OU Sooners Host Houston in 3-Game Series @ Love's Field: F, S, S

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners (2nd ranked in D1) will host the Houston Cougars at Love's Field this weekend in what hopes to be a 3-game series depending on weather. The weather outlook is windy from the North and temps in the high 50's low 60's with rain possible on Saturday. Stay tuned to social media this weekend. Complicating the weekend is the Annual Spring on Saturday at 1 PM, currently that may slide to later on Saturday. Right now the games are scheduled at 6 PM on Friday and Saturday and 1 PM on Sunday. Sunday's weather looks to be the best of the 3 days with Friday night perhaps being not too bad.

The Sooners, leading the Big 12 with a 15-3 record in conference should have a big advantage over the Houston Cougars who are 3-15 in conference play and sit in 10th place. The Cougars are a good offensive team but are truly having issues with their pitching staff as they have a Team ERA of 5.87 currently.

Houston in their last 11 games (1 vs Lamar, 3 vs UCF, 3 vs Oklahoma State, 1 vs Houston Christian and 3 vs BYU) the Cougars are 3-8. The defeated Lamar 15-7, Houston Christian 12-10 and BYU 9-6.

Their pitching staff is down to four pitchers, maybe five. The best of them all as far as usage is Shelby Smith (LHP). he has pitched 37 innings in 7 of the games. She will likely start games 1 and 3 this weekend. Taylor Edwards has pitched 15 innings with everyone else pitching less than 7 innings in the 11 games. Paris Lehman has not pitched since April 2nd throwing 6 innings. Gigi Solis has only pitched in 2 games and thrown 2 innings. Tamya Waiters is the fifth pitcher and threw 7 innings. Those five pitchers have a 5.96 ERA. Smith has the best ERA at 5.05.

Here is how the Sooners have hit against the first six Big 12 pitching staffs:
Iowa State - 5.26 ERA - Sooners scored 29 runs.
Texas Tech - 4.82 ERA - Sooners scored 41 runs.
Baylor - 3.50 ERA - Sooners scored 27 runs.
Kansas - 3.08 ER - Sooners scored 30 runs.
Texas - 1.69 ERA - Sooners scored 7 runs.
BYU - 5.20 ERA - Sooners scored 19 runs.
Houston - 5.96 ERA - To be seen.

The Sooners probably overperformed against Texas Tech. The Sooners may have underperformed against Iowa State, Texas and BYU. The Sooners got what was expected against Baylor and Kansas. With Houston being not as good pitching-wise as any of those teams. OU should score often against the Cougars and perhaps score 30+ runs in the series simply by the laws of average with strong hitting against poor pitching. The results will be based upon how OU hits Smith as she will pitch probably more than half of the innings against the Sooners.

Oklahoma simply needs to attack the ball this weekend while being disciplined to swing at strikes.

As far as the Sooner pitching is concerned, here is how they have fared against Big 12 hitters:
Iowa State - .816 OPS - Sooners gave up 3 runs.
Texas Tech - .949 OPS - Sooners gave up 3 runs.
Baylor - .749 OPS - Sooners gave up 8 runs.
Kansas - .769 OPS - Sooners gave up 4 runs.
Texas - 1.036 OPS - Sooners gave up 5 runs.
BYU - .925 OPS - Sooners gave up 12 runs
Houston - .999 OPS - To be seen.

By looking at that list, OU pitched well against Texas Tech and Texas. The pitched like they should against Iowa State and Kanas. Probably Baylor and BYU performed better than the Sooners would have expected. As you can see, the Cougars have the 2nd best offense of the 7 Big 12 teams so far. OU will have to pitch better than they did versus BYU, hopefully like they did against Texas Tech.

I am sure that Kelly Maxwell will get the start in Game #1. As to who pitchers Game #2, I would guess maybe Nicole May and/or Kierston Deal.. Hopefully, the Sooners are pitching well and do not have to start Maxwell on Sunday, but we will wait to see after Saturday's game. If the weather (Saturday rain) causes a DH to be played on Sunday, I would guess that Maxwell starts one of the two games.

