One of the most important moments in building the Oklahoma baseball team that is back in an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2013 happened sitting around a picnic table in Compton, California.
That's where an East Coast coach-turned-head coach of the Sooners, Pete Hughes, asked Renae Martinez — a California kid trying to make it back to major college baseball — to have a chat one day after practice.
“Tell me about you,” Hughes said. “Tell me about your life — your baseball experience.”
The conversation got going and after about 30 minutes, Hughes had heard everything he needed to hear.