Sooner Softball: Getting Set for Big 12 Championship Double-Double
By Chip Rouse
Sooner softball has one 2017 championship already in hand, and later this week the defending national champion OU women go after another as the Big 12 Softball Championship gets underway at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
It seems fitting that Oklahoma, the Big 12 regular-season champions for a sixth consecutive season and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which returns for the first time since 2010, will be playing closest to home and at the same venue where the Sooners won the Women’s College World Series a year ago.
Fitting to Sooner fans, but certainly not so for the other five teams that complete the bracket for this year’s conference championship tournament.
For the second straight season, Patty Gasso’s OU softball team finished the regular season, which ended this past weekend, with a 17-1 conference record, matching its best in the Big 12 era. It marks the fifth consecutive year, the Sooners have run the Big 12 gauntlet with three or fewer losses.
The postseason conference tournament in softball was discontinued after the 2010 season. The Sooners were the last team to win the conference tournament, winning their fourth Big 12 Tournament championship in 2010.
Winners of 22 of its last 23 games, and fresh off of a three-game sweep in the Bedlam Cup series with Oklahoma State, OU will begin defense of its 2010 tournament title in an afternoon game Friday against the Texas Longhorns, the No. 4 seed. The Sooners will also play an evening game on Friday, paired against No. 6 seed Texas Tech.
The field for the Big 12 Championship has been divided into two pools. Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech are in Pool A. No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Iowa State are in Pool B.
The first day (Friday) will consist of pool play only. On championship Saturday, the two third-place teams in each pool will play each other, followed by the two second-place teams. The two first-place teams will play for the conference championship in the final game of the tournament.
If Oklahoma is able to repeat its regular-season championship by winning three games in the conference tournament, it would be the first time the Sooners have won both conference championships in the same year. In its four previous tournament championships, OU did not capture the conference title in the regular season.
Next: Sooners Shut Out Oklahoma State, Clinch Big 12 Title
If the regular season would have ended a week earlier, Kansas would be in the six-team field instead of Iowa State. The Lady Cyclones took all three games in their weekend series against the Jayhawks, which eliminated Kansas from participating in the conference championship.