‘Greatest Show on Dirt’
Women’s College World Series has a bit of everything
OKLAHOMA CITY — They call it “The Greatest Show on Dirt.”
But the Women’s College World Series could be the greatest love-in of all sports.
There is unbridled joy on the field and top-notch performances from amazing softball players.
The Oklahoma team, which three-peated as NCAA champion, celebrates every detail. Players treat walks as if they are Triston Casas disciples and get a ton of heat on social media for it. The Sooners ignore the noise and just keep on winning, leading the nation in batting average, runs, and pitching. Fortyfive percent of Oklahoma’s runs come from homers.
In the dugout, teams have stuffed animals, rally caps, and pompoms. Tennessee players shower teammates with fake money when they smack a home run. College dugouts have the best collection of candy and snacks. Unlike the pros, there is no chewing tobacco, no sunflower seeds, and no spitting. Players chant, ponytails sway, and some players wear lots of makeup. Everyone’s hair is perfect and no one gives up.
For many of the athletes, these will be their last college games. Win, and there is a collective joy. Lose, and tears fall as if from the swollen clouds that cause ominous lightning delays. You won’t see more hugs anywhere.
Some of the windmill pitching is unhittable. The pitching circle is just 43 feet away from home plate, about half the distance from home to first in major league baseball.
Pitchers throw between 65 and 70 miles per hour, which is the equivalent of 92-100 on a big league baseball diamond. That gives hitters less than a half-second to react.
Oklahoma’s Patty Gasso leads active coaches in victories, and her team won its last 53 games in a row.
In the final series, Oklahoma swept Florida State to give Gasso her seventh national championship. The secret to success, she says, is to make it fun. Moments before the first game of the final, she danced in the dugout with her team.
“If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t be doing it for this long,” says Gasso, who has coached Oklahoma for 28 years. “So it definitely is fun.”
She is a natural leader, one who has fought for women’s equality and higher pay, but she doesn’t pontificate to her players.
“I let them be them,” says Gasso. “Yeah, they have a good time. They’re a very diverse group, but they’ve done a good job of embracing each other’s personalities and diversities and turning it into one. It’s been really amazing to watch that.”
At the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium where the Women’s College World Series was held, softball fans make a pilgrimage annually to celebrate the game. There’s a Fan Fest and a party atmosphere.
This year’s 12,290 average attendance per session was the highest in WCWS history, according to the NCAA. Last year, more viewers tuned in to the Women’s College World Series final game than to the baseball final.
Downtown at Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse, almost all of the widescreen TVs are tuned to the Women’s College World Series. Only one had the Arizona-TCU baseball regional clash.
“It’s just more entertaining,” says the bartender, who identified himself as anonymous.
Across the street, the Triple A Oklahoma City Dodgers draw 7,730 fans for a game against the Reno Aces on fireworks night at Bricktown Ballpark.
Veteran photographer Donald Schaeffer has been capturing women’s softball for years. He says it’s a better vibe than baseball.
“It makes you feel alive,” he says. “You connect to the jube [jubilation], you connect to the heartbreak. You connect to the coaches and it’s kind of all Americana. You see the little girls with the softballs leaning over the wall and they look up to their heroes. You feel alive, and it centers you, grounds you, and makes you feel human.”
The players also are grateful. Montana Fouts, a four-time All-American pitcher from Alabama, penned a “Dear Softball” letter and read it on social media:
“You have blessed me with sisters who I would die for and who I will have forever . . . You have allowed me to find a place where I can inspire others. That no matter where they come from, that they can do whatever they dream of and more.”
Dreams do come true at the WCWS. A dozen years ago, Stanford’s Sydney Steele was just a little girl cheering on her sister Haley, who played for Arizona State. She had a homemade sign in the stands that read, “Haley — That’s my Sissy!” To her sheer delight, Haley went deep.
Now playing for Stanford in an elimination game, Haley Steele was in the stands holding a nearly identical sign: “Sydney — That’s my Sissy!”
Sydney broke a 0-0 tie with an RBI double. Before her last at-bat, she peered into the crowd and found her family.
“I always like looking at them, taking deep breaths, knowing that they’re there believing in me, knowing that my teammates are there believing in me,” she says. “I just believed in myself.”
She launched a home run in the seventh inning to beat Alabama, 2-0.
She was beaming after the game.
“That’s absolutely insane to think about,” she says. “I was here back then and it’s always been my dream to come back here and play in front of her.”
Carol Bruggeman, executive director of the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association, says softball is universal.
“You can be 6 foot 4 and tall and lean, and there’s a place for you,” she says. “And you can be 4 foot 10 and maybe not the fastest runner on the field, and there’s a place for you.”
Hadley Smith, 13, made the journey from Union City, Tenn., with her softball team.
Smith has already been tutored by Keilani Ricketts, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013. Women’s pro softball leagues have struggled, but there is hope.
This week, Ricketts joins the Oklahoma City Sparks to play in the new Women’s Professional Fastpitch league.
The future looks bright, says Smith, as she enjoys the Fan Fest and the World Series hoopla.
“This really helps build our confidence,” she says, smiling.