Things got delayed by a couple of days, but the 2025 Sooners will open their home slate on Saturday. 

Patty Gasso’s No. 2-ranked OU squad will take on Abilene Christian and Bowling Green on Saturday at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively before re-racking to take on Wichita State (11 a.m.) and Tulsa (1:30 p.m.) on Sunday. 

Oklahoma will close the weekend with one final meeting with Abilene Christian at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, and all five contests will be aired on SEC Network+.

It’ll be the first chance this season for fans to see the four-time defending champs, who are off to a 10-0 start after tallying four run rule victories last weekend, two against Hofstra and two against Baylor. 

The Sooners rarely open their home schedule in February, much less this early in the month, and OU won’t leave Norman again for nearly a month.

It’s something only made possible to Gasso due to Oklahoma’s commitment to the program in the form of Love’s Field. 

“We’re home this weekend. But we’re home for the next three weeks,” Gasso said on Tuesday. “I’ve never done that in my career here. We’ve always gone out to California, Arizona and maybe play one weekend at home and then we start conference. So this is new for us.”

Last year’s fully loaded home slate led the program to new heights off the field. 

The softball program brought in over $2.6 million in ticket sales, which surpassed the ticket revenue from the men’s basketball program last year and only trailed football. 

“The more we can play at home, the more we can create that revenue,” Gasso said. “So I’m excited about it. Every game, from what I understand, is already a sell out with just walk-up tickets or standalone tickets. It’s been wonderful.”

OU will have more chances to generate revenue beyond playing at Love’s Field. 

The Sooners have a pair of regular season games that will be staged at Devon Park one a midweek battle with Oklahoma State and one a SEC contest against Mississippi State. 

Oklahoma drew a record crowd for a regular season game at Devon Park against Texas in 2023, and battling Mississippi State on a Friday in Oklahoma City will provide another opportunity for fans to flock to see the Sooners.

“If the weather is right, and the day and the time is right, we could get 8,000 people there. It’s been a dream come true, honestly,” Gasso said. “When we were at Marita (Hynes Field), you see everyone line up, I always felt horrible. Like, all these people are not gonna get in the game. They’re standing outside, something doesn’t feel right about this. Now we’re getting to the place where people still can’t get inside. 

“Maybe one day we’ll even add a few more grand stands or whatever we can do, but if we can help the university make money and help our athletic department, we certainly wanna do that.”

Gasso’s team is doing it’s part and more.

They’re breaking records when they take the field and raising the bar for what it means to back a softball program. 

But the ultimate goal is to bring other programs along, too, not to be an outlier in the sport. 

“I’m trusting that Texas is maybe — there’s Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama. These are teams that people really pay a lot of attention to,” Gasso said. “Hoping that’s starting to spread and work on their side, as well. I feel Florida State has a really great fanbase, as well. That’s the goal. 

“Anything we do here is not, ‘Oh, look at us.’ It’s, ‘Hey, look at what we’re trying to do. Who wants to do it? Who else wants to do it? How can we help you start doing it?’ That’s really my mentality in all of this.”

Come time for first pitch on Saturday, however, the focus will be right back on winning games something Gasso has done as well as anyone in the history of the sport.