Junior outfielder Abigale Dayton instantly began to smile when asked about the emotions other teams will display when they face Oklahoma this season.
Following their fourth consecutive national championship, the Sooners lost 13 players in the offseason — 10 seniors and three additional players to the transfer portal. Throughout the years, OU had used their emotions to their advantage — celebrating walks, diving plays and taking the extra base.
With the massive losses throughout the program, it forced head coach Patty Gasso to get creative in building the 2025 team. In total, Gasso brought in eight true freshmen and five players from the transfer portal.
“I’m ready, …” Dayton, a transfer from Utah, said during Tuesday’s newcomer availability. “I’m really excited to see how teams compete against us, and I’m ready to destroy.”
The eight freshmen are tied for the most true freshmen OU has brought in since 2020, a group that featured Kinzie Hansen and Rylie Boone. OU’s 2024 class is ranked No. 3 class in the country, according to On3. In the portal, Gasso leaned towards players with experience, with all five players being at least a junior.
Rather than big power hitters, Gasso recruited contact hitters with speed and versatility from the portal and found that with Dayton and BYU transfer Ailana Agbayani. In Dayton’s sophomore season at Utah, she had a .431 batting average with 10 doubles, six triples and just two home runs. Agbayani posted a 14.4 percent walk rate while also striking out just seven times in 2-8 plate appearances last season. She also made 15 appearances on the mound for the Cougars.
The massive standards set at OU intrigued players such as Agbayani to want to come play for Gasso and Oklahoma.
Agbayani remembers playing at Love’s Field last season, being awed by the crowd, and was sold on Gasso’s competitive edge as the reason she committed to the Sooners.
“I would say what really sold me was definitely her mindset in competing,” Agbayani said. “You don’t have to be perfect, but if you compete, then I like that mindset.”
On the mound, Gasso brought in senior Sam Landry and redshirt senior Isabella Smith out of the portal from Louisiana and Campbell, respectively.
In her junior season, Landry ranked top 10 in the country in wins, and tossed six complete game shutouts in 28 starts. Smith was named the Coastal Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year in 2024 and struck out 238 batters over 206 innings.
So far, their experiences with associate head coach and pitching coach Jennifer Rocha have opened their eyes and given them renewed confidence as pitchers.
“She speaks with so much confidence, …” Landry said. “I think working with her is amazing mentally and physically, learning the game and learning new aspects of it.”
Landry and Smith join a pitching staff losing 37 wins from Nicole May and Kelly Maxwell but is headlined by junior Kierston Deal, who posted a 1.97 earned run average in 25 games last season and true freshman Audrey Lowry.
While a program with the amount of continued success and traditions as Oklahoma may be daunting to many players, the 2025 team is focused on playing their own game and not worrying about the outside noise.
Freshmen and Oklahoma natives like Chaney Helton and Kadey Lee McKay know the standards of the program and will do whatever it takes to give the Sooners their ninth championship and fifth in a row.
“I think we all bring great aspects to this program,” Helton said. “We’re going to go out there and do our thing, show who we are (and) set a new bar.”
“I think it’s time to show them what we can do no matter the outcome,” McKay said. “If we win one, we win another one.”