HAMMERED

Homer, tater, dinger, blast, big fly, round tripper, yard work, jack, long ball, whatever term you choose to describe a home run, the 2021 Sooner Softball team gave you ample opportunities to use it. The Sooners started hot with the four base hit and have not looked back, setting a single season record for home runs by a Sooner softball team.

In setting a new mark for home runs by a team and home runs in an inning, the Sooners set the standard for offense in college softball and clinched its 9th straight Big 12 Championship in the process.

Even with names like Lauren Chamberlain, Shelby Pendley and Jessica Shults, there has not been a Sooner team that has come close to doing with the 2021 team has accomplished offensively.

Has there been a different approach? Has something changed? Or, is it simply that this team is just that good?

“One of the things we really focused on the last couple of years is a holistic approach, mentally, physically, technically… through all aspects of the game,” said Sooner Hitting Coach JT Gasso. “You’ll hear hitters say they just want to hit the ball hard and when you hit the ball hard good things happen… but then there is more behind that with bat path and pitch coming in … this team has done a good job of embracing their overall development and understanding what they can do and how to fix things.

“You must know how to fix yourself when your cars check engine light comes on. At the end of the day, I may see things, but they are feeling it. They’re doing a really good job of understanding themselves and putting a clear-cut goal into what they are trying to do.”

OU set an incredible tone to start the season as the Sooners set an NCAA single-game home run record with 13 in the season opener versus UTEP, a 29-0 (5 inn.) run-rule victory. The team tied the NCAA record for homers in an inning with five in the first and fifth innings of the game. The home runs never slowed down and, in fact, reached historic levels.

The Sooners broke the program record for home runs in a season, hitting 120 home runs in the regular season, surpassing the 2019 team’s 115 home runs in 23 fewer games. Oklahoma proceeded to kick off the postseason with 10 home runs in three games of the Big 12 Tournament fueled by Tournament MVP Kinzie Hansen. She hit five of those 10 home runs.

While Hansen stole the show during the Big 12 Tournament, the lasting story this season when talking about the long ball has been senior Jocelyn Alo. The Big 12 Player of the Year will have another year of eligibility to continue to chase the career NCAA home run record of 95 that 2015 OU grad Lauren Chamberlain set during her time at Oklahoma. Alo entered the postseason just 14 home runs behind Chamberlain’s record and was the nation’s leading home run hitter during the regular season.

“What we’ve seen is how smart she is and how into the game she truly is. It’s been fun,” JT Gasso said. “I keep telling our hitters it’s fun to hear the conversations about the game and

who they are facing and what they are going to do. She’s speaking her things into existence where she sees what she misses in one at bat and be right on cue with her next at-bat before it happens. The maturity factor is there, and it’s been fun to see her grown.”

Alo was recently featured in our cover story for Boyd Street and has continued to stay locked in and motivated by competition.

“Seeing the level of competition go up honestly, I knew we had a good freshman class coming in and, to be honest, I wasn’t going to let a freshman or anyone take my spot,” Alo said. “I feel like I’ve upped my game and I’m super locked into what I’m doing. I wanted to be locked in even more than I’ve ever been, and I feel like that’s where I am.”

Erin Miller won two National Championships as a player and was the captain of the 2016 title-winning team. The current ESPN analyst has been impressed with what she has seen from a leadership and growth perspective from Alo.

“I have been witness to her evolution and journey within a Sooner uniform,” Miller said. “I had a lot of one-on-ones with her about leadership and how to own a senior season. This is an athlete that took the reins and ran with it. She understood the stage and the moment. She set the tone. She has been crushing it in the weight room, she got fit, her mentality is in the right place, and she’s pulling the rope for this squad.

“Can you imagine learning from her? Tiare Jennings is a sponge to one of the greatest hitters in college softball.”

Jennings has provided the power for an electric Sooner Freshman class. The freshman from San Pedro, California is among the leading home run hitters in the country and has found herself in the mix for not just the Freshman of the Year in college softball but also the National player of the Year.

In addition to learning how to be solid on the field and in the batter’s box from Jocelyn Alo, Jennings has learned how to lead.

