OU Softball: Four Oklahoma Players Named to Team USA for World Games
While Patty Gasso’s college team is tackling Texas and chasing an SEC championship, her international team is taking shape — a shape that looks a little like the Sooner State.
Team USA’s official roster for the upcoming World Games in China includes four former Oklahoma Sooners.
Outfielder Jayda Coleman, infielder Tiare Jennings and pitcher Kelly Maxwell all made Gasso’s first international 15-woman roster, which was announced earlier this week. Former OU catcher Kinzie Hansen is one of three alternates.
The World Games unfold August 13-17 in Chengdu, China, and its the fourth time softball has been included in the event. Team USA beat Japan for the gold in 2022.
For Gasso, who owns eight college national championships, it’s her first time constructing a roster for international play.
On Tuesday, Gasso joked that she may not have realized the compacted schedules coming together — a team camp in the middle of prep for Mississippi State and a roster announcement during OU-Texas week.
Yeah, that was not a smart idea by me to decide to have a camp in the middle of our week before Mississippi State,” Gasso said, “so we were doing a morning session with USA, OU softball, evening session with USA, come back the next day, same.
“So we did three days in a row of three-a-days, and then we did a Friday morning with USA Softball, and then our game was an earlier start so I spent a lot of time here. But it was great. It was great and I really got to see some players I haven’t seen in awhile and watch them.”
The 2025 USWNT World Games roster includes 13 returners from the 2024 season, including 12 athletes from the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup, where the U.S. earned silver.
