because he’s Ben Ready,” she said. “… JT and Jen Rocha are quite ready. Tiare can get it done. So I had to trust that.”

Oklahoma won 12-4 on Thursday, allowing JT Gasso to enjoy a moment in the locker room with the team.

“Ben Ready gave me a breakdown of the game and talked about how great the players were without me and with Ben Ready, how fun it was, and wonderful,” Patty Gasso said. “… When we go into the locker room, Ben Ready turns on music and I come in and it’s some kind of music that I like from my past so I get everybody up to kind of dance around a little bit.”

Oklahoma slugger Ella Parker said the team played the Hot Dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

“They were all dancing like characters and they got him to dance. It was like his prom night,” Gasso said.

Assuming JT Gasso buries that postgame video footage, Oklahoma won’t have to worry about Ben Ready taking charge the rest of the year, even though he soaked in the glory of his lone night at the helm of the program.

RPI Returns

The past three seasons, the Sooners haven’t had to bother much with RPI.

But this week, a focus on RPI and NCAA Tournament seeding will return for Gasso and Oklahoma.

“We head to Alabama (this weekend) and that’s going to be a very important series for us because one way to pick up RPI points is not just winning but winning on the road,” Gasso said. “And that’s hard to do, especially there.”

OU was the unquestioned top team in the country in both 2022 and 2023, and while Texas had the regular season series victory over the Sooners last year, nobody in Norman was worried about what seed the team got. Entering the postseason, all the Sooners wanted was to play their best softball to chase a fourth-straight title.

With a new team, Gasso is back to watching OU’s RPI as Oklahoma prepares to close the regular season with four ranked SEC matchups — including battles with Texas and Florida.