NORMAN — Oklahoma softball fans were treated to another first Friday night at Love’s Field.

OU coach Patty Gasso is a fixture in the third base dugout, but a familiar face commanded the opposite dugout.

Jim Gasso led his MACU Evangels to take on the Sooners in a fall scrimmage, marking the first-ever meeting between Patty and Jim after more than 38 years of marriage.

“If you were here at the start of the game, you would have seen a really beautiful lion come out to home plate, which was, I had no idea what was going on,” Patty Gasso said after the match with a big smile.

His Sooners won 17-0 over the nine exhibition innings, but it was a night for the legendary OU coach to evaluate her husband’s coaching skills.

“It was the first time I saw Jim Gasso coach. I saw him coach when he was a young coach,” she said. “He was like an assistant football coach. I never saw him coach a softball game. And I was really impressed. He did a very good job with this program.

“…I was really impressed with him. I know Jim Gasso as fiery, thinking he’s going after the refs. He’s going to try to bow with me at home plate. Does he stand out like a lion? ALL RIGHT. He was quiet, but still coaching. I looked at him a lot without him knowing I was looking at him. I had fun.

During a break in the action, both Gassos were brought in for an Oklahoma version of the Newlywed Game, although the on-field performances overshadowed the softball power couple’s performance.

“It didn’t go very well,” Patty Gasso said. “We’ve been married 38 years and we don’t know much about – I thought his first job, he was a bouncer. And he said he worked at a convenience store. When did you – you never I said that in 38 years, or 40 years I learned a lot about him and his team tonight. It was fun, it was nervous, but it was really cool.

The players also loved the experience, as they tried to balance competition while competing against Jim Gasso, who is a constant presence behind the scenes at OU with the team.

“I felt like it was kind of a family game,” OU redshirt freshman Nelly McEnroe-Marinas said after the game. “And I tried not to look at him as much as possible even though he was standing right next to me…I tried to stay focused on what was happening.” But I think it was really fun and it was a nice break from all the little stressors we have.

Maya Bland also said the matchup with Jim Gasso helped break up the rhythm of fall ball.

“It just brought a sense of joy, like a different sense of joy to the game,” Bland said. “Seeing him in a lion outfit at the start of the match, everyone was smiling throughout the match. The crowd was invested. We played more freely, I think.

McEnroe-Marians opened the scoring at the bottom of the second inning.

She undoubtedly launched a shot straight into the juniper bushes from dead center to put the Sooners up 1-0.

OU opened the contest in the fourth inning.

Ailana Agbayani singled to double the lead, then Ella Parker’s sacrifice fly to left field brought Bland home.

Isabela Emerling cleared the bases with a double, driving in two and giving OU a 5-0 lead.

Paytn Monticelli replaced freshman Audrey Lowry in fourth.

Lowry pitched three scoreless innings to start the night, allowing no hits while striking out four batters.

Freshman Sydney Barker extended Oklahoma’s lead over MACU to 6-0 with her own solo blast in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Bland doubled OU’s fifth inning score when she scored on a throwing error from the third.

Emerling added his third RBI of the night on a single to left field to keep the run going in the fifth, making the lead 8-0 and loading the bases with no outs.

McEnroe-Marinas drew a walk to make it 9-0, and Abigale Dayton’s sacrifice fly on the warning track in left field made it five runs in the frame with just one out.

Hannah Coor then added a sacrifice fly of her own to put the Sooners up 11-0, and Tia Milloy drove home on a wild pitch before Bland hammered a three-pointer over the Women’s College World Series logo on the wall in right field. .

McEnroe-Marinas scored another with a bunt in the bottom of the sixth after a brief intermission.

Cydney Sanders singled down the foul line to left field to make it 17-0 after Agbayani reached base on a triple.

Oklahoma will close out the Battle Series Wednesday at 6 p.m.