Senior Oklahoma outfielder Jayda Coleman likely has just a few games remaining in her college career, as the Sooners are headed to the best-of-three championship series at the Women’s College World Series.
But ahead of the matchup with bitter rival Texas for all the marbles, Sooners head coach Patty Gasso raved about Coleman and all that she’s brought to the Oklahoma program. And the energy that Coleman brings on the diamond is not spooled up for game day, Gasso said.
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“This girl has more energy than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. And she uses every single ounce of it and when it’s empty, it’s empty. It’s gassed. She lives life really, really hard in a good way. Some times here and I, and she’ll tell you, we’ve butted heads pretty good. I’ve had to discipline her a few times. She always responds,” Gasso said.
Gasso continued heaping praise on Coleman.
“One thing I love about Jayda Coleman is she is so honest,” Gasso said.” And sometimes so honest, you’re like, ‘OK, don’t say that out loud.’ But so honest that I know what I’m working with. So honest about our program that she will tell me things that maybe aren’t going well. So honest that she’ll tell me when no one else will. And so I just respect the heck out of her.”
And Gasso delivered this stump speech for Coleman just after she had scored the game-winning run in extra innings to send Oklahoma to the championship series. This all coming a day after Coleman felt she let teammates down in a loss.
Now Coleman has at least two more games with her Sooner teammates to burn through all that energy she’s become known for.
“I think she’s an absolute elite athlete and if you just knew her, she’s full of energy and that’s really how she lives every day,” Gasso said. “She’s like that at practice. So when she’s tired, she’s tired. So we need these night time games. We need more rest and recuperation because she plays hard, she lives hard.”
Betting lines are out for the Texas-Oklahoma series
The odds are in for the Women’s College World Series between Texas and Oklahoma for all the marbles. The Sooners are the three-time defending champions, so naturally, they’re the favorite.
That’s despite Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso saying the Sooners might actually be the underdog against their rival this time. But FanDuel provided the line for Game 1 Wednesday and the odds for the national title overall.
For Game 1, Oklahoma is listed -125 on the money line while Texas is -102. This just goes to show how close the opening game could be.
For the title, Oklahoma is the favorite at -140 while Texas is +110 on the money line to win two of three games.
“We know each other very well,” Gasso said. “Kind of feel like we’re the underdogs this year. That’s okay. It’s good for us. We had to really fight our way through here. I’m proud of this group and how they did it.
“We’ve got some really good momentum. We know each other very well. I don’t know that there are a lot of secrets. It’s going to be an absolute battle.”
Oklahoma went 2-2 against Texas this year, including winning the Big 12 title over the Longhorns.
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