Sooners excited for Bark in the Park
Oklahoma’s matchup on Wednesday against Wichita State in its annual Bark in the Park will be one of the highlights of the season for the dog-loving Sooners.
NORMAN — Holding a handful of Uno cards, Patty Gasso clicked through pictures of puppies on her computer during a family game night nearly six years ago.
Suddenly, a 2-monthold goldendoodle popped up on the Oklahoma softball coach’s screen. She knew in an instant that would be the Gasso family’s first dog.
The problem?
The dog was in California, and her name was Paulie.
“I want that dog, but I’ve got to change the name,” Gasso remembers thinking that night.
She looked down at her handful of Uno cards, and it all came together. Soon after, Una made her way to Oklahoma to join the Gasso family.
Two years later, Dos, a labradoodle, joined the clan.
Wednesday night, Una and Dos will be at Marita Hynes Field for the Bark in the Park, and they won’t be the only furry friends of the program at the game. More than half of the players and staff are dog owners — and nearly all are dog lovers.
For the Sooners, Bark in the Park is one of the highlights of the season.
“It’s my favorite,” catcher Lea Wodach said. “I really like looking in left and seeing all the golden retrievers sitting up there.”
Wodach’s 3-year-old golden retriever mix Cooper will be among the OU dogs watching the No. 2 Sooners (34-2, 9-0 Big 12) take on Wichita State (2214, 5-4 AAC).
She adopted Cooper from Second Chance Animal Sanctuary right before OU began its postseason run last year. It was hardly the ideal time to add a dog to the mix, but after pitcher Paige Parker showed Cooper’s picture to Wodach on a bus trip, the catcher knew she had to get him.
“He has like 15 aunts and godmoms and whatever,” Wodach said, pulling up her pant leg to reveal customized red socks dotted with Cooper’s face. “He’s pretty special.”
Wodach lives with senior Nicole Pendley, who also has a dog, and junior Falepolima Aviu lives next door with her dog.
The three have developed a pretty good system of helping each other out, covering for each other if they get held up at practice or have a late class.
“Maybe if I didn’t get home quick enough, they’ll take him out or take him to the dog park,” Wodach said.
Meanwhile, pitcher Paige Lowary lives by herself off campus and relies on a dogsitter to help her juggle the responsibilities of being a student-athlete and a dog mom.
Lowary has adopted two dogs since arriving at OU in 2016.
“My family is a cuckoo dog family,” she said. “We have four at our house back home. So whenever I go home for breaks, there’s a million because my brother has one, too.”
Jake, a Great Pyrenees Labrador mix, has a crooked tail, the result of a car running over it before Lowary adopted him. Charlie was abandoned four times before Lowary rescued him.
“There’s a lot of cute dogs, and I don’t like to discriminate,” Lowary said, “But I’d say that my dogs are the cutest.”
Naturally, Lowary is a big fan of Bark at the Park. She even asked if her individual senior night could fall on Bark in the Park, but because senior nights are held during the weekend, the idea was shot down.
“I really wanted them on the field with me,” she said.
Lowary’s dogs probably won’t make it on the field Wednesday night, but she’s hopeful that her dogsitter will bring them over for a little bit.
With so many dogs in the stands, Gasso always gets a little apprehensive about the unpredictable nature of the animals. But even if the night goes to the dogs, she knows it’s still one of the best events of the season.
“I get a little nervous because I don’t know, like sometimes dogs get all,” she said, laughing as she trailed off. “But it’s really cool. Everybody always looks forward to it. This is a very dog-loving team.”