This helps explain why the NCAA championship trophy accidentally was left behind in the first-base dugout after Thursday night's 3-1 victory over Florida State at the USA Softball Complex and was not retrieved until the post-game interview session had been completed.
"I think this really was the roughest (season) I've ever had to go through just because of with lots of fans and the growth of the sport comes a lot of pressure. I think I've felt that and they (our players) have felt that," said head coach Patty Gasso, who just completed her 29th season at OU.
This year's Sooners finished with a 61-1 record and now own the highest final winning percentage (.984) in Division I history, surpassing UCLA's 1992 squad that finished 54-2 (.964).
OU will take its Division I record 53-game winning streak into next season.
The Sooners are national champs for the third straight season, joining UCLA (1988-90) as the only other school to three-peat.
OU has now won five of the last seven national crowns, six of the last 10 and seven overall (all since 2000). Only UCLA (12) and Arizona (8) own more championships.
Though the Sooners certainly made this season look easy – leading the nation in 10 statistical team categories, posting 35 shutouts and suffering only one loss (4-3 in a non-conference game at Baylor on Feb. 19) – Gasso and her players spent much of their post-game interview session describing the pressures they endured.
"It is incredibly hard," Gasso said of winning three straight. "I don't know how to explain it. I just can tell you the way I feel right now is free because the expectation is overwhelming, the pressure is overwhelming. They (our players) all have each other to laugh with. I'm standing here (on the interview podium) by myself, so that's why you're hearing my voice do this (quivering).
"I know what they're feeling. I know what I'm feeling. It's very difficult. It's extremely rewarding. Like, I just want to go to Costco and shop and no one care that I'm there. (Our players) feel the same."
Oddly enough, as dominant as this year's Sooners were, they endured relentless criticism, particularly toward the end of the season. Outsiders claimed they celebrated too much, were too demonstrative sharing each other's successes, and some critics deemed them to be too religious in their beliefs. It created an us-against-the-world mentality that bonded the 20-player roster.
"The hardest thing is just the chaos, I guess. We hold onto 20 versus everybody," said OU junior centerfielder Jayda Coleman, who robbed FSU third baseman Kalei Harding of a home run in the third inning to keep the game in a scoreless tie. (Coleman also threw out Harding the night before on a would-be double Coleman rebounded off the wall and then threw a strike to second baseman Tiare Jennings.)
"There's always something to do next. We just got done celebrating. All right, come here and talk. There's always something that we got to go to next. These 19 girls that are by my side, they're the only ones out of everyone that know what I go through, my struggles that I've been through. Just holding onto that, really just leaning on them because it does get hard, it does get challenging. My heart is so full knowing that the 19 girls around me know my struggles and what I'm challenged with. All they do is lift me up from that."
OU super senior shortstop Grace Lyons, who hit a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth inning to give the Sooners a 2-1 lead, said, "Something we talked about early on in the fall is the expectations from the outside, of what people expect of us, what fans, even like opposition, what they make us see or think on social media."
Gasso said much of the pressure came from inside state lines.
"It's so crazy to see how our lives have changed," Gasso said. "The fans in Oklahoma are absolutely fantastic, (but) it starts to feel like you're getting smothered a little bit because everybody wants something. I heard (our players) talking about it. For all of us it's different. I just want to coach. All of a sudden, your life isn't regular anymore. So that's really where they talk a little bit about mental health. It's so different being a student-athlete now. I mean, it's completely different. The expectations of everything. The fact that we got here and we won this is just mind-boggling with all of the wave of pressure and so forth. I could not be more proud of this group.
"To be sitting up here and telling you this is still kind of amazing because everybody's out to get us. They want to bring down the Evil Empire, whatever it is. I don't know. We just want to play ball. That's all. Jayda Coleman wants to rob home runs. Tiare Jennings wants to hit doubles and be clutch. That's how they're made."
A crowd of 12,195 at USA Softball Complex feasted on Thursday's festivities.
Though the Sooners were held well below their game scoring average of 8.16 runs, the long ball still proved to be the difference.
After falling behind 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homer by FSU first baseman Mack Leonard, OU immediately responded the top of the next inning when its first two batters – sophomore first baseman Cydney Sanders and Lyons – each hit solo homers, marking the 11th time this season OU has hit back-to-back home runs.
It was Sanders' first home run since she hit dingers in three straight games at the NCAA Regional and Super Regional in Norman and Lyons' first home run since May 19 in OU's postseason opener against Hofstra.
Pinch-hitter Alynah Torres set the final margin in the sixth with a fielder's choice to shortstop that scored Bahl, who was pinch-running for Haley Lee, who opened the inning with an infield single to shortstop.
Sophomore righthander Jordy Bahl, the winner in Game 1 who was named the WCWS Most Outstanding Player, relieved starter Alex Storako in the fifth and retired all nine batters she faced. Storako (18-0; 1.15 ERA) got the victory while Bahl (0.90 ERA) earned her fourth save.
Afterward, FSU coach and former OU player (1989-92) Lonni Alameda spoke glowingly of her alma mater's dominance.
"They're just firing on all cylinders," Alameda said. "It's pretty cool. I think a lot of people were texting me throughout, like a lot of people don't like that one team's winning all the time. I get a little vibe sometimes of, like, 'Take down the machine.'
"We gave our best for that, but they're really good. Oklahoma does a really good job. They do a good job in all cylinders from recruiting to developing to meeting the NIL, development of program and team. It's really an honor to compete against the highest level. We talked about that today. It can be frustrating at times or it can raise our game. It's raising our game. It's making me a better coach. It was just really cool. Hats off to them."
Righthanded senior ace Kathryn Sandercock (28-4; 1.12 ERA) took the loss for the No. 3-seeded Seminoles (58-11). The Sooners defeated FSU three times this season.
"They're tough outs," Sandercock said of the Sooners. "They keep you on your toes the entire time, which is great."
