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Oklahoma Ready to Open 'Insane' Love's Field This Weekend

Originally posted on FanNation All Sooners
By Ryan Chapman | Last updated 3/1/24

The time has come.

Oklahoma will cut the ribbon on Patty Gasso’s new softball palace on Friday. Love’s Field is officially open for business.

Sitting atop the softball world, the top-ranked Sooners have started their title defense — one that is actually defending three straight national championships — with a perfect 14-0 mark.

But none of those games will feel as sweet as what the 2024 Sooners will experience this weekend.

Years in the making, the newest stadium on Oklahoma’s campus will open its doors to a sold-out crowd this weekend, hosting five games in the OU Tournament.

It will without a doubt be the finest softball facility in the country, setting a new standard for excellence in the sport, just as Gasso’s teams have done on the field over the past three years.

How to Watch Oklahoma Softball's OU Tournament:

Game 1: OU vs. Miami (OH), Friday, 2 p.m., ESPN+
Game 2: OU vs. Liberty, Friday, 5 p.m., ESPN+
Game 3: OU vs. Louisiana, Saturday, 11 a.m., ESPN+
Game 4: OU vs. Liberty, Saturday, 1:45 p.m., ESPN+
Game 5: OU vs. Louisiana, Sunday, 12:30 p.m., ESPN+

“It’s just overwhelming,” Gasso said Tuesday. “Everything is just magnified by 100, from the size of the room that we’re doing video in, to the training room, to the equipment room. We have our own offices there. These are brand new things we’ve never thought that we would have.”

Stepping onto the field with fans for the first time is something no one on the team, Gasso included, is quite ready for.

The feeling of being completely surrounded with the crimson-clad spectators right on top of the action is something the team dreams of, even while the stands are empty.

“The amount of stands that were in the stadium,” true freshman Ella Parker said on Tuesday, “I’ve never been able to play in that sort of situation. It’s going to be insane to play in. It just shows the sport is really growing in a really good way.”

The field will be ready to host games this weekend, but work will continue to complete the entire facility.

Coaches offices and team areas are expected to be finished before the season is over, but they won’t be fully up and running this weekend.

Teams will still get dressed and ready over at Marita Hynes Field before heading down the street to play at Love’s Field, something that doesn’t bother Gasso at all.

“A lot of our staging is going to be here at Marita Hynes,” Gasso said. “ … We’ve got shuttles moving teams back and forth. So that’ll be a little bit challenging. They’ll dress here, they’ll come back and change out of their uniforms here.

“But it doesn't matter. We’re playing on it so who cares what we have to do. We will walk. We'll do whatever we have to do to get on that field this weekend.”

This year’s team is reveling in the opportunity to open a new era, but they’re also cognizant of what Love’s Field means for alumni who have long moved on from the program.

“I think just seeing the fans in the stands (is what I’m looking forward to),” pitcher Kelly Maxwell said, “ … and all the alumni that came before and what coach Gasso’s done here. So I think just seeing kind of that pay off is kind of what’s going to be most eye opening.”

View the 4 images of this gallery on the original article

In the lead up to finally opening the new complex, Gasso herself has done plenty of reflection.

“I think about those athletes that are alums but never got to experience this,” she said. “So what we're really trying to do is embrace all of our alumni and say, 'You've all built this.' There's no one particular person.”

Aside from sharing Love’s Field with over 4,000 Sooner fans, Oklahoma will have to compete in five games this weekend.

Miami (OH) will take the field first on Friday, followed by Liberty. The Sooners will then meet Louisiana and Liberty on Saturday before reconvening for a second matchup against Louisiana on Sunday.

OU must play well, but Gasso still wants her team to be able to revel in the moment on Friday.

“I’m not going to let this be chaos and panic and rushing and rushing,” Gasso said. “We’re going to try to take it as slow as we can and to take it all in because there’s so much to see. There’s so much to look at.”

There will be a ceremony to officially open Love’s Field at 11 a.m., and then the Sooners will start the show against Miami at 2 p.m.

“I think we all feel a little anxious about it because we just don’t know what it’s going to play like, what it’s going to feel like,” Gasso said. “We may not know that until the first pitch.”