Oklahoma Softball Coach Patty Gasso is ‘Here to Win Souls’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Head coach Patty Gasso recently led the Oklahoma softball team to their fourth consecutive NCAA title, but her mission is greater than just scoring another win.
“The Lord woke me up and said, ‘You’re doing this wrong. You’re not here to win games. You’re here to open the door — here to win souls,'” Gasso said, per Christhlete.
“We’re not afraid to lose games,” she told ESPN of how she leads the team. “We like to go in and just give it all we have, and if it’s not good enough, we know what we need to do to be better.”
The Sooners know that God wants to use their platform for more than just softball.
“They understand that this is more than a game. And that’s why they play it so freely. That’s how I feel,” Gasso told Sports Spectrum in an interview before the 2023 season. “This team, a couple of them made this comment that just stuck with me. And they share with each other like, ‘The end is already written.’ The end has already been written, so what are we afraid of? Why should we play scared?
“We already know that the result and the ending — the Lord already knows,” she added. “It’s already planned. So just use our gifts and let’s go. Let’s go. Don’t be afraid of the outcome. And it is so freeing when you watch them play. They’re afraid of nothing. They’re certainly not afraid to lose, and that’s the beauty of this group.”
Gasso’s goal for her program? Fulfillment.
“Happiness is result-oriented,” she told Sports Spectrum. “…This is more a program of fulfillment. And that is, who are we becoming? The direction that we’re going. How do we grow as women? How do we grow in our faith, and how do we find that path that we’re supposed to take?”
Her players are vocal about their faith, too. Movieguide® recently reported:
In a video shared by Christhlete on Instagram, the team chaplain, Sarah Roberts, is seen surrounded by the Oklahoma players as they pray together.
After the game, Roberts took to social media to share her honest thoughts on the season.
“They went through so much this year on and off the field that a lot of times I felt so helpless but never hopeless. I knew prayer was the least yet most I could do for them…We fought for connection with God and each other in prayer like never before,” she wrote.
“I watched so much of the world come against them but also saw how the Lord showed them who was For Them…people from all over sent pictures of their hands raised to show the girls they were praying for them,” she continued. “Nobody fights alone!”
“The light of Jesus in them shined brighter than any spotlight on them…I couldn’t be more proud of them!” Roberts concluded, adding Ephesians 3:20-21, which reads, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
- Content: +2Share:
- Content: +1