Nlelly Mcenroe-Marinas finally agreed to $3.50Million 6 Years contract extension with….
One of the final players with Hawaii ties remaining in the softball NCAA Tournament in Nelly McEnroe-Marinas has advanced to the Women’s College World Series.
McEnroe-Marinas is a former Maryknoll star player and Waianae native who followed Jocelyn Alo‘s iconic footsteps to the University of Oklahoma. She is currently redshirting as a freshman for the Sooners but remains a valuable part of the program’s future.
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McEnroe-Marinas was the No. 6 overall player in her class, according to Extra Inning Softball.
Oklahoma, which has won three straight national championships, advanced to the Women’s College World Series with a sweep over Florida State in Super Regionals.
The Sooners (54-6) are the No. 2 seed in the Women’s College World Series, which begins Thursday.
Tennessee, which is taking on Alabama in the Super Regionals, features former Mililani player Jackie Kirkpatrick on its roster.
Oklahoma (37-4, 14-3 Big 12) fell to BYU (22-18, 5-12) on Friday at Love’s Field in Norman.
Here’s what head coach Patty Gasso, graduate catcher Kinzie Hansen and senior infielder Tiare Jennings said after the Sooners’ loss:
Gasso’s thoughts on the loss
“First off, I would say BYU just came in fearless and attacking, and they did a phenomenal job. They’re very good hitters and tough outs. We didn’t have our game today. There were a lot of things that didn’t go right for us. Some of them were mental mistakes, some of them were maybe a little bit of nerves, too much emotion. Felt like (there was) a lot of emotion in our dugout. I can’t take it away from BYU, they were outstanding. We got outcoached, we got outhit, we got outpitched, we got outplayed.
“We sometimes feel we’re not allowed to have a glitch in our season. What I’m really anxious and actually excited about is to see when this team steps up and steps forward, we’re going to be a different level.”
Gasso on OU’s pitching
“Not good enough. We can’t rely on one arm, and we need fighters. I’m not making excuses for anybody but it’s hard sometimes to play in this program because of the expectations. The pitchers are trying to be perfect, and when you’re trying to be perfect, you’re not going to be perfect. When you’re trying to be perfect at the plate, you’re gonna be frozen. We just have to get the ball and we need to have the mentality of ’Let’s go.’ We’re just really trying to be too perfect with things, and there’s just not a good feel to it. We just have to trust our stuff and be a gritty type of pitching staff. Sometimes we look that way and sometimes we don’t. Tonight we did not.”
Tiare Jennings and Kinzie Hansen on the recent stretch
Hansen: “There’s a good group of us that’s never been kicked in the teeth before. This one definitely hurts. We felt it last weekend too but going forward what are we going to do about it? There’s two choices that you can really make. Something that we always talk about is if you want to be great, you don’t really have a choice. So at this point, we all need to buy in and get on that path. That’s really the big message going forward is to look forward.”
Jennings: “I’m kind of excited because I’ve never felt this before, and I think for me it’s how am I going to respond. Is the leadership going to go down the drain or are we really going to buy into this team. Stepping up as leaders, just play free, keep having fun in the game. As long as we keep having fun, having each others backs, there’s not much more you can ask for in a team to respond. I think that looking forward to the future, this sucks but I think it’s going to be really good for us.”
Gasso on what the team can learn from this moment
“You can’t be below average play, effort and attitude and win at this level. I’m proud of our freshmen, I think they have that grit in there and I’m not worried about them. Coach Rocha called on the pitchers tonight. That’s what I’m learning is we’re not tough enough. We’re good, but we’re not good right now either. Can we flip this, can we turn this around, can it happen tomorrow? We’re gonna wake up and see where we’re at with it.
“That’s what we’re learning is we just don’t have the ingredients as a team that can win it all right now. That’s being flat out honest. (Tiare Jennings and Kinzie Hansen) know what it looks like, I know what it looks like, and this is not it. But the good news is we do know what it feels like. We’ve been there, we know how to get there, and that’s the good news.”