On offense, it looks like the first five batters are perhaps set with Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, Alyssa Brito, Ella Parker and Kinzie Hansen hitting in that order lately. The sixth through the eighth has varied a bit with Rylie Boone in the 9th spot. The sixth through the eighth spots have been Alynah Torres and Cydney Sanders flipping between 6 and 8 and Kasidi Pickering in the 7th spot. With Smith, a LHP, starting two games, it will be interesting to see if Pickering starts all three games.

The key to the series will be how well the Sooners pitch against Houston. The lineup for the Cougars 1 thru 7 hits pretty well. BTW Shelby Smith, hits when she pitches and DH's when she does not. As a team, Houston hits .311 BA, .415 OB%, .484 Slug% with 40 steals and scores 6.81 Runs/Game.

Here is the first 7 hitters in their lineup: 1) Rollins (1.093 OPS), 2) Turiya Coleman (1.099), 3) Nitta (.810), 4) Thomas (.948), 5) Cantu (1.061), 6) Beautae (1.053) and 7) Smith (1.068). It is a bit strange that Nitta and Thomas bat 3rd and 4th with little power in the bats. That lineup could be a tough lineup to get thru in just two innings each time. How OU handles these 7 hitters will determine the series I think. Some of you will remember Turiya Coleman who was at Oklahoma in 2022. She transferred back home to Houston after her freshman season and has had two strong seasons with the Cougars.

Good luck to the Sooners this weekend against the Cougars.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Sooner Softball series with Houston this weekend.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/4/18 ... oves-field

Good luck to the Sooners this weekend.

Boomer Sooner!

[AustinTXSooner]

Hitting Comparison

#	Player	Yr	BA	OBP	SLG	AB	R	HR	BB	RBI	K	GO	FO	OPS
33	Brito, Alyssa	Sr	.427	.503	.895	124	48	15	21	44	12	21	37	1.398
23	Jennings, Tiare	Sr	.411	.500	.895	124	36	16	25	52	7	25	44	1.395
1	Sanders, Cydney	Jr	.304	.521	.823	79	21	13	33	40	14	15	27	1.344
24	Coleman, Jayda	Sr	.427	.556	.764	110	49	10	35	34	3	19	47	1.320
5	Parker, Ella	Fr	.392	.508	.667	102	41	7	23	37	16	24	19	1.175
9	Hansen, Kinzie	Sr	.402	.451	.696	92	18	7	9	21	7	17	29	1.147
40	Torres, Alynah	Sr	.382	.471	.674	89	19	7	15	26	6	19	30	1.145
7	Pickering, Kasidi	Fr	.368	.475	.600	95	29	5	21	29	12	22	27	1.075
0	Boone, Rylie	Sr	.435	.487	.574	108	29	1	10	20	5	29	25	1.061
30	Ludlam, Riley	Sr	.339	.493	.518	56	21	3	18	20	10	12	13	1.011
82	Hodge, Avery	So	.311	.385	.422	45	17		6	6	4	16	13	.807
12	Bland, Maya	Fr	.286	.375	.429	14	20		2	4	2	5	3	.804
43	Lilio, Quincee	So	.167	.394	.375	24	6	1	7	5	4	7	9	.769
27	Coor, Hannah	Jr	.176	.211	.324	34	9	1	1	6	7	11	11	.535
-	Totals	-	.379	.483	.690	1,096	363	86	226	344	109	242	334	1.173

