OU coach calls out WCWS sked after 2 a.m. finish
After a marathon day of softball that didn’t end until after 2 a.m. local time Sunday, Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso questioned…
After a marathon day of softball that didn’t end until after 2 a.m. local time Sunday, Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso questioned the Women’s College World Series scheduling, calling the decision to have Oklahoma State and Florida State start their elimination game at 11:50 p.m. “not right.”
“If we’re about the welfare of the student-athlete — that is what is being preached to all of us — then do something,” Gasso said Sunday. “I don’t know who needs to do something. But having these guys get home at 3 in the morning and then prepare for the next day — it completely throws off your rhythm of sleep, hydration, of eating.
“It wasn’t fair for either team to sit around and wait that long.”
Gasso spoke after her team beat James Madison 6-3 Sunday in a noon game that started just over 12 hours after the Sooners beat UCLA to stay alive in the WCWS. Just after her postgame Zoom call Sunday, lightning and rain halted play for the second straight day, posing the possibility that Oklahoma could be playing again into the wee hours of the night.
After a long night of waiting around, Florida State beat Oklahoma State 4-2 Sunday morning at about 2:18. Following the game, Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski said, “It is what it is.”
Gasso said the players won’t generally complain, but that going to bed at 3 a.m. “completely throws off” rhythms of sleep, hydration and eating.
“I just would like to see what other championship does the same thing,” she said. “And now you’re starting to hear coaches talk about this. It’s very uncomfortable when we are talking to our players about standing up for what is right. Yet what is happening around us is not right.”
Later Sunday, the NCAA announced that if Florida State were to beat Alabama — in a game that was delayed over two hours by weather — then the James Madison-Oklahoma and Florida State-Alabama rematches would both move to Monday, with the WCWS championship series moving to Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday. The Seminoles ended up beating the Tide by a score of 2-0.
Matt Holmes, assistant director of championships and alliances, said he was aware of Gasso’s comments, but that bracket integrity — not Saturday night’s events — was the reason behind the decision.
“If you’re going to play the championship series,” he told ESPN, “you don’t want one team to come in with another day of rest over the other team. You want both of those teams to play on the same day.”
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