NORMAN — A record crowd of 4,609 striped Love’s Field in crimson and white Sunday afternoon as OU beat Texas 9-8 to sweep the Red River Rivalry series.
Every seat was occupied beneath the overcast sky. Standing-room-only sections along the concourse were stacked two to three people deep. Fans would’ve taken root in the batter’s eye bushes if allowed. Or climbed the Oklahoma-shaped scoreboard for a better view. A few ticketless fans even stood outside the stadium’s outfield gates and peered in.
OU softball is queen in this state, and it keeps getting bigger.
Time for the Sooners (and Longhorns) to think bigger.
Instead of striping the stadium against Texas, how about the Sooners and Longhorns adopt a football tradition and play in front of a 50/50 split?
How about OU-Texas at the Cotton Bowl … softball edition?
“I love it,” Sooner coach Patty Gasso said of the idea.
“It’s a possibility,” said Texas coach Mike White, who brought up playing OU at the Cotton Bowl before I could even pitch him on it. “Obviously, the growth of the game is big right now and we want to showcase it.”
Gasso said she recently got a text from Ohio State head coach Kirin Kumar, who broached a Sooners-Buckeyes showdown at Ohio Stadium.
“The Shoe? Is that what you call it? I don’t know the dimensions or anything but we would do it in a heartbeat,” Gasso said. “We would love to do it here but I know that it does take some work to make that happen, just doesn’t fit right.