Houston

#	Player	Yr	BA	OBP	SLG	AB	R	HR	BB	RBI	K	GO	FO	OPS
42	Coleman, Turiya	Jr	.364	.472	.627	118	37	7	16	39	14	38	26	1.099
0	Rollin, Jazmyn	Sr	.352	.437	.656	128	37	9	17	35	14	32	34	1.093
23	Smith, Shelby	Sr	.386	.490	.578	83	16	3	16	24	15	25	11	1.068
12	Beautae, Lair	Jr	.322	.470	.583	115	42	7	28	22	17	37	23	1.053
4	Cantu, Bree	Sr	.300	.464	.580	100	25	7	31	40	22	28	24	1.044
9	Thomas, Kennedy	Sr	.388	.491	.457	129	44	1	23	25	5	43	28	.948
10	Thomas, Ja'Naiya	Jr	.231	.300	.615	26	5	3	2	5	8	6	6	.915
14	Nitta, Mikalah	Fr	.333	.413	.397	78	20		11	22	11	32	9	.810
11	Wilkins, Jordee	Fr	.267	.316	.467	15	10		1	5	7	3	4	.783
5	Ceynowa, Clare	Jr	.312	.421	.312	16	4		3	3	2	5	5	.733
44	Hulsey, Paige	Sr	.229	.356	.286	70	15		13	11	14	26	13	.642
7	Esman, Mandy	So	.224	.253	.376	85	14	3	2	21	11	32	23	.629
2	Lorenzo, Brooke	So	.270	.341	.270	37	7		3	5	8	12	7	.611
32	Aguilar, Bethany	Fr	.259	.300	.259	27	6		1	6	1	11	10	.559
40	Repa, Katy	Sr	.214	.267	.214	14	5		1	1	3	2	4	.481
31	Dumas, Zaquai	Sr	.133	.257	.167	30	3		4	6	3	7	15	.424
3	Carden, Amanda	Sr	.200	.200	.200	20	3			4	3	12	1	.400
46	Prudhomme, Kayley	Fr	.167	.167	.167	6						4	1	.334
-	Totals	-	.311	.415	.484	1,098	293	40	172	274	158	356	244	.899

Looks like former Sooner Turiya Coleman is arguably their best hitter, along with Jazmyn Rollin. Rollin transferred from Arizona St, where she played one year with Sanders and Torres. Rollin started at Missouri, after two years transferred to Arizona St. This year she is a graduate transfer.

Jordee Wilkins played on the same club team as Hodge and Geurin.

Lair Beautae played on the same club team as Cydney Sanders. Also played 2 years at Tennessee before transferring.

There are a surprising number of transfers on their team. Should be no surprise that a lot of their team are originally from the Houston area.

[AustinTXSooner]

Pitching Comparison

#	Player	Yr	App	GS	ERA	HR	GO	FO	W	L	SV	IP	K/BB	K/7IP	WHIP	OBP	SLG	OPS
85	Geurin, SJ	Fr	9		0.70	1	10	11	2			10.0	3.0	6.30	0.70	.189	.235	.424
11	Deal, Kierston	So	15	11	1.16	3	38	59	9	1		48.3	3.8	6.52	0.97	.247	.222	.470
17	Monticelli, Paytn	So	15	1	1.29	1	9	16				16.3	3.1	9.43	1.22	.299	.214	.513
8	Keeney, Karlie	Sr	20	3	1.62	3	63	32	4	1	1	43.3	2.2	4.20	1.22	.296	.303	.599
28	Maxwell, Kelly	Sr	21	14	1.72	8	90	61	13	1	1	85.3	3.3	7.88	0.94	.245	.269	.514
19	May, Nicole	Sr	16	14	2.06	6	56	49	11	1		57.7	3.4	7.77	1.23	.297	.343	.640
-	Totals	-			1.61	22	266	228			2	261.0	3.2	7.03	1.07	.268	.279	.547

Houston

#	Player	Yr	App	GS	ERA	HR	GO	FO	W	L	SV	IP	K/BB	K/7IP	WHIP	OBP	SLG	OPS
17	Bodeux, Nicole	So	3	1	2.74	1	15	6	1	1		7.7	0.4	1.83	1.17	.281	.259	.541
23	Smith, Shelby	Sr	28	12	5.05	29	104	186	10	9	1	113.0	1.1	2.60	1.65	.358	.497	.854
6	Lehman, Paris	Jr	20	9	5.59	13	94	101	5	5	2	76.3	1.1	2.38	1.60	.357	.500	.857
55	Waiters, Tamya	So	22	17	5.92	4	44	49	4	3	1	39.0	0.5	3.77	2.31	.443	.410	.853
33	Edwards, Taylor	Sr	11	3	9.22	9	22	41	3	1		27.3	0.8	4.10	2.52	.476	.614	1.090
1	Solis, Gigi	Fr	5	1	13.59	3	2	14		1		5.7	0.1	1.24	2.82	.471	.741	1.211
-	Totals	-			5.87	59	281	397			4	269.0	0.8	2.81	1.83	.385	.499	.884

They really don't get many strikeouts. Their two main pitchers are Smith and Lehman, although Waiters has gotten 17 starts but only 39 innings. Waiters has 43 walks in those 39 innings against only 21 strikeouts.

