NORMAN — Patty Gasso, for the first time in 21 years, won’t share the Oklahoma softball dugout with Melyssa Lombardi this season.
The coaching duo, with Gasso at the helm and Lombardi as her top assistant, won four national championships together with 12 Women’s College World Series appearances.
Before Lombardi was hired as Oregon’s head coach in July — ending an era in Norman — Gasso knew who she wanted as her next associate head coach.
Jennifer Rocha wasn’t expecting the call.
“It really kind of took me back a little bit,” Rocha said. “I was very flattered that she called and really had to do a lot of thinking and discussing.