Wichita State Shockers softball has some Oklahoma motivation ahead of NCAA Regional
Being small-town kids from Oklahoma, Wichita State softball players Madison Perrigan (Mustang) and Neleigh Herring (Chandler) both remember the dream of playing for the OU softball team.
The Sooners are a college softball dynasty. Growing up, Herring still remembers traveling to Norman during the summer to go to the camp hosted by legendary coach Patty Gasso.
“Everybody who grew up in Oklahoma wanted to play for OU,” Herring said. “If you were going to play college softball, then they were the best you could get.”
Idols have become rivals for many players on the Shockers, as they have been sent to the NCAA Norman Regional this weekend with the tall task of conquering the No. 1-ranked Sooners.
Winning the American Athletic Conference regular season and postseason championships earned WSU (39-11-1) the No. 2 seed in the regional. The Shockers open play at 5 p.m. Friday against No. 3 seed Texas A&M (31-21) in a game at Hynes Field broadcast on ESPN2. On the other side of the bracket, OU (45-2) plays Morgan State (24-15) in the nightcap.
While WSU is focused on its first game against Texas A&M, the Shockers know if they want to reach the program’s first Super Regional, they will have to snap a 38-game losing streak to the Sooners.
“We’ve got no pressure on us this weekend. We’re definitely not supposed to win this regional,” WSU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “Sometimes when you’re the No. 1 overall seed, you’ve got a bigger target on your back and a lot more pressure on you. So we’re just going down there to create as much havoc as we possibly can.”
Motivation is not lacking for the Shockers.
After winning both AAC championships and rising to No. 24 in the RPI, the Shockers were expecting a favorable landing spot in the NCAA Regionals — like being to sent to Stillwater to play Oklahoma State, a team it has beat twice this season, or to Columbia to play Missouri. With a record-breaking offense and a veteran ace in senior Bailey Lange, the Shockers have believed this whole season they were capable of reaching a Super Regional.
Instead, WSU was given the least-ideal No. 2 seed in the bracket by the NCAA selection committee. OU hasn’t lost twice at home in a season since 2017; WSU will likely need to beat the Sooners at home twice in one weekend to advance.
“It’s a David-vs.-Goliath type of mentality,” Perrigan said. “If we’re going to beat anybody, OU is the team to beat. If we beat the No. 1 team in the nation, we’ll be the most-talked about team out there and everybody will know just how good this team is.”
While the entire team is carrying a chip on its shoulder this weekend, the Oklahoma-born players say they have extra motivation if they get to play the Sooners.
“We have a lot of players who have been overlooked their entire careers,” Perrigan said. “We have a lot of Oklahoma kids on our team that are hungry to show OU what they missed out on.”
“I think there is that motivation of, ‘Well, they didn’t even look at me. They weren’t even interested. I’m going to show them what they missed out on,’” Herring said. “We know we’re good enough to play against them and we’re good enough to beat them. So it gives us that extra little pump.”
If an OU-WSU matchup does materialize, it will pit the top two home-run hitting teams in the country. The Sooners have a nation-best 130 home runs, 36 more than second-place WSU.
Even though the Shockers were run-ruled 14-3 by the Sooners at Wilkins Stadium earlier this month, they believe this year’s team is capable of beating any team.
“A lot of people look at us as a mid-major and overlook us,” Herring said. “But we’re not going to let anybody tell us we’re less than anybody. We know we can go out there and beat any team on any given day. With our offense, we’re never out of any game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re going to get after it this weekend.”
Norman Regional schedule
Friday
Wichita State vs. Texas A&M, 5 p.m. (Game 1)
Oklahoma vs. Morgan State, 7:30 p.m. (Game 2)
Saturday
Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 3 p.m. (Game 3)
Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 5:30 p.m. (Game 4, elimination)
Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 8 p.m. (Game 5, elimination)
Sunday
Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 3 p.m. (Game 6)
Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 5:30 p.m. (Game 7, if necessary)
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