Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso hadn’t felt what she did Monday night in several years.

The Sooners, winners of the last four Women’s College World Series national championships, were

eliminated from the tournament by Texas Tech

. Gasso was contemplative afterward, having taken a team with 14 new players as deep into the tourney as she did.

The world may have not considered Oklahoma underdogs, but the team had a sense they were, anyway.

After the game, Gasso reflected on what she called one of her most fun years as a coach ever.

Patty Gasso opening statement

Congratulations to Texas Tech. They earned that. They played well, they hit well, they pitched well. Well deserved. Just extremely proud of this team. Who they are first. What they do second. It’s been a joyous ride and if you would have ever asked me – and I think I’ve already said this a million times – but we’re standing at the World Series as one of the top three teams left with a team of 14 newcomers. I just shared with them in the locker room how much fun I had with them. Coaching them. Watching them grow. Watching them be hungry. Watching them never quit. The amount of rebounded, extra-inning or last-inning heroics and come-from-behind wins has been something incredible. As much as I need a break, I’m really ready to have them come back and start over again because I think we learned so much and we’re going to be that much better. Lessons along the way. What I hope is that they learned lessons about themselves. And turning from girls to women, that’s really important to this program. Giving them life lessons and versing them and things that will help them throughout life. It was an emotional, amazing, one of my favorite years of all time, I must say.

Gasso on feelings in the moment

Yes. I haven’t felt this in a while. No one is feeling sorry for me about that, I’m sure. But you always want to raise a trophy and just celebrate down at Toby Keith’s place. That’s kind of been our place the last four years. I don’t know. It’s hard to talk about. I’m really excited for the future, but really, really pumped for Cyd Sanders to have her best softball when it was needed. It finished that way. Tonight was a tough night for Sam Landry. A lot of emotions for her because of her connection to Louisiana and now all of them at Texas Tech. I was really proud of her because that could have been a very tough situation. She handled it really, really well. There was a lot of emotions going on for her. It’s hard to lose. This was the most enjoyable season I’ve had in a long time. Us, as coaches, really feel that everybody kind of jumped on board with us. They believed in what we were saying. They carried on the championship mindset. They grinded on the field every single day. There are some future superstars on this team and I’m really excited about that. But they had to grown through Cyd Sanders and some of these others that have been around. Ella Parker. Still going to be a young team next year. Extremely excited about it. Just don’t want to think about it right now. They’ve done some miraculous things. You witnessed one that just happened not long ago with the walk-off with two strikes. Their ability to believe has been unbelievable this season.

Gasso on what impressed her about the young team’s growth

It’s just absolute trust in each other. If you would have seen it in September and October, we started to kind of gel a little bit more in November. But it was still so new. So many things to learn. Still, at the end of the season, we didn’t work on such-and-such enough. We need to do more of that. Seemed like time flew so fast and just kept going. I can’t even believe the season is over. Normally, I’m like ‘Thank God.’ But this was, let’s keep going, let’s keep going, let’s keep going. It really was fun to watch them work together and believe together. They never, ever, ever thought that they would lose. Ever. A lot of times they didn’t. It’s been a wonderful time.

Gasso on pitcher Sam Landry

I just go back to when I was recruiting her out of the portal. Literally sat in an iHOP with her and made her an offer in Norman with her family. Her mom kind of disappeared, went into the restroom and I’m like ‘what’s going on? Are we yes? Are we no? I don’t know.’ She didn’t want to leave her family. Her mom didn’t want her to leave. But she knew that this was right. It started off like yes or no, c’mon, what are we doing? When she said yes, I was so excited about that because I  know coach (Jennifer) Rocha could create something really special. No offense to anyone, she’s a different pitcher here. What I loved about her, she’s gone through a lot but her confidence was very, very strong. She maintained. Kind of in and out sometimes, but I can’t tell you how fun it was to watch her have that confidence and lead us in that way. Man, I really have a lot of fun with her. We connect really well. She’s got a very infectious smile, but she’s that big of a person. All of these guys are just special young women. Sam got that golden ticket and she truly thought ‘my career is going to end at OU.’ And when she got that golden ticket, it was such a big moment for her. Deservedly so. She’s always going to be part of this program. I hope she’s not going to go far away. She’s going to try to go to med school soon and try to do it here in Oklahoma.

