It's been a decade, but Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel still remembers what Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso warned her when she was first interested in leading the Razorbacks.
Deifel was a graduate assistant under Gasso for two seasons at OU before a couple of brief stops and ultimately ending up at Arkansas in 2016. The No. 6 Razorbacks visit Norman this weekend for a top-10 SEC series as Deifel, with the help of assistant coach DJ Gasso, the son of the OU coach, has built Arkansas into a consistent national contender as Gasso's early words still linger in her mind.
Courtney Deifel still chasing Oklahoma with Razorbacks
"I remember looking at this job and talking to Patty, and she's like, 'Well, you're gonna be here for every regional,'" Deifel shared this week. "And I'm like, 'Or you'll be here, you know, like, what?' So I still remember that in the back of my head."
Gasso wasn't necessarily arrogant in her statement. It was the truth at that point. Arkansas had made six appearances in the NCAA Tournament then, and five times was sent to Norman. Then, the first time Deifel led the Razorbacks to an NCAA regional in 2017, they again headed to Norman, where the Sooners outscored Arkansas 24-6 in a pair of wins.
In 2018, the Razorbacks finally got to host their own regional, but after defending their own turf, they were back in Oklahoma for Super Regionals, getting swept and outscored 16-2 in two games. That was at least a turning point, though, as the Razorbacks haven't visited Norman in the postseason since. With the NCAA now seeding teams 1-32 to set matchups, and OU and Arkansas both being in the SEC, those instances will become even more rare.
"(Norman) is where we got sent early, and now we're in a position where we're hosting Regionals and Super Regionals and putting ourselves in that conversation," Deifel said. "I do think back. I still remember that conversation vividly of like, 'Well that's not necessarily how it's going to go, you know,' and just having a really strong belief in what we could build here."
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The Razorbacks, though, just like everyone else, are still chasing the Sooners, who not only regularly host a regional, but have made the Women's College World Series nine years in a row, not counting 2020 when the event was canceled. Arkansas, meanwhile, even as the No. 4 overall seed last year, still hasn't made it to Oklahoma City, which has become much more of a priority than playing in Fayetteville.
But the level of competition this weekend at Love's Field will reveal how much that gap has shrunk between the Sooners and Razorbacks.
"It is something I think that's been the measure of college softball is what Oklahoma has done and continues to do," Deifel said. "And so it's something you're always striving for. Although, we don't do it like them. I think we play at a high level, and yet our day-to-day interactions and our day-to-day belief is different. And so I think there's a lot of different ways to be successful."
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