Published: March 24, 2008 10:39 pm            

Sooners not backing down from Team USA

OKLAHOMA CITY — Tuesday the Oklahoma softball team gets a rare opportunity to take on the world’s best.

The Sooners will be the American national team’s 16th opponent on their Bound 4 Beijing tour at 6:30 p.m. at Don E. Porter ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

So far, only one team has even been able to score on Team USA - Cal State Fullerton, which lost 9-3 when the two teams met March 19.

Monday the Americans beat Oklahoma State 7-0.

“We’re not supposed to win,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “We’re supposed to get run ruled.”

But that’s not going to happen if the Sooners have anything to say about it.

OU players go into Tuesday night’s exhibition game with some confidence after sweeping their Big 12 opening series last weekend against Kansas.

The Sooners also have one of the hottest pitchers in the conference, D.J. Mathis, who is 17-3 with a 0.91 earned run average. They’re also hitting .292 as a team with a Big 12 best 47 home runs.

But all of that seems pretty insignificant when Team USA’s on the other side of the diamond.

Still, the Sooners aren’t backing down.

“We’re going after it,” freshman outfielder Haley Anderson said. “We’re gonna win it.”

“If they went in there saying ‘Let’s just try to stay in the game,’ I wouldn’t want to coach that team,” Gasso said. “That’s not who we are. We’re going for the win. Everybody can laugh at us, but we know we’re capable of doing it. If you swing the bat, you’ve got a chance. We just need to swing the bat.”

Team USA boasts the best players in the world, and an all-star pitching rotation of some of college softball’s best arms of the past decade.

Of course, there’s softball poster girls Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch. But the Americans also have former Tennessee standout and NCAA Player of the Year Monica Abbott, not to mention former Arizona star Alicia Hollowell and Olympics hero Lisa Fernandez.

And that’s jus the pitching staff.

“We’ve had success with a few of (Team USA’s pitchers),” Gasso said. “You’re not going to see us just go in and roll over.”

The bats in the Team USA lineup are as impressive as the arms. Crystal Bustos is a home run threat every time she lifts the bat off her shoulder. Caitlin Lowe is one of the best leadoff hitters in college softball history. Natasha Watley was the sudden star of the Americans’ 2004 Athens Olympics gold-medal run, and Jessica Mendoza is a lefty who hits for power and average.

Those are just the top four hitters in the world’s best lineup.

If the Sooners can keep the game competitive tonight, they should take it as a big accomplishment. If they can actually go out and win the game, it would be a huge shot in the arm for a team still struggling to find its identity.

“This could be a turning point for our program,” Gasso said. “We’ll compete and play hard and it could be a sign we’re continuing to move in the right direction.”



Jeff Johncox writes for The Norman (Okla.) Transcript.