An extreme rarity in college softball, the Oklahoma Sooners are not competing in the Women’s College World Series, but the eight teams there are still chasing what head coach Patty Gasso built at OU.
Samatha Ricketts’ Mississippi State Bulldogs were responsible for ending the No. 3 national seed Sooners’ nine-year run of winning a Super Regional and making the WCWS down the road in Oklahoma City. As a former OU player who took down her alma mater as a head coach in a massive upset, Ricketts knows better than anyone where OU still stands in college softball despite the one-year absence.
Samantha Ricketts points out Sooners are the still the standard in college softball
“They’re the standard of college softball,” Ricketts said. “What Coach Gasso has built cannot be denied — what this program is and what she’s done. I know, for myself and the relationship to the program, I am so thankful for her and her guidance. I would not be in this seat and in this moment without Patty Gasso.”
Ricketts, a first baseman, was one of Gasso’s first stars as an OU player in 2006-09. She was a two-time Second-Team All-American, and when she graduated in 2009, she held the program records for career home runs and runs batted in. Both marks have since been shattered, though, as Gasso has produced even more talent year after year…