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Oklahoma softball: A great Sooner team is getting even better

By Chip Rouse

SEPTEMBER 23 - BLACKTOWN: A general view of the softball game between women's Chinese and Canadian national teams, playing at the Blacktown Olympic Center, in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia, on September 23, 2000. (Photo by Stephen Munday/Getty Images)
SEPTEMBER 23 - BLACKTOWN: A general view of the softball game between women's Chinese and Canadian national teams, playing at the Blacktown Olympic Center, in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia, on September 23, 2000. (Photo by Stephen Munday/Getty Images) /
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Every head coach wants to see his or her team get better as the season goes along. That being the case, Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso should be feeling really good right now.

The Sooners, 35-2 and ranked No. 2 in the country, have won 25 consecutive games since a 7-1 loss to then No. 2 UCLA on Feb. 22. They have also won a Big 12 record 31 consecutive games against conference opponents. The 25-game win streak is the longest active streak in Division I softball.

OU begins the second longest road trip in program history this weekend with three games at Kansas. You have to go all the way back to 1981 to find another Sooner road trip longer than this one. Oklahoma started the 1981 season with 12 consecutive games away from home.

Following the three games at Kansas, the Sooners will travel south down I-35 a week from now for a Red River Showdown with the Texas Longhorns, and then it will be back north the weekend of April 27 for a series against Iowa State.

This weekend, however, the focus is on the Jayhawks, who are 14-24 overall and 2-4 in the Big 12. Kansas was swept by Oklahoma State a week ago, scoring just four runs in three games. The Sooners are 66-44 all-time against Kansas and 20-12 when playing on the Jayhawks’ home field.

A David vs. Goliath matchup

The Kansas pitching staff, which ranks last in the Big 12 with a staff ERA of 4.79, will have to contend with one of the best offensive teams in the country in Oklahoma. The Sooners lead the nation in batting average (.381), on-base percentage (.467) and slugging percentage (.692), and average over eight runs per game.

The Jayhawks have scored the second fewest runs in the Big 12 (3.71 per game), and that task is not going to get any easier against the Oklahoma pitchers, who own the second-best ERA in Division I softball (1.31).

Six of the top 10 hitters in the Big 12 this season are Sooners, with senior Sydney Romero holding down the top spot with a batting average of .455. The OU third baseman ranks in the top-10 nationally in at least seven offensive categories.

The Oklahoma offense has dominated its opponents this season, outscoring all comers by the overwhelming margin of 305-46 this season, Nineteen of the Sooners’ 35 wins have been by run rule (games are ended after a team has a lead of eight or more runs after five innings).

What makes the Sooners such a difficult matchup is because they can beat you in multiple ways. Very few opponents can match Oklahoma’s offensive production, but you better be able to score some runs because the OU pitchers don’t give up many.

Sixteen of Oklahoma’s 35 wins have been shutouts, and Sooner pitchers have given up more than one run in a game just nine times this season.

Home or away, it doesn’t really matter

Oklahoma is virtually unbeatable at home (they’ve won 46 straight at Marita Hynes Field in Norman), but they have been equally as good on the road, which bodes well for the upcoming road trip.  The Sooners are 63-4 in true road games over the last five seasons and 36-2 over that same span in Big 12 road games.

The Sooners are 9-4 in their last five trips to Lawrence, Kansas. It will be highly surprising, given the wide talent disparity between these two team, if Oklahoma does not record its third consecutive Big 12 series sweep this weekend and extend its nation-best overall and conference win streaks.

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