Familiarity

By Jeff Johncox
The Norman Transcript

May 15, 2008 01:25 am

— The old saying goes, “familiarity breeds contempt,” and if that’s true, Oklahoma has a big chip on its shoulder as Oregon, Arkansas and Tulsa come to town this weekend for the Norman Regional.
The Sooners (43-12) are the No. 10 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and their reward is hosting three teams they’ve lost to this season.
But don’t think they’re backing down just because the Ducks, Lady Razorbacks and Golden Hurricane provided a few speed bumps during the regular season.
“I think it helps a lot, knowing each one and how we played against them,” OU first baseman Samantha Ricketts said. “I think the big thing is knowing we can’t take any of them lightly. They’ve all beat us before. I think that’s a good thing for us.”
What’s more important? OU lost to Oregon 1-0 Feb. 23 at the Palm Springs (Calif.) Classic. The Sooners fell on the road at Tulsa 5-3 March 5. And they split a doubleheader with the Razorbacks in Fayetteville April 10.
The most glaring piece of that puzzle? All three losses were on the road. OU is looking for some payback at home this week.
“We get another chance against them,” Ricketts said. “That’s something we really like.”
The Sooners had to go on the road the last two seasons for the regional round, to Michigan and then to Massachusetts.
And while most teams would rather have a Super Regional on their home field than a regional, the Sooners are embracing the chance to start the NCAA Tournament off on the right foot.
“I don’t think it really matters, as long as we’re here for one of them,” OU pitcher D.J. Mathis said. “I honestly would rather have a regional, because we’re here right after the Big 12 tournament.
“Being able to start at home and being able to get momentum going is great.”
But starting off at home isn’t the greatest asset OU has this weekend.
Although the Sooners have lost to each of the teams coming in, that actually helps them, if you believe their take on things.
OU has seen all three teams before. There’s none of the unfamiliarity that cost the Sooners against the Wolverines in 2006, or almost cost them against the Minutewomen in Amherst, Mass., last year, and then did end up costing them when DePaul came to Norman for last season’s Super Regional.
“It’s really nice we’ve played each of these teams this year,” OU shortstop Savannah Long said. “We’ve seen their pitchers and we know that when we played them earlier in the year we weren’t playing anywhere near at the level we’re playing right now.”
And that’s the big thing.
OU is a much better team than it was earlier in the year. It’s a much better team than it was even a little over a month ago when it split with Arkansas.
Since the loss to the LadyBacks, OU has gone 11-3, with its only losses coming at Texas A&M and to Texas Tech in the first round of the Big 12 tournament last Saturday.
And the Sooners can thank Tulsa and Arkansas for allowing them to host a regional.
The Golden Hurricane have had a solid season in Conference USA, and while the Lady ’Backs struggled in SEC play with an 8-20 record, their overall record of 36-27 was good enough to get them in the tournament. Because those two teams made it, and because they’re within 250 miles of OU, the NCAA’s wonderful “driving distance” rule kicked in, allowing the Sooners to host this year.
“(Tulsa and Arkansas) have been right on the cusp the last few years,” OU coach Patty Gasso said. “It’s good for Oklahoma to have Tulsa in. It would have been great to have Oklahoma State in it.
“Arkansas played a tough schedule. I think we were all surprised when you see that conference record. But believe me, we know them and how tough a team they can be.”
And maybe that’s OU’s biggest advantage.
The Sooners know they can’t look past any of the teams in their regional.
They’ve already lost to each of them once this year.
Jeff Johncox
366-3535
jjohncox@normantranscript.com

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