Oklahoma ‘Getting Gritty’ After SEC Tournament Loss

NORMAN — Oklahoma didn’t shy away from the disappointment of losing to Georgia in the opening game of the SEC Tournament.

The Sooners have been open about using that as motivation in the Norman Regional.

The essons continue to be apparent, as third-seeded Oklahoma beat Kansas 9-0 in five innings Saturday at Love’s Field.

The Sooners have won their two games so far in the regional by a combined 20-0 while needed the minimum of eight at-bats.

“Georgia, did not feel good about that loss,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “But it really inspired us to be better and change.

“So coming back to Norman, really, really working hard on the field. Really holding players kind of accountable, saying, ‘Do it again, do it again.’ They’re holding each other accountable, saying, ‘Do it again.’ And the goal here is to start peaking, and I believe this is the best run show that I’ve seen from this team thus far. So I think we are going in that direction.”

The Sooners will look to continue their run when they take on Binghamton, Kansas or Michigan at 2 p.m. Sunday at Love’s Field. Oklahoma needs to win one game in potentially two chances to advance to the Super Regionals.

Against Georgia, Oklahoma scored four first-inning runs and made it 5-0 on Kai Minor‘s homer to lead off the second.

But the rest of the way, the Sooners managed just two hits.

While Gasso was plenty happy with the three second-inning runs Saturday that came on home runs by Kasidi Pickering and Isabela Emerling, she was happier about the way the six-run fourth unfolded.

“I love home runs. Everybody loves home runs, but I love watching our team run the bases,” Gasso said. “It’s fun to put them in motion sometimes. It was good heads-up base running. We were that all day long. We can do it all kinds of ways, as long as we swing hard.”

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

The Sooners produced the runs without the benefit of a homer, getting two doubles two singles, and four walks to help push the runs across and move the game into run-rule territory.

“I think taking that loss and kind of using it as, not like dwelling on it, but just learning how to just take it and what we could do better,” Miali Guachino said when asked about the biggest change spurred by the SEC Tournament loss. “I think we’re just kind of using it as fuel, and kind of just getting gritty, I think that’s the best word. Like, at practice and everything. I think we’re just starting to get gritty now.” 

Oklahoma doesn’t figure to forget the loss to the Bulldogs anytime soon.

“Just being tougher, being more competitive, and not being denied again,” Emerling said. “Because we don’t want to feel like that again.”