Gasso on roller-coaster of emotions late in the game

They continued to believe. It’s just like, get your swing off. You’ve got to get there real quick. (Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady) is unbelievable. She’s really tough. It was hard to square her up. It was hard to make solid contact. As long as they have a swing left, they believe. They do. And that’s proof of it.

Gasso on references to OU as a historic program

I appreciate those comments. Not warranted, but appreciated, for sure. I don’t even, honestly, think about that. I just do my job. That’s all I’m trying to do is turn girls into women and help them become elite softball athletes but at the same time, make sure they learn about life so that they become good mothers, good daughters, good friends. That they try to live the right way, do the right things. Those are the lessons that are going on that are probably more important to me than wins and losses. I want them to walk away and say ‘I’m equipped for anything. I can handle this. I can handle anything.’ Losing is not fun. But losing is life. We all lose at something. It’s hard, but it’s lessons learned from it. I think that’s probably what’s most important for me is these guys leave with something to take with them for the rest of their lives.

Gasso on the importance to keep tenets of program year after year

I look at the front row of these crazy, crazy athletes that we had last year that have been winning championships. They’ve got their rings on them and they’re just flashing them out there. They’re proud of it, but they’re here and they’re supporting this next movement. I can hear Rylie Boone. Oh, my gosh. I don’t know how she does it. I don’t know how she has a voice left. They’re running around with signs and they’re loving our team. They love this team. They want to help them however they can during the game. Shay Knighten is here. Caleigh Clifton. They’re all around. They’re all helping out. They’re just very prideful and they feel it as much as anyone. It’s very fun for them to watch them carry on their legacy. It’s not their legacy anymore. This is a new legacy they’re starting. That’s something we talked about in the locker room.

Gasso on importance of team understanding what they did was special

They’re just ‘we got a trophy, all right.’ It is the most confusing thing for me. I’ve never seen them dogpile or do anything like that. Today was the first time I’ve seen them cry. That was not the emotion that I wanted to see. It happens. It comes with it. But they just have a crazy expectation of greatness. And it happens so fast. We’re sitting in the locker room and I’m looking at Ailana (Agbayani) and I’m looking at Gabbie (Garcia) and they’re sitting next to each other. And they used to – early in the season or in January, they were still trying to connect as a middle and now they’re sitting together holding hands and they’re crying. Just looking around at some of these connections and just the growth was so fast and so furious. But so beautiful to watch. It really, really was. I don’t know. It was pretty amazing. I’m at a loss of words because it was so far beyond anything that I thought this season would be like. So incredibly proud of them. If we would have won the national championship, I still don’t know if they would celebrate. I don’t know. Hopefully we’ll know again sometime.

Gasso on strategy of keeping powerhouse program in NIL/portal era

Quite honestly, getting players in your program that are 100% bought in. That are 100% behind the program, the coaches, teammates, etc. This day and age, I think there’s a lot of ‘I’m not playing here, I’m going somewhere else.’ It’s fine. Doesn’t bother me at all. I’ve never tried to stop anyone if they’re ever trying to leave because I want them to find what they want. If it isn’t here, it isn’t here. The right people need to be in your program giving everything they have.

Gasso on changes WCWS needs to make

And, can I go on a soapbox for one second, please, everyone? Because I’m old enough, I don’t care what anyone thinks anymore. I see Joe. Don’t worry Joe, this isn’t going to be bad. I’ve been in this tournament enough and there’s one thing that has to change. I’m going to say it out loud and I hope the committee is going to look at this. If we are all about women’s athletics and women’s sports and rah-rah, do not make us play doubleheaders to get to a national championship series. Do not do that. Don’t do that. They don’t do it in baseball. It should not happen. If we were to win or if Texas Tech were to lose and they made here all the way undefeated and they were to lose to us and then we have to play another game right after, that is not fair. It’s not fair to them more than it is not fair to use because we didn’t get there on the road that they did. But we’ve got to make changes. We’ve got to put money into this. People will watch. They’ll come back and they’ll watch this next day. This is one of the most-watched championships in any sport. Softball is one of the top. So why wouldn’t you want to come back and watch that ‘if’ game? Or would you rather watch us have zero energy left and you’re not able to throw your best because you’re just trying to scrap it together. It’s unfair to the athletes at this high level. That is my soapbox. Let’s try to change that even if it’s going to cost a little bit of extra money. These athletes deserve it. And thank you all very much. Thank you for listening.

This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire:

Everything Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said after Sooners lost to Texas Tech in WCWS