By Taylor Thomas
A day that has been circled on the calendar for almost three years now is finally on the horizon. As we approach March 1st, 2024, also known as the debut of the beautiful fifty million dollar facility that will be the new home of the seven time national champions, we must take a quick look back at where Patty Gasso has brought this program. Over thirty years ago now, OU Softball played their home games at Reaves Park, which sits across the street from Marita Hynes Field. As the program has reached levels of success that have never been seen before in the history of collegiate softball, we have gotten the constant reminder from Coach Gasso of where this program has come from, and how special it is to see the fruits of teams of the past labor to get where we are today now. Oklahoma Softball will debut in the new cathedral of the sport with a doubleheader this Friday at 2pm CT against Miami (OH) and 5pm CT against Liberty before rounding out the weekend on Saturday against RV Louisiana-Lafayette, Liberty, and Sunday back against the Ragin’ Cajuns as they look to extend their historic sixty-seven game win streak.
Friday-
Oklahoma will unveil their new stadium with a matchup against the RedHawks of Miami (OH) on Friday at 2pm CT. The RedHawks are coming off of a strong showing last season as they lost to Northwestern in the Lexington Regional Championship. In 2024, they return some experience and are coming into Norman with a 9-2 record to start the season, one of those losses being to the No. 8 Clemson Tigers. Miami (OH) is led by reigning MAC Player Of The Year Jenna Golembiewski, who leads the team in the major offensive categories in 2024 with a .417 average to go along with 6 home runs. It’s no secret that the RedHawks will be led by their offense again this season as they graduated most of the pitching staff from the year prior. They are led in the circle by Illinois transfer Addy Jarvis, who comes in with a 3.20 ERA in 35 innings on the young season. While Jarvis does have a lot of experience in a conference like the Big 10, look for the Sooners to attack early on in this matchup and work to get into the bullpen early in Game 1.
In the second matchup on Friday, the Liberty Flames will come to town, who like Miami (OH), lost in the UCLA Regional Championship last season to San Diego State and look to improve in 2024. This will be one of two matchups between the two teams this weekend as the Sooners will take on Liberty on Saturday as well. Some might be familiar with the defending ASUN Conference Champions, as current Sooner Karlie Keeney pitched against her future team in a 1-0 OU victory last season at the Mark Campbell Invitational. Keeney made the move in the transfer portal to Norman and has been lights out to start her OU career. While Keeney has moved on, the Flames still have a stellar pitching staff, led by North Alabama transfer Elena Escobar who comes in with a 0.86 ERA and 33 K’s across 32.2 innings pitched on the year. Escobar has some of the best overall numbers that the Sooners will face this season, and should be the biggest test so far for both the OU lineup and Escobar. On the offensive side, the Flames are led by junior Rachel Roupe who comes into Norman with a .450 average and 4 home runs. Roupe was a first team ASUN selection last year and has gotten off to another red hot start as she enters her third season with the Flames. With the multitude of arms that are on the OU pitching staff, it will be interesting to see if Keeney faces her former team in some capacity over their two matchups this weekend.
Saturday-
Oklahoma will have another doubleheader on Saturday that begins with a mid-major powerhouse in Louisiana-Lafayette, who is receiving votes in the most recent Top 25 poll. 2023 brought a tremendous amount of success for the program as they finished last year with a 50-18 record before falling in the Super Regional to No. 5 Washington. Despite a 8-9 record to start the season, the Ragin’ Cajuns have scheduled tough yet again and are coming off of an 0-4 weekend against both No. 2 Texas and No. 12 Stanford, while picking up a win earlier in the season on the road against No. 22 Baylor. They are led in the lineup by the dynamic sophomore outfielder Mihyia Davis, who comes in with a .395 average to start the season. As a freshman last year, Davis led the country with fifty-two stolen bases and was a first team Freshman All-American. Maddie Hayden has been another big bat in the lineup also, leading the team with a .415 average and 6 doubles already this season. Sam Landry returns in the circle for ULL, coming off of a phenomenal season last year where she led the team with 150 strikeouts. Landry has been great in the circle again, as she comes in with a 2.42 ERA in 46.1 innings pitched so far on the year. With a successful program like Louisiana-Lafayette, the Sooners will need to come out sharp again on Saturday morning in order to avoid the upset.
Opening up Love’s Field finally this weekend is going to be an incredible scene over the three days of softball, especially with the postseason success of the opponents that will take on Oklahoma in each of their five games. Obviously, playing a team like the Sooners presents its own challenges. This weekend however, that challenge is even bigger for the opponents, but also for Oklahoma themselves. For the players, taking in the scenery and the excitement that will be present on each pitch is something that can definitely be overwhelming. With a leader like Patty Gasso, who has been emotional when talking about the new stadium in the days leading up to it, we can once again expect her team to remain focused on the task at hand like they have each day during this historic stretch of success over the last decade.
You can catch all of the action all weekend long on ESPN+ as Oklahoma embarks on a new era of softball in the palace that is Love’s Field
(all times CT):
Friday-
Miami (OH) 2pm
Liberty 5pm
Saturday-
Louisiana-Lafayette 11am
Liberty 1:45pm
Sunday-
Louisiana-Lafayette 12:30pm
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