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Oklahoma softball: Five things to know about Super Regional opponent Auburn

By Chip Rouse

Nov 21, 2015; Louisville, KY, USA; General view of the NCAA logo during the 2015 NCAA cross country championships at Tom Sawyer Park. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 21, 2015; Louisville, KY, USA; General view of the NCAA logo during the 2015 NCAA cross country championships at Tom Sawyer Park. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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The defending national-champion Oklahoma softball team is still alive in its quest to make it to the Women’s College World Series for a second straight year and sixth time in the last seven seasons.

In order to continue the journey this season, though, the Sooners must first get by the Auburn Tigers out of the Southeastern Conference in the Super Regionals this weekend. That best-two-out-of-three series is being played on Auburn’s home diamond at Jane. B. Moore Field, beginning Friday afternoon (3 p.m. CT on ESPN2).

ESPN is calling the OU-Auburn Super Regional one of the dream round-of-16 matchups in the 2017 NCAA Softball Championship. The reason for that is because these are the same two teams that met in the championship final series in last season’s Women’s College World Series. The Sooners came out on top in that matchup, winning the deciding game in a nail-biter, 2-1.

OU head coach Patty Gasso knows her team is in for a real fight against the champions of the Auburn Regional. “What a great team. Very well coached. They made us play so much better. They made us better,” the Sooner coach said after OU’s WCWS victory this time last year.

“What a great team. Very well coached. They made us have to play so much better. They made us better.” –OU coach Patty Gasso on Auburn after the Sooners defeated the Tigers in last season’s Women’s College World Series championship final

Oklahoma and Auburn are ranked 6th and 8th, respectively, in the ESPN.com/USA Softball national rankings, but the Tigers are seeded are the No. 7 seed in this year’s NCAA Softball Championship, while the Sooners are the No. 10 seed.

Five more things to know about OU’s Super Regional opponent, the Auburn Tigers:

  • Oklahoma and Auburn have faced each other six times previously. The Sooners are 4-2 in the all-time series. One of the losses came a year ago in the Women’s College World Series; the other came in the opening game of the 2017 season, when Auburn defeated the Sooners 3-2 in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Mexico.
  • Auburn head coach Clint Meyers has been to 10 NCAA Super Regionals in softball and won nine of them. He is 2-0 with Auburn in Super Regional competition.
  • Auburn starting pitchers Kaylee Carlson and Makayla Martin have won 47 of the Tigers’ 49 games this season. Combined, they have a record of  47-9 and both have ERAs under 2.00 (Carlson 1.22 and Martin 1.89). Martin was the winning pitcher in Auburn’s 3-2 win over the Sooners earlier this season. She gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.
  • Auburn first baseman Kendall Veach has slugged 12 home runs this season, two of those came against Oklahoma in the season-opening game for both teams.
  • This has not been as productive a year at the plate for the College World Series runners-up from last season. A year ago, the Tigers hit .317 as a team with 89 home runs and 499 runs batted in. In 2017, however, Auburn is batting a collective .281 at the plate to go along with 50 home runs and 301 RBI, almost 200 fewer than last season. The Tigers make up for it, though, with outstanding pitching.
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