[victory69]

when you think of college softball you think of California.
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association published their list of the 50 greatest programs of all time. The University of Oklahoma managed to be placed with the fifth greatest program in college softball history.
The key has been the program’s consistency that coach Patty Gasso brings to the program. Gasso enters her ninth season at OU after spending five years at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California.
Gasso arrived at OU in the October of 1995 without a system and without a field.
“The first season established a foundation for recruiting,” Gasso said.
Coach Gasso went back to her roots in California to sign junior college girls she new from California. She had to bring the girls out on visits to see the campus to erase their stereotypical ideas of Oklahoma, Gasso said. California girls have been ahead of girls around the country because they play softball during the whole year.
The four teams ahead of OU in the poll are all from California. The rest of the country is catching up as they also are playing all during the year. In OU’s recruiting class for the fall of 2004, none of the girls are from California.
When Gasso first got here, the softball team played their games at Reaves Park in Norman, but their were talks and promises of a field being built that really drew her to Oklahoma.
“We could not do what we do without the field,” Gasso said.
The beautiful two million dollar softball complex was funded by the campaigns the athletic department does to raise money for the athletic facilities.
Gasso and her staff have done great recruiting, but since their national championship in 2000, girls have been contacting her.
The softball program has a limited budget for all their consistent success. The team is limited to 850,000 dollars while sports such as baseball have a budget of 1 million.
Gasso said, the baseball team has more players and more expenses compared to softball.
“I can get all I need to get with our budget,” Gasso said.
If she needed more, she would ask for more. Gasso maximizes all she has. how does Gasso get girls from all over the country to come to Oklahoma