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May 24, 2023

What have Patty Gasso and the Sooners learned en route to their fourth straight WCWS championship series appearance?

Oklahoma players watch Tiare Jennings (23) bat in the ninth inning against

Oklahoma players watch Tiare Jennings (23) bat in the ninth inning against Stanford in the Women's College World Series on Monday.

Grace Lyons, an unquestioned fifth-year leader, has relished sitting at the helm for a team much different from OU's previous national champions.

Oklahoma's Haley Lee reacts during a news conference on May 31.

OKLAHOMA CITY — It was all of 18 weeks ago that Oklahoma began its 2023 season in Irvine, California. Sooners coach Patty Gasso can still tell you how she felt at the end of the Mark Campbell Invitational.

OU went 5-0 on the opening weekend of Gasso's 29th campaign in charge. Against a slate featuring Duke, Liberty, San Jose State and eventual Womens’ College World Series qualifiers Stanford and Washington, the Sooners outscored their opponents 29-5. Two of the wins came via run-rule; three saw OU pitching toss a shutout.

On paper? A perfect start to a new season. Gasso left unsatisfied.

"We won. We played okay," Gasso explained Tuesday ahead of the 2023 WCWS championship series.

"But the groove was different because we had always been playing against each other (in the fall) and now we’re all in one dugout and it's just different. Like I guess we should have practiced all being in one dugout and what it felt like.

"It was not what I expected…We were close to being ready. But we weren't — I would say on our first weekend — completely ready."

Nearly four full months on, OU (59-1) returns to the best-of-three championship series Wednesday night (7 p.m., ESPN) to face No. 3-seed Florida State vying for another national title and chasing yet another piece of history.

From the opening weekend to the second week of June, what's something Gasso learned on the Sooners’ path to their fourth consecutive trip to the championship series at Oklahoma City's USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium?

"You just need time to allow these upperclassmen to lead them in a way they know this whole championship mindset process is supposed to look like," she said.

Following Monday's extra innings win over Stanford, top-seeded OU collides with the Seminoles as winners of 51 consecutive games dating to a Feb. 24 victory over Cal State Fullerton.

The Sooners’ active win streak — the longest in Division I college softball history — includes OU's 5-4 victory over Florida State (58-9) on March 14 in Norman, the lone previous matchup between the programs this spring.

Chasing the seventh WCWS title in school history, OU could notch another bit of NCAA history this week. If the Sooners claim their third consecutive national title, they’ll join UCLA (1988-90) as the only other program in the history of the sport to win back-to-back-to-back national championships.

Gasso says this latest run to the WCWS in 2023 tested her ability to mesh a cast of newcomers into what has become a perennial college softball powerhouse at OU.

Among some of her most experienced Sooners, a group for whom annual trips to the championship series have become habit, the spring has delivered other learning lessons.

Take captain shortstop Grace Lyons, for instance. OU's unquestioned, fifth-year leader has relished sitting at the helm within a team much different from the ones that guided the Sooners to their national championships in 2021 and 2022.

"I think it's been cool to embrace so many different personalities," Lyons said. "I don't think I’ve ever been on a team where there's so many unique people. Everyone is so different but we all jell some way or the other. I think that has made it so much fun."

Haley Lee, the power-hitting, tattoo-sporting, motorcycle-riding transfer from Texas A&M, represents one of those "different personalities."

Last week, Gasso noted those traits among her initial reservations as she recruited Lee out of the transfer portal. Sixty games and 14 home runs later, Lee is a central member of Gasso's latest steamrolling team.

"We may not be hitting as many home runs as last year and stuff like that but we are making memories," Lyons said. "We are jelling as a team. That's what makes this season super unique and something I’ll never forget for my last season of just how we were able to jell so many different people together."

For junior outfielder Jayda Coleman, 2023 has underscored the value of togetherness.

"I think we really needed to learn that it was us versus everyone," she said. "The only people that know what we go through is the 19 girls that are right next to me.

"The struggles we go through," Coleman continued. "We compete against each other all fall fighting for a spot, and even through the spring we’re still fighting for a spot. Sometimes it gets really competitive between us players and just to understand that it is us 20 going against other teams. It's not us trying to go against each other. If you have that going against each other, you’re not going to be successful."

And for third-year third baseman Alyssa Brito?

"One thing about this season that I’ve really noticed is how much joy we have as a team," Brito explained. "This is honestly the most fun I’ve ever had."

Thinking back on the joy of this 2023 season, Brito's mind jumped — of all places — to playing beach volleyball in California on the opening weekend of the season as the Sooners carved a 5-0 start.

Four months later, OU is back in the championship series, smiling its way toward the potential reality of a fifth national title since 2016.

"When we get here on the field in the biggest stage it's just like it's a party and we’re just having so much fun together," Brito said. "I think that's where our joy comes from. You see that in all the big smiles we have on the field and just how much we love up on each other."

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No. 1 Oklahoma vs No. 3 Florida State - USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, Oklahoma City

Wednesday, June 7

7 p.m., ESPN

Thursday, June 8

6:30 p.m., ESPN

Friday, June 9 (if necessary )

7 p.m., ESPN

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Tulsa World Sports Writer

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