Shelby Smith is from the same small suburb of Houston as Kelly Maxwell. She originally went to Seton Hall and is a graduate transfer.

Tamya Waiters went to the same high school as Jayda. They are 2 years apart in age.

[TropicalSooner]

Looks like former Sooner Turiya Coleman is arguably their best hitter, along with Jazmyn Rollin. Rollin transferred from Arizona St, where she played one year with Sanders and Torres. Rollin started at Missouri, after two years transferred to Arizona St. This year she is a graduate transfer.

Jordee Wilkins played on the same club team as Hodge and Geurin.

Lair Beautae played on the same club team as Cydney Sanders. Also played 2 years at Tennessee before transferring.

There are a surprising number of transfers on their team. Should be no surprise that a lot of their team are originally from the Houston area.

Yeah, I noticed that too when I was researching my post last fall on the upcoming season for the new Big 12.
Head Coach Kristin Vesely did do some house cleaning after last season. 10 players hit the transfer portal leaving only 8 players on her roster, including Turiya Coleman. To counter that Vesely brought in nine transfers to bolster the lineup along with the 4 new freshmen.

I'm glad Coleman found a good home and it looks like she is doing quite well for the Cougars. Vesely should be able to recruit the rich Houston area for recruits and put together some good teams for her future years in the Big 12.

[TropicalSooner]

They really don't get many strikeouts. Their two main pitchers are Smith and Lehman, although Waiters has gotten 17 starts but only 39 innings. Waiters has 43 walks in those 39 innings against only 21 strikeouts.

Shelby Smith is from the same small suburb of Houston as Kelly Maxwell. She originally went to Seton Hall and is a graduate transfer.

Tamya Waiters went to the same high school as Jayda. They are 2 years apart in age.

It's hard enough getting strike outs against the Sooners but when you are having trouble getting them before you even show up, that may pose a big problem.
As OU Believer noted above Paris Lehman has not been seen since April 2nd. If she is not available, then that just compounds the situation for the Cougars and they will have to rely on some arms that have not seen much time in the circle at all.
Along with Waiters, Grad Transfer from LSU Taylor Edwards may have to be used. And although she did have some limited action for LSU last year, she shows no pitching history prior to that in her bio.

[inconnu]

Very good and interesting pre-game interview with Patty Gasso by Chris Plank! The operative term is IGNITE! To be more aggressive at the plate. Jump on those good pitches early! Don't be so afraid of leaving the base early on a steal.

[inconnu]

Plank and Destiny saying that OU has been able to practice at Love's Field now! IMO that should help immensely with our preparation, from here onward.

[OUBeliever56A]

Maxwell in the Circle and Torres Keys Offense

The Oklahoma Sooners played well enough on Friday to earn a six-inning run rule victory 8-0 over the Houston Cougars in a fairly nice evening at Love's Field. The Sooners backed starting pitcher Kelly Maxwell with runs in 4 different innings as the Sooner pitcher dealt her way to a 5.0 inning shutout of Houston allowing only 2 hits (both singles) and 3 walks with 5 Ks. Maxwell tossed another very effective game for the Sooners.

Maxwell picked up her 14th win on the season and lowered her ERA to 1.63 for the season and crossed the 100 strikeout mark in the game with 101 Ks in the season. Maxwell was throwing mostly strikes last night as she tallied 41 strikes out of her 70 pitches. Karlie Keeney pitched the sixth inning in relief of Maxwell and allowed a single in her inning. Keeney threw 11 strikes out of her 17 pitches in her inning of work.

On offense the Sooners were a bit better on Friday against a trio of Cougar pitchers that held ERAs of 9.22, 5.92 and 13.59 coming into the game. The Sooners were 12 of 28 in the batters box and picked up 7 walks and 1 HB without having a strikeout. The Sooners only had one EBH on the night, a 3-run HR by Alynah Torres in the 1st inning. Torres had a big game as she was 2 for 2 with a sacrifice bunt that might have been a squeeze bunt also in the 4th. Her other hit was a nice at bat as the Cougar pitcher threw her a couple of changeups before trying to sneak a pitch by her as Torres just stroked the ball into RF for a single. Torres also executed a double play on defense as she fielded a ground ball at second base and was able to tag the runner moving to first base and then threw to 1B for the double play to end the 2nd inning. the play was reviewed and stood up to end the inning.

