OU softball fan support at WCWS doesn’t bother Stanford supporters
Tatum Boyd used to get embarrassed by her mother.
Boyd was just a freshman on the Stanford softball team in 2020 when her mother, Kelly, would attend home games. The Cardinal's crowds aren't known for being the most vocal bunch, but Kelly was the exception.
The proud mother cheered Stanford on for a full seven innings, even if she got carried away from time to time.
“I embarrassed myself frequently,” Kelly said. “Tatum said, ‘ Mom, you might want to bring it down a little.'”
But Tatum isn't telling her mother to bring it down this week.
Ninth-seeded Stanford was competing in the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2004. And while USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium is technically a neutral venue, there's no confusion about which team has home field advantage.
That would be top-seeded OU, which beat Stanford 4-2 in nine innings in Monday's WCWS semifinals.
The Cardinals needed to defeat the Sooners twice to advance to the championship round. But they also needed all the support they can get from Kelly and the rest of their fans as they navigate enemy territory.
The Sooners' proximity to the site of the WCWS — it's about 28 miles from USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City to Marita Hynes Field in Norman — has led to some prominent voices in college softball to decry an OU advantage.
Former Michigan coach Carol Hutchins, who retired in 2022 with an NCAArecord 1,707 wins, wrote Saturday on Twitter that “Oklahoma has a 10th man on field!”
Former OU softball star Jocelyn Alo responded Sunday to the social-media talk, saying “all of the OU hate truly makes me laugh.”
UCLA legend and ESPN analyst Jen Schroeder dismissed any talk of OU getting all the breaks in the WCWS.
“OU isn't good just (because) there's 10 (thousand) fans there cheering for them,” Schroeder wrote on Twitter.
However, Stanford fans haven't seemed to mind the crush of crimson in the crowd.
“It's not intimidating,” Kelly said. “I just feel like when they tell all the fans to (cheer), we really can't compete with that. There's just not enough of us, but it is what it is.”
This year's WCWS is a full circle moment for the Boyd family.
They've had tickets to the WCWS for the past 14 years. And when Tatum was seven, she turned to her father, Darren, and told him something.
“Dad, I'm going to play on this field someday,” Tatum told her father.
Tatum wanted to be wearing a Sooners jersey when that time came.
OU was a dream school for the Plano, Texas, native, who grew up attending Patty Gasso's youth camps.
Tatum got her love for OU from her father, who is a self-proclaimed diehard fan. But when Tatum committed to Stanford in 2019, Darren switched his allegiances without any hesitation.
“She goes, ‘Dad, I'm going to Stanford,'” Darren said. “And I said, ‘Perfect. That's that.'”
Now a senior, Tatum is living out her dream of playing in the WCWS.
Her parents are there to support her every step of the way. They're seated in the first row behind Stanford's dugout. And they're not alone.
The Boyds are joined by a group of fellow Stanford fans who are eager to negate OU's home field advantage as best as they can.
“We're just trying to support the girls as best as we can by bringing a lot of positive energy and making a difference,” said Susie Vawter, the mother of Stanford pitcher Alana Vawter. “The girls say they just pretend everyone is cheering for them.”
Stanford's crowd plans to bring what it calls “Ooshka Energy” to the WCWS.
It's a term that was created by none other than Tatum, who was looking for a new rally cry during Stanford's game against Tulsa last season.
Tatum remembered a cheer she heard during her childhood that went “We've got a rally going. Ooshka. Ooshka.” Stanford ultimately earned a 1-0 win, and the Ooshka chant stuck.
The legend then grew during Stanford's next home series when Tatum brought out a pink cowgirl hat to incorporate into the chant. It had been laying around in the team locker room following a player's birthday celebration.
One year later, a large portion of Stanford's crowd at the WCWS is supporting its team while wearing pink cowboy hats.
It's a quirky tradition, but it's just one way Stanford's fans hope to separate themselves in the not-so-neutral environment.
“We can still take them,” Kelly said of OU's crowd. “I'm not worried about it.”