There will be plenty of emotions involved during the “Gasso Bowl” this weekend at Bogle Park.
With every pitch of a three-game series, either Arkansas softball hitting coach DJ Gasso or his mother, legendary Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso, will be getting the upper hand.
The family ties do not end there. D.J. Gasso’s older brother JT is an assistant coach on his mother’s Oklahoma staff.
With the 15th-ranked Razorbacks (20-3, 1-2 SEC) opening their home SEC slate against the top-ranked Sooners, the family reunion in Fayetteville is shaping up to be the attention of the college softball world for three days.
Arkansas and Oklahoma (23-0, 3-0) are scheduled to get the series underway with Game 1 on Friday at 6 p.m. The game will stream live on SEC Network+.
“It’s kind of more of a celebration, honestly,” Patty Gasso said. “I remember when [DJ and JT] were little and I was like, ‘I’m doing a horrible job, being a mom and being a coach. I’m not taking care of them.’
“Never in a million years thought they would end up being…softball coaches. The fact that they are both doing it, to me it’s like celebration of, ‘Wow.’”
Arkansas coach Courtney Deifel got her start as a graduate assistant under Patty Gasso at Oklahoma from 2008-09. Sixteen years later, she hired Gasso’s son to be on her staff.
“I think anytime you do anything, you want to make your parents proud,” Deifel said. “He's learned so many lessons from them. He's also learned a lot on his own and made his own name…He's a competitor, so his focus is going to be on getting our team the most prepared and ready and fighting every pitch.”
Deifel said she was not anticipating a coaching career, but wanted to further her education. It was by happenstance she got an opportunity to do both.
“I was playing [professionally] in Japan, and knew I was about ready to be done.” Deifel said. “I wanted to get my masters. That's something my mom always was really big on for me and my sister, was just making sure we got our master’s before anything else.”
Deifel’s connection with Patty Gasso was formed due to the help of her sister, Amanda Scott, a former star pitcher on the 1998 national championship Fresno State team.
“And so my sister is actually recruiting [at the same game as] Patty….and I just said, ‘Hey, will you ask if she has a GA spot?’ Deifel said. “And it was just a random coincidence they were sitting next to each other at a game. I happened to talk to my sister, and she said she was sitting next to her. She knew Patty through [legendary softball coach Margie Wright].
“I was that simple. They happened to have a mid-season departure, and I happened to be looking for a mid-season or mid-year spot. And she called me I think the next day, and it just kind of worked out…. That was a case of really good timing and so that's how I first got connected with Patty and being the GA at Oklahoma.”
DJ Gasso joked he will “nag” his mother throughout the game to get her to smile. He got emotional describing the impact Patty has made on him.
“How you do one thing is how you do everything,” DJ Gasso said. “She’s always been an extremely hard worker, hustler, just finds ways to get it done, get better. When she would do the garden herself, she was grinding.
“I know, because I would have to pick up all that trash. That’s just a little example of something you do around the house, and she just loves that hard work, whether you’re at the field or on the recruiting trail, she’s going to work hard and I think that’s kind of carried over.”
The Arkansas hitting coach will also be pitted against Oklahoma outfielder Abby Dayton, who he coached at Utah in the same position in 2023. Dayton is batting .323 this season working with DJ’s brother, JT.
“She’s a stud,” DJ Gasso said. “I recruited her for a long, long time. It’s almost like she didn’t want to say yes to Utah… I believed in her since she was in high school and knew that she was a very athletic, competitive and fiery kid.”
With a top-15 showdown on hand and all the background intrigue, Deifel is expecting an exciting environment at Bogle Park.
“II would expect it to be sold out,” Deifel said. “And I would expect this crowd to look very similar to our [2022 NCAA Super Regionals series against Texas] where there’s not an empty seat and we have spillover onto [Stadium Drive] a little bit, maybe onto the hill across.
“I think it's going to be an electric environment, and it'll be fun. That's why you do it.”