Oklahoma Softball: Sooners Sweep to Fifth Straight Big 12 Crown

The last time the Oklahoma softball squad lost a game was 36 days and 20 games ago.

The No. 7-ranked Lady Sooners are 20-0 since then and have won 27 of their last 28 games. With just two games remaining in the regular season and a two-and-a-half-game lead over second-place Baylor, it all adds up to a not unexpected fifth consecutive Big 12 championship for Oklahoma.

A three-game sweep over Texas Tech (23-32, 6-12), in which Sooner pitchers Paige Parker and Jayden Chestnut held the Red Raiders to just eight total hits and one run all weekend, clinched the outright conference crown for Oklahoma. The Sooners won the first two games in the series by scores of 8-0 and 4-0 behind Parker, with Chestnut nailing down the series finale in a run-rule-shortened 10-1 rout.

OU has dominated Texas Tech in the all-time series between the two schools with a 49-7 record, including victories in the past 13 games. The combined score in those 13 Sooner wins has been 120-22.

Texas Tech’s lone run in the weekend series came in the fourth inning of the series finale on Sunday. Sooner pitchers continue to dominate their opponents, having given up just three earned runs in the last 11 games.

The Sooners’ 20-game win streak matches the fourth-longest in OU softball history and is the longest since a streak of 23 consecutive games in 2007.

Oklahoma now has captured a league-high nine Big 12 championship. No other conference team has won more than two titles in succession.

The Big 12 champions close out the 2016 regular season with a two-game home-and-home Bedlam series against Oklahoma State. The two teams play in Stillwater on Friday, and the scene switches to Norman on Saturday.