Patty Gasso is ‘Excited’ and ‘Rejuvenated’ to Coach Her New-Look Oklahoma Squad

NORMAN — Oklahoma softball will look different in 2025.

Patty Gasso is embracing that.

Graduating out 10 seniors, including a host of multiple-time national champions, is going to change the face of any program.

But it will be more than just new faces on the field, Gasso is excited for a group that will play a bit different this season.

“I’m really excited about what this is going to look like,” Gasso said during her preseason Media Day on Saturday. “It’s not going to be your traditional look that you’ve seen in the last four years, but it still has all the championship mindset, mentality, grind, grit, humility that is coming after.”

The Sooners are still going to have plenty of power — Ella Parker, Kasidi Pickering and Cydney Sanders are still going to be key pieces in the lineup — but Gasso added plenty of speed both in her freshman class and via the transfer portal.

Former Utah outfielder Abigale Dayton and former BYU infielder Ailana Agbayani are just two examples, as they’ll bring “chaos” to the basepaths as well as playing to Gasso’s high standards defensively.

“My soul has been somewhat rejuvenated with really starting from ground zero with a very young group,” Gasso said. “But really excited. We’ve been working hard. I think we could all say we’ve been making mistakes, but they’re valuable mistakes, so we learn from them.”

As Oklahoma hits the road, starting with contests against CSUN and San Diego State in California on Thursday, sophomores like Parker are preparing to take on a much larger leadership role.

“Just having what we had last year, and being able to be under their wing and being prepared by them,” said Parker, “it’s made it a lot smoother transition into more of a leadership role.”

Even a player like Nelly McEnroe-Marinas, who was on the team last year but had to redshirt due to an injury, will be looked upon for leadership from OU’s new faces.

“We’ve had a lot of great advice from obviously, Tiare (Jennings) and Kenzie (Hansen) and all the rest of the seniors that we had last year, so I feel like we got a good start,” she said. “But we’re still learning every day, and obviously this is a new team, so we’re still figuring out our path and where we all fit into this equation of our team.”

Some things are still familiar for this Sooners team, however.

Despite rolling into the year with five transfers and nine freshmen, Oklahoma was voted third in the SEC Preseason poll by the conferences’ coaches and OU has landed at third nationally in virtually every preseason ranking.

“I think it’s just respect for the program,” Gasso said. “Nobody knows this team, right? I’m still learning about it. We’re all still learning about each other, so just respect over the course of the years.

“And it’s an honor to feel that way, because people out there, coaches out there, just believe that we work hard and that we’ll try to get ourselves ready. So I take it as a compliment.”

Nobody in the locker room will be concerned with the rankings, though, as the team is just starting to take shape ahead of opening weekend.

“We’re getting there,” Gasso said. “… Our product that you’re going to see is not going to be perfected, but it’s going to be good, and it’s going to fight. That’s one thing I know is, these guys are not going to quit, and I felt that from the start.

“I think we’re just really excited to get started… I’m ready to take this group on the road.”