Oklahoma scored 3 runs in the 1st inning, 1 run in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th and 2 in the 6th. The final runs of the 6th inning was with one out on a bases loaded walk by Sanders and then with two outs as Coleman hit a ball into the gap in LC to plate Hodge with the bases loaded to produce the walk-off run-rule victory.

Oklahoma did a good job pulling off a 1st and 3rd double steal for a run in the 4th inning with two outs as Coor moved from 1st base to second as Hansen scored from 3B on the play as Hosuton threw to 2b too late. I will also not that twice in the game that two Sooners made excellent slides to get into bases safely as they were pushing the envelope on the bases. One of those times was by Hansen who used her long reach to be safe at 3B just before the double steal. the other was Coleman sliding around a tag at 3B on a hit by Hansen.

Oklahoma left 9 runners on base out of the 20 baserunners they had. One baserunner was erased on a CS (Parker). But they had a hit in every inning. The Sooners had 9 hits after there were two outs in an inning on Friday. They also had 2 walks with two outs.

Other Sooners who had good nights at the plate were Jayda Coleman who was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a walk. Kinzie Hansen was 3 for 4 and hit a hard line drive drive to CF for her only out. Hansen also made a very nice dive for a popped up bunt in the 4th inning as she got out from behind the plate to stretch out and catch the ball just above the ground. Riley Ludlam (in the lineup at DP) was 2 for 3. Cydney Sanders walked twice and picked up an RBI on an infield ground out. Quincee Lilio picked up an RBI with a bases loaded walk in the 6th.

Tiare Jennings was 2 for 3 on the night and moved up in the Career Hits list as she reached 293 hits in her career and tied Kristin Vesely for 4th Place on that list. Appropriately, Vesely is the Houston Head Coach and was watching the hit that tied her record from her 2003-2006 career with the Sooners. Vesely also played soccer for OU during her career. Next up for Jennings on the Career Hits list is Sydney Romero with 320 hits. Picking up 27 hits in the remaining games may be tough, but hopefully Jennings will move into fourth place all by herself on Saturday's game.

The Sooners will try to get the second game of the series played on Saturday night at 6 PM. The Cougars did not pitch Shelby Smith on Friday which surprised me quite a bit. If she is able to pitch (she was the DP in Friday's game and had a single) I think she will be in the circle on Saturday. For the Sooners, I think it will Nicole May in the circle.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the Friday Night Win.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/4/19 ... r-40th-win

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

May was Strong in the Circle as Hansen and Pickering led the Offense

The Oklahoma Sooners once again combined a strong effort in the circle and had a strong offensive output to win over Houston 10-2 in 5 innings with OU only batting in 4 innings. The Sooners offense seemed to be ignited from the start of the game as 6 of the first 7 hitters reached base on a hit or a walk to open the game in the first inning. the first inning resulted in four runs as Kinzie Hansen picked up 2 RBIs on a single and Kasidi Pickering added an RBI on a double. Oklahoma did the same type of thing in the 3rd inning as 7 of the 8 first hitters reached base. this time, the Sooners scored 6 runs as Pickering had an RBI triple, Avery Hodge had an RBI single, Ella Parker had an RBI walk with the bases loaded, Quincee Lilio scored on a wild pitch, Tiare Jennings added an RBI SFLY and Hansen finished the scoring with a ground out RBI.

The Sooners had 11 hits in the game in 23 at bats, had 1 double and 2 triples (Alyssa Brito had a triple in the 3rd inning), 5 walks with a HBP (Coor), 2 stolen bases and reached base on one error by the Houston pitcher. OU left 8 runners on base out of their 18 base runners. 16 batters reached base in the game before their were two outs.

Hansen was 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and Pickering was 2 for 2 with 2 RBIs a double and a triple in the game to lead the Sooners. Rylie Boone and Brito both had 2 hits in the game.

