Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma softball: Sooners earn No. 4 national seed in NCAA Championship

By Chip Rouse

TUCSON, AZ - APRIL 13: Softball with the Arizona Wildcats logo during a college softball game between the UCLA Bruins and the Arizona Wildcats on April 13, 2018, at Hillenbrand Stadium in Tucson, AZ. UCLA Bruins defeated Arizona Wildcats 7-6. (Photo by Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TUCSON, AZ - APRIL 13: Softball with the Arizona Wildcats logo during a college softball game between the UCLA Bruins and the Arizona Wildcats on April 13, 2018, at Hillenbrand Stadium in Tucson, AZ. UCLA Bruins defeated Arizona Wildcats 7-6. (Photo by Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma softball will enter the NCAA Softball championship as the No, 4 national seed and will host both a regional and a super regional as long as they remain in the tournament.

NCAA postseason appearances is nothing new for head coach Patty Gasso’s Sooners. OU has made the NCAA Tournament all 24 years Gasso has been at the helm, and for the past 12 seasons, Oklahoma has been a national seed (top 16).

The two-time defending national champions are seeking to become only the second school to win three consecutive national titles (UCLA is the other). Only four teams have won back-to-back national championships. The Sooners also were national champions in 2013.

Norman is one of 16 regional sites that will host games this weekend. The four teams in the Norman Regional are Missouri (28-27, 6-17), out of the SEC; Tulsa (33-23, 10-11), out of the American Athletic Conference, and Boston University (39-18, 15-3), champions of the Patriot League.

Although the Sooners are the top seed in the Norman Regional, they will not have an easy go of it. OU has played two of the three teams that are in the regional this season. One of Oklahoma’s three losses this season was to Boston University, 4-3 in the Troy Cox Classis in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in February. The Sooners eeked out a 1-0 decision at Tulsa in mid-April.

Oklahoma (50-3) followed up its seventh consecutive Big 12 regular-season crown with a win in the conference postseason tournament, the sixth time the Sooners have won the postseason title in the Big 12 era.

Missouri and Tulsa will meet in the first game of the Norman Regional on Friday. That will be followed by Oklahoma hosting Boston University.

The winners of Friday’s games will go at one another in game one on Saturday. After that, the two losing teams from Friday will play each other in an elimination game. Game three on Saturday will feature the winner of elimination game taking on the loser of Saturday’s opening game.

The winner of the final game on Saturday will play the winner of the first game on Saturday for the regional championship. If a second game is needed to decide the regional title, it will be played Sunday afternoon.

The champion of the Norman Regional will meet the Fayetteville Regional winner in one of the eight NCAA Super Regionals. If the Sooners prevail in their home regional, they will host a Super Regional.

Three other Big 12 schools are headed to the NCAA Softball Championship. Oklahoma State will travel to the Fayetteville Regional (with No. 13 Arkansas, Wichita State and DePaul), Baylor will be at the College Station Regional (with No. 15 Texas A&M, McNeese State and Prairie View), and Texas will be in Seattle (witn No. 5 seed Washington, Minnesota and Boise State).

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