OU softball opens 'emotional' day at Love's Field with back-to-back wins over Miami (Ohio) and Liberty (2024)

NORMAN — Oklahoma enjoyed one of its greatest days in softball history with a Friday morning dedication of Love’s Field.

When the sun fell nearly 10 hours later, the locker room shared a collective “whew” after gaining two hard-earned victories.

OU had to rally to beat Miami (Ohio) 9-7 in the opener before gathering an 8-0 five-inning triumph over Liberty in the nightcap before a standing-room-only crowd of 4,350.

Coach Patty Gasso said during her postgame press conference that it was a “tough” day after her program extended its NCAA win streak to 69 games.

“It’s no excuse — I think (the players) would tell you that, but the expectations, the anxiety, the build-up of it all ... then we’re out and we’re going through the gathering of people and the whole ceremony ... it’s a little emotional. It was a lot. It felt like a lot of chaos,” Gasso said.

“Good chaos, but I didn’t know that we knew it would drain us that much.”

After Miami hit three consecutive seventh-inning homers to tie the game at 7, the Sooners received heroics from co-captain Kinzie Hansen. Her two-run, walk-off homer provided the winning runs.

“We were very tight in the first game; it took us a while to get going,” Gasso said. “The Lord made that game the way it was to break in the stadium. It was a thriller. Fans were in it. There was a lot of hitting, a lot of dramatics.

“We were much more ourselves in the second game, but it took us a little time to get this figured out. It was a little overwhelming.”

The Sooners (16-0) admitted they felt like guests in their new $48 million venue.

The warmup before the Miami game was the first time the team had worked out on the infield dirt. They did get a chance to visit the stadium on Thursday night, but rain had forced the tarp on the field.

Before Friday’s inaugural contest, players were checking out the walls.

“We definitely felt like we were the visiting team for a second,” said Alynah Torres, who hit a walk-off double to help the Sooners run-rule the Flames in the second contest. “We had to throw the balls against the wall and the nets to kind of feel it out, which really isn’t a home-team thing.

“Once we got comfortable, as you can see, we were just fine.”

Gasso rode an emotional wave on the eve of the opener.

The stadium has been a dream for the past two decades. And when the lights shined down on the field during the Thursday visit, it hit the OU coach pretty hard.

“I went out on the concourse where the coaches’ families sit, I wanted to see what that looked like,” she said. “And I saw Sarah (Zeinalpour), who is the head of this project, overseeing the entire project, and we’ve gone through a lot together, going through different questions, answers, picking things out — things like that.

“For the first time, when I saw her, we both kind of hugged and we both kind of cried. Because I was looking up at the lights on the stadium and it was just a ‘wow’ moment.”

Oklahoma had to rally to defeat Miami, a hard-hitting team who had five home runs against the Sooners.

The RedHawks led 3-1 after the first inning, powered by back-to-back home runs. OU couldn’t find its groove until the fourth inning.

“We kind of get in the huddle and we were like ‘Guys, this is our home advantage,’” Hansen said. “(Assistant coach) JT (Gasso) said ‘Be you.’ Like let’s be us. Be you. Be who you are. This is the same game that we’ve been playing whether it’s Reaves (Park) or Marita (Hynes) or at Love’s. It’s the same game. Once we came back to ourselves, we were just fine.”

The Sooners scored four runs in the sixth inning to take a 7-3 lead, but Miami slammed three consecutive home runs to knot the game at 7.

Hansen’s heroics ended the game.

Oklahoma was never threatened by Liberty in the second contest. Starter Kelly Maxwell only allowed two hits to improve her record to 5-0.

OU continues play with a Saturday doubleheader at Love’s Field. The Sooners will face Louisiana at 11 a.m. followed by a 1:45 contest against Liberty.

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