Leave it to Patty Gasso to put the proper perspective on the shocking end of an unprecedented winning streak.
“I think they were embarrassed a little bit by Sunday,” Gasso said, “because they knew that they underachieved.
“And I do not have any worries.”
At her weekly press conference Tuesday at Marita Hynes Field, Gasso clearly expressed that both things can be true.
No. 1-ranked Oklahoma’s unsteady defense, shaky pitching, staid batting and sloppy base running culminated in a 7-5 loss to Louisiana — a team that came to Love’s Field last week with a losing record this season — and left the Sooners “embarrassed.”
A team loaded with seniors who have won three straight national championships and orchestrated the bulk of a 71-game winning streak were “embarrassed” they got caught napping on the bases or couldn’t pick up a routine grounder or catch a short throw or move baserunners in key moments.
The standards at Oklahoma are appropriately lofty. Playing at a high level is why those players came to OU. Playing fundamentally good softball and being consistent is the key to achieving that standard.
But Gasso is unconcerned about the level of play on Sunday — or even elsewhere in the season, when subpar play might have been papered over by winning. Mistakes were made — and will be corrected, she said.
“I’m not at home going, ‘What are we gonna do?’ ” Gasso said. “We had a bad game. We had a bad game at the World Series one year — I think we had five errors in one inning — and ended up winning a national championship. So I’m not panicking about one thing. We’re fine. We’re athletic. We know what it takes.”
Oklahoma will look to bounce back immediately this week, first with a Wednesday night home game against Texas A&M-Commerce, then with a weekend series against Iowa State.
That’s right, Big 12 Conference play opens this weekend. There’s no time to feel morose over the end of a winning streak. There’s no time for a forensic breakdown into what happened Sunday. There are games — conference games — to be played, and there is either winning or losing.
“Commerce is a new program with new coaches, and they’re trying to get themselves up and running,” Gasso said. “So we are not gonna worry about how good they are. We’re gonna worry about what we need to do to be better. So that’s the focus tomorrow night.
“Iowa State always gives us fits. … It’s the start of our last Big 12 Conference play. I know these guys will be fired up for that. So we’ll have a battle this weekend, no question.”
OU is now 18-1 on the season and is still ranked No. 1 in two of the four major college softball polls.
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