Nicole May was in the circle for the Sooners as she pitched well. She only threw 61 pitches in her 4.1 innings as she stayed in the strike zone with 41 strikes for 67.2%. May retired the first 9 batters she faced while only facing a 3 ball count once. In the 4th inning, May allowed a leadoff single before she gave up a 1-out 2-run HR for Houston's only runs of the game. The score at the time was 10-2. May quickly retired the next two hitters to end the 4th. After walking the leadoff hitter in the 5th, May showed her fielding prowess as a pitcher when she fielded a bunt and threw quickly to second base to Jennings to get the lead runner. That was May's day as she was then replaced by Paytn Monticelli. May's numbers were; 4.1 innings while allowing 3 hits, 1 walk with 4 strikeouts and the two runs. May struck out the side in the 3rd inning. I think it was a good day for May. She picked up her 12th win of the season.

Monticelli, with one out and a runner on 1st, allowed a single to left field to push runners to first and second. But that was after what might have been the biggest play of the game. The batter, Katy Repa for Houston, during her at bat, hit a line drive to LF that Hannah Coor made a very quick dash and dive to catch in short LF. After her dive the ball was in her glove with an out signal by the umps. Coor then got up and threw a strike to 1B to double off the runner at 1B who wandered too far off 1B on the play. The play was a long way from my seat in Love's Field as I had no idea about if Coor made the catch at the time. I haven't seen the replay either. But of course the play was reviewed and the result was no popular with the Sooner fans as the catch was ruled a no catch and the runner on first was awarded second base when she never advanced to 2B. Not only did Torres tag the runner at 1B on the throw from Coor, I saw Boone on 2B with the ball to cover the force play at the end of the play. It was hard to understand how they came up with that result to me.

Monticelli walked the next batter for Houston on a 3-2 with a couple of pitches just a bit outside I was told. With the bases loaded, Monticelli got a ground ball to 3B that Brito reurned to home plate to Hansen for the force out for the second out of the inning. The final batter grounded out to Jennings at SS to end the game.

Defensively, Avery Hodge had a very good game at second base as she made a couple nice plays going towards the bag at second to get ground balls by going to the ground and getting up to make strong throws to first base the out. She also started a nice double play with a backhand flip and made a nice turn on a double play as well. It was probably her best game on defense of her career and she had an RBI single as well in the game.

But the story about this game is that Jayda Coleman did not start and did not play in this game. The reason given was a day off was needed. I will leave it at that. Coleman was active during the game on the bench as well. It was the first game of a 4 year career that Coleman has not started or played in. Her first game to sit out in 229 games. Boone played CF and made a nice catch in deep RC to end the 2nd inning.

The third game of the series is today (Sunday) at 1 PM. The weather should be in the low 60s today. I wonder if Kierston Deal will get a start today in th finale or if Maxwell will be sent to the circle. With Coleman getting Saturday off, will Jennings be rested today? We will see. Jennings has not missed a game in her career either.

Good luck to the Sooners today.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the 10-2 win on Saturday.

https://soonersports.com/news/2024/4/20 ... ake-series

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Jennings and Hansen crossed milestone career numbers in the game. Here are a couple of career notes for them from the game on Saturday.

With her 1 for 3 day with an RBI, Tiare Jennings added to her career hits total and moved =out of the tie with Kristin Vesely with 294 career hits and into 4th Place all by herself. Jennings' RBI also gives her 298 Career RBIs for the Sooners. She is one RBI behind Stacey Nuveman (UCLA) who is in 5th place all-time in D1 Softball with 299 RBIs.

Kinzie Hansen' 2 RBIs in the game moved her passed the 200 Career RBI mark as she now has 201 RBIs as a Sooner.

Boomer Sooner!

[TN Sooner]

While far less significant than Jayda not playing, it should be noted that Cyd sanders also did not play. Is it possible that Patty just wanted to grab some extra rest for some of the everyday players? If Tiare or Brito sit today, that might be the play. If not, we’re all left to wonder what really is going in. But - it’s not really our business…. Even tho we want to know.

[EMan]

Quite frankly, Jayda and Cyd have both been in a bit of a slump lately so sitting them for a game doesn't seem unreasonable to me. One thing I've come to trust is how well Patty knows and manages her team. I think back to the time when she made Jocelyn Alo take a long break from softball in the middle of the season just to get her head straight about what she wanted. IMO, when it comes to her players, PG sees the big picture better than any other coach in the country. And she's definitely not worried about streaks or records. It's all about being the best they can be and doing what it takes to get there, even if it means a bump in the road during the season.