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Oklahoma Softball: We May Not Have Seen the Best of This Team

By Chip Rouse

Sep 13, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans during the game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 13, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans during the game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Young players are not expected to step right in and perform like champions, but don’t tell that to the national-champion Oklahoma softball team.

All but two players in the Sooner softball starting lineup were freshman and sophomores, four of each. This youthful Oklahoma team won 57 games this season, the last one of which earned them the program’s third national championship.

Those 57 victories, including 31 straight and 32 of 33 to end the season, were the fourth most in Big 12 history. Sophomore Paige Parker, arguably the best pitcher in the country, won 38 of those 57 games.

And here’s even better news: This Sooner softball team is far from finished winning games. Only three other schools have won more national championships in softball than Oklahoma: UCLA has 12 national titles, Arizona has eight and Arizona State has won it all four times.

It won’t be a bit surprising to see Oklahoma out in front of the Big 12 for a sixth consecutive season in 2017 and back in Oklahoma City and the Women’s College World Series for a sixth time in the past seven seasons.

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With a lineup dominated by freshman and sophomores, the Sooners finished with the second-best team batting average in the country (.351) and were also No. 2 in the nation on defense. And no pitcher threw more innings and had a better winning percentage than OU’s Parker. The key elements in all of those statistical categories are back again next season, which is why – if you dare to believe it – Oklahoma could be even stronger next season.

First baseman Shay Knighton, third baseman Sydney Romero, designated-player Fale Aviu and center fielder Nicole Pendley all hit .335 or better this season for the Sooners and all were first-year players and starters.

And here’s something to think about ahead of next season. If the Sooners were able to successfully defend the national championship they just celebrated, they would become only the fourth team in Women’s College World Series history to do so. UCLA and Arizona both did it on three separate occasions – the Bruins actually won it three consecutive years from 1988-90 – and Florida also won back-to-back championships.

A WCWS title again next season also would be Oklahoma’s third in five seasons and fourth overall.

Certainly not an unrealistic goal.

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