“I have known her since 8th grade,” Jennings said of Alo. “Being on the same field with her is amazing. She is a straight queen on and off the field. Her mentality, her confidence is everything I strive to be. We talk every day, and she gives me the confidence she has and puts that in me. We’re super close on and off the field and she is an amazing person. I hope I can follow in those footsteps and be just like her.”

Jennings has not been the only freshman making an impact for the Sooners in 2021. Jayda Coleman has found herself making highlight-reel plays and leads the team in both stolen bases and walks. It is no surprise to JT Gasso to see the Sooner newcomers making an impact early.

“One of the things that we knew coming in was that every person on the roster is a gamer,” he said. “They would do what they need to do to win a game. They didn’t seem like

they were fazed by anything. Maybe that’s something they needed to put in their tool bag for their careers to be in moments like that.”

“It’s been a dream. These girls are the best in the country,” Jennings added. “The environment of competition every day pushes me to be my best. I didn’t expect to have this much success early but having my teammates have my back has brought out the best in me.”

The offensive numbers for the Sooners are staggering. The more you look at them, the more you digest what they have done, the more impressive they are.

The 2021 Oklahoma Softball team has set the program record for most run-rule victories in a season with 31, surpassing the 2019 and 2013 teams’ 25. Heading into the postseason, the team currently holds the single-season program record for runs scored (498), batting average (.420), on-base percentage (.507) and slugging (.799).

OU averaged 2.73 home runs per game and hit 30 more home runs in two fewer games than the team that finished the regular season second in home runs on the season.

“Competition every day… trying to stay in the lineup every day,” is what Coach Patty Gasso believes has fueled the Sooner power surge.

“Our strength coach (Dane Somers) and hitting coach (JT Gasso) and good, smart athletes that share information with each other, that really helps them learn and feel confident. There is just a lot of confidence on this team.”

The top two single-season home run totals in OU Softball history were engineered through the guidance of sixth-year hitting coach JT Gasso. While he is the last one to take any credit for the accomplishments of his hitters, his approach and focus is unmatched.

“JT is an unsung hero,” Erin Miller said. “His first year was my senior year… I think back to his first season and how passionate he was about hitting then and every time I talk to Coach Gasso she mentions how impressed she is with his evolution since 2016.

“The offensive powerhouse comes at the hands of JT Gasso. He is an expert. He’s scientific but simplifies the science behind it. He is cognizant of recovery, training and getting their body ready. He is the hottest commodity in college softball right now offensively.”

The season was such a success that the Sooners swept the offensive and defensive awards in the Big 12. Alo was the Big 12 Player of the Year and Jennings took home the Big 12 Freshman of the year. All totaled the Sooners placed five players on the Big 12 first team.

“When you’re working with a game that is all about averages, how do you handle when there are stretches where you’re above your average and stretches where you’re below it?” JT Gasso commented. “Think about basketball, if Steph Curry

misses ten threes in a row, he’s not going to question his existence or season up to that point, or even his career… he’s going to keep shooting. You just must stay locked in, keep grinding and stay locked into your foundations and continue to be productive in different ways.”

As a team, OU has hit at least one home run in 41 of its 44 regular-season games and has hit at least two in 35 of the 44 contests. Oklahoma has hit two-plus home runs in a single inning 26 times this season, including three or more seven times and four-plus in one inning four times. The Sooners have hit back-to-back home runs 12 times in 2021 and back-to-back to-back blasts three times.

“Going out there and trusting the process and having fun… This team is so much fun there is really no pressure,” said senior captain Lynnsie Elam. “We know that if we’re not on someone else is going to be on. Trusting that process and knowing that we’ve been working hard, it’s been nice to have the consistency.”

There may not be a magic formula but the incredible season at the plate for the Sooners has been exactly what Patty Gasso laid out… a combination of competition, a solid strength coach and good old-fashioned teamwork. While the home runs garner the spotlight, setting home run records is not the goal for this team.

“I think the biggest thing is that we aren’t satisfied,” Elam said. “We weren’t playing how we would have hoped to last year. Our record was good but internally we weren’t happy. Even going off the year before we went to the World Series and it’s a bad taste in our mouth what happened in the Championship Series. We keep that reminder so that we won’t allow ourselves to have that experience again. We’re not satisfied and we’re fighting to get better every day.” – BSM

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