OU Softball: Oklahoma Bringing 'Underdog' Mentality to First SEC Tournament

To open up the week in Athens, GA, Oklahoma will take on one of the teams it didn’t see in the regular season. 

LSU, the tournament’s 9-seed, beat 8-seeded Mississippi State on Wednesday, setting up a matchup with the top-seeded Sooners at 10 a.m. on Thursday (SEC Network). 

The Tigers (41-13, 12-12 SEC) are led by pitcher Sydney Berzon, and are featuring stars at the plate in Tori Edwards and Sierra Daniel, as well as former Sooner second baseman Avery Hodge. 

Oklahoma (43-7, 17-7) will need a strong start in the circle to get the tournament started off on the right foot, but behind Sam Landry, it’s unclear what the Sooners will get game-to-game. 

Kierston Deal, Isabella Smith and Audrey Lowry have both experienced ups and downs through SEC play, which leaves plenty of uncertainty in who will get the call to start as the Sooners begin postseason play. 

“I’ll tell you,” Gasso said, “we were voting for SEC all conference teams, and you're looking at just all the pitchers up and down the line of all the teams, and just everybody's struggling in their own ways, different programs. They have the stuff. Can they get their feet grounded? Can they exhale? Can they leave all the ugly feelings and doubt and all the things that are going on internally aside and go after it? 

“… So you can't fault (our pitches) for wanting to be so good, but we're on a different track than we were with this team the last four years. They're different. They're made different. They do things different. They're still learning to this day. So we're learning how to exhale and just play with freedom. And some of them are just so locked into the name across their chest and wanting to make the fans happy, make the school happy, make the program happy, but it's not what we're doing it for, really.”

The offense has often steadied things for the entire team this season. 

Kasidi Pickering, Nelly McEnroe-Marinas, Gabbie Garcia and others have been excellent, surging at different times, but lately it’s been Ella Parker who has lived on base. 

She went 8-for-12 at the plate in three games against Florida with four RBIs and a walk after tormenting Texas two weekends ago. 

The recent success at the plate for Parker has been huge, especially after she’s battled an ongoing leg injury throughout conference play. 

“You can watch her swing and tell when it's her swing and when it isn't, and her swing is back,” Gasso said. “It definitely is. So I think that brings a lot of comfort to this team, because we need her back lineup so she's been swinging well.”

Parker will look to continue her run of form as Oklahoma takes the field in its first-ever SEC Tournament game on Thursday, and Gasso wants a bright start to win a trophy the program has yet to claim. 

“We're going there to win,” Gasso said. “We're trying to walk away with another trophy. That's kind of our mentality, but with an underdog tone to it.”