Patty Gasso of Oklahoma University is expected to become the first woman’s head coach of an American Olympic Softball team after being appointed coach of the national team during the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
Softball competition at the 2028 Olympic Games will take place in Devon Park in Oklahoma City – the same stadium where Gasso guided the Sooners to the last four titles of Women’s College World Series.
“It’s really a remarkable moment in my career and a dream come true to be invited to train the American team”, ” Gasso said in a press release. “It is the highest honor that I can never receive, and I am humiliated and grateful for the confidence that USA Softball has in me. I have an intense passion to make Team USA the best possible to help win the gold medal in 2028. ”
Gasso is online to become the fourth American Olympic Olympic coach after Ralph Raymond (1996 and 2000), Mike Candea (2004 and 2008) and Ken Eriksen (2020).
Gasso begins his 31st season at the helm this week, after winning eight national titles in total in addition to the record sequence of four consecutive NCAAs in the current NCAA. Last September, a statue of Gasso was unveiled outside the Sooners stadium, Love’s Field.
Six previous women were head coach of the American national team outside the Olympic Games – Rosalie Sorenson (1970), Marge Ricker (1982), Carol Spanks (1987), Shirley Topley (1991), Margie Wright (1998) and Heather Tarr (2021).
The United States is the most successful nation in the history of Olympic softball after making the final of the five tournaments. The Americans took gold in 1996, 2000 and 2004 and Silver behind Japan in 2008 and 2020.
Softball was withdrawn from the Olympic program after the 2008 Beijing Games, then returned to Tokyo 2020 at the request of the local organizing committee.
The 2028 also proposed that softball among sports be added for its games, that the IOC approved in October 2023.
Softball is not on the Olympic program beyond 2028, but the Australian organizers could offer its inclusion for the 2032 Brisbane Games.
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