Gasso feels Sooners were slighted
After a 17-1 conference regular season record and a regular season and conference tournament titles, Patty Gasso believes her team was disrespected with a No. 10 seed. She said she also expects her team to respond because of it.
With her team’s 17-1 conference regular season record and a regular season and conference tournament titles, Patty
Gasso believes her team was disrespected with a No. 10 seed — a spot that only gives the Sooners the guaranteed right to host a regional. If OU wins, it will play at No. 7 Auburn for the super regional, provided the Tigers win their regional.
“We still feel, quite honestly, a little bit, disrespected by our seeding,” Gasso said in an interview with The Franchise. “We won 28 of our last 29 games, and we’ve done everything right and they didn’t move us enough in my eyes. And for them to potentially have a super regional against two teams that played each other in the championship finals? To me, I look at it as more of a this is a good ratings super regional instead of, don’t put these two teams together, they deserve to fight to get back to the world series, but not against each other.”
OU entered the Big 12 conference tournament ranked No. 11 in the RPI. The Sooners dropped out of the top eight much earlier in the season after a series of losses to top teams in February and March.
Because teams in the Big 12 weren’t nearly as strong as teams in other conferences, Gasso’s squad wasn’t able to make up for the early season losses as easily.
“Your opportunity to gain RPI points and move yourself forward in our conference doesn’t really help us,” Gasso said in an interview with The Franchise. “The level of competition with Baylor, Texas, Iowa State, even Kansas, they all threaten you, but we’re not playing the heavy, heavy hitters. That’s why we have to depend on in early February and March and trying to find those big teams to play, and hope we play well because that’s our only chance to make things up.”
Gasso said she expects her team to respond to the seeding slight.
“We won the national championship last year,” she said. “That should give you a little bit of respect going forward, but I just don’t feel it. All it does is inspire our team, so I’m not worried about it. I know we’re going to be ready to play whether we’re No. 1, No. 10 or No. 20. I have a lot of questions. I don’t understand a lot of how this goes about.
COWGIRLS SCOUT FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
No. 2 Oklahoma State is set to face No. 3 Florida International at 11 a.m. Friday in the first round of the Gainesville, Fla., regional.
FIU (45-13, 17-6 CUSA) has already toppled one Big 12 opponent this year, beating Kansas, 4-3, in March. OSU coach Kenny
Gajewski called FIU righthanded pitcher Shannon
Saile, “a kid that doesn’t give in, I think almost would rather walk you than give up a hit.” Saile enters Friday with a 1.38 ERA.
“They’ve got some speed, a couple kids at the top of their order than can run,” Gajewski added. “Their first baseman
(Paulin Tufi) has got some power. I think she had 15 home runs.”
QUOTABLE
OSU senior right-handed pitcher Shea Coats on handling a potentially raucous environment playing in Florida: “Just stay the same and maintain what we’ve been doing. We’re going to head down a little bit early (Wednesday) and get acclimated, which I think will be good.”
Eight for OKC
The Eight for OKC was formulated a bit differently this week. While the previous installments have based the predictions on the RPI, this week’s is based on the top eight seeds in the NCAA tournament, which kicks off Thursday. 1. Florida
Conference: SEC Record: 50-6, 20-3 The Gators were upset by Ole Miss in the SEC tournament, but it didn’t do enough to knock them from the top seed or the top spot in the RPI. With just six losses all season, Florida is a heavy favorite to make it to the College World Series. 2. Arizona
Conference: Pac-12 Record: 48-7, 18-6 Arizona is ranked fifth in RPI, and it’s a bit surprising that the Wildcats earned the No. 2 overall seed with
a series loss to UCLA in the final weekend of the regular season. But Arizona has plenty of talent on its roster in Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Danielle O’Toole and Pac-12 Co-Player of the Year Katiyana Mauga. Coach Mike Candrea was also named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. 3. Oregon
Conference: Pac-12 Record: 47-6, 17-6 The Ducks are second in the RPI behind Florida and earned the right to host a regional and a super regional along with the other top-eight seeds. Oregon was nearly unbeatable at home, posting a 21-2 record in Eugene. Oregon enters the postseason as a hot team, finishing the season with a 10-game win streak. 4. Florida State
Conference: ACC Record: 51-6-1, 24-0 ACC Fresh off its fourth consecutive ACC Tournament championship against North Carolina, the Seminoles earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament, despite a seventh-place standing in the RPI. Junior Jessica Warren was named the ACC Player of the Year while Jessica Burroughs was tabbed the ACC Pitcher of the Year and coach Lonni Alameda earned ACC Coach of the Year. 5. UCLA
Conference: Pac-12 Record: 42-13, 16-8 The Bruins were helped in seeding thanks to a series win against Arizona and a sweep of Arizona State in the final weekends of the regular season. Senior Delaney Spaulding and Freshman Rachel Garcia
earned Pac-12 weekly awards for their performance against Arizona State. Spaulding had eight hits in 12 at bats while Garcia went 5-for-11 at the plate with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. She also pitched two complete games with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings. 6. Washington
Conference: Pac-12 Record: 43-11, 16-8 The Huskies earned the No. 6 seed overall, despite a No. 4 spot in the RPI. While no Washington player earned individual Pac-12 honors, four were named to All-Pac 12 teams including Ali Aguilar, who was named to the All-Pac 12 First Team and All-Defensive Team. Taran Alvelo was also named to the first team. 7. Auburn
Conference: SEC Record: 46-10, 17-7 The Tigers enter their regional with the top pitcher in the SEC: Kaylee Carson. The junior has 26 wins and a 1.14 ERA. Behind Carson is an equally stout pitcher in sophomore Makayla Martin, who holds an 18-5 record and a 1.99 ERA. To make it to Oklahoma City, Auburn has to make it through Oklahoma, and that’s no easy task. 8. Tennessee
Conference: SEC Record: 44-10, 16-7 Despite a quarterfinal loss in the SEC tournament to LSU, the Lady Volunteers nabbed the final top-eight seed spot in the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee isn’t necessarily one of the hot names going into the tournament, losing five of its last eight games. BY BROOKE PRYOR AND
KYLE FREDRICKSON