Throughout Oklahoma, softball is widespread, and the Sooners are the state’s most outstanding team. Continue reading if you want to know everything about the Oklahoma Softball Team.
So, Who Are The Oklahoma Sooners?
Softball at the NCAA Division I college level is represented by the University of Oklahoma Sooners. OU Softball Complex in Norman, Oklahoma, serves as the team’s home base for Big 12 Conference play. Patty Gasso is now the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.
OU has won the Big 12 Conference Championship 14 times, advanced to the NCAA tournament 27 times, and has achieved victory in the NCAA championship six times. There were four AIAW Women’s College World Series appearances for Oklahoma.
History Of Oklahoma Softball Team
The Oklahoma Softball Team Sooners earned their first national title in 2000. They beat Harvard, Cal-State Northridge, and Oregon State in their home regionals to go to the Women’s College World softball Series for the first time. They won their first national softball championship with a 3-1 victory against UCLA. Los Angeles defeated Southern Mississippi and Arizona to reach the finals, where they will face UCLA.
They hosted and won the regional in 2013, a 41-6 win against Marist and Arkansas. This time, they hosted the Texas A&M Aggies in the super regionals, where they defeated them 18-2. To get to the finals in Tennessee, they had to beat 8-seed Michigan, 10-ranked Texas, and 11-ranked Washington in Oklahoma City. After 12 innings of play in Game 1, Lauren Chamberlain hit her memorable two-run walk-off home run. Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Gascoigne both threw a shutout in the second game to win their second national championship.
Wichita State and Ole Miss fell to them in the 2016 regional final, which they hosted again. They overcame Alabama in the opening round of the competition after a dramatic extra-innings victory. They carried on to host their super regional softball game against Louisiana-Lafayette, winning 3-0 to proceed to the Women’s College World Series again.
Game 2 was a rematch with 12th-ranked Michigan, while games three and four were wins over LSU and Auburn, respectively. Their last softball game ended in a 2-1 victory thanks to Paige Parker’s complete-game shutout performance.
In 2017, the Oklahoma Softball Team Sooners hosted a second consecutive regional and defeated North Dakota State, Arkansas, and Tulsa. After that, they advanced to the Super Regionals, where they prevailed in two games against the #7 Auburn Tigers.
Baylor was held to a draw in Oklahoma City, Washington was beaten, and Oregon was beaten to set up a showdown with Florida. In the championships’ longest game (17 innings), they prevailed in game one. They won their fourth national title with a 3-0 victory in the final match.
As the No. 1 seed in their regional in 2021, the Oklahoma Sooners defeated Wichita State, Texas A&M, and Morgan State. Their victory against Washington in the semi-finals allowed them to host the super regional, which they won 2-0.
After losing to James Madison University in the first round of the Women’s College World Series, they won four consecutive softball elimination games to get to the championship series, defeating Georgia, UCLA, and James Madison again. They were beaten in the first game of the final series by Florida State but returned to win the next two and clinch their sixth national title.
Oklahoma’s Softball Field
It was reported on October 28th, 2021, that Love’s Field, a new softball stadium, would begin construction in 2022 and open in time for the 2024 season. A $9 million contribution from Love’s led to the name of the building. The project is expected to cost $27 million in total. The structure will be 44,000 square feet in size and can accommodate 3,000 people.
Final Words
All you need to know about the Oklahoma softball team and its history and present situation is included in this article. You need to see this information if you want to learn more about softball in Oklahoma and its popularity.