How Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso became softball's GOAT - ESPN

NORMAN, Okla. — Patty Gasso pulled Jocelyn Alo into her office and told college softball's eventual career home run queen to go home.

It was early April 2019, and Gasso, then in her 25th season coaching Oklahoma, had watched her budding superstar struggle for months. After leading the nation with 30 home runs as a freshman in 2018, Alo spent the initial weeks of her sophomore season mired in a slump, toiling under the heightened expectations and attention that followed her debut campaign. Across her first 40 games that spring, Alo homered just seven times.

«I didn't know how to deal with it,» Alo said. «I felt it all fall and into the spring. I didn't want to play softball. I didn't enjoy showing up to practice. I lived with the pressure every single day.»

More than just a young hitter pressing in the batter's box, Gasso saw Alo devolving into a frustrated presence capable of dragging the Sooners' locker room down with her. So, Oklahoma's coach handed Alo an enforced break before a three-game series at Kansas, barring her from practice, team workouts and the road trip.

For seven days, Alo lived as a normal student. Watching her teammates roll to a series sweep from her couch, Alo suddenly felt the perspective she had been missing wash over her. Alo returned to hit 85 home runs over the next three-and-a-half seasons, closing her career in 2022 as a two-time national champion and Division I softball's all-time home run leader.

«As hard as I fought Patty on it, that was a monumental moment that shaped me and kind of propelled me into my success,» she said. «Coach Gasso knows how to bring greatness out of every player — not just on the field but in every aspect of life. There's simply not enough words to explain how special