Oklahoma softball: Sooners are masters of run-rule decisions

Almost half of the 45 Oklahoma softball wins this season have been by a margin of at least eight runs.

When a team in college softball is ahead by eight or more runs after five innings, the game is ended two innings early. The No. 1-ranked Sooners have been in that situation 23 times this season — all on the winning side.

There is no way of telling whether that is a record number of wins by run rule or is on pace to become one because neither the NCAA nor OU keep official records on that statistic. By comparison, however, the 23 wins the Sooners have achieved by that means exceeds the 16 they totaled in each of their national championship seasons in 2016 and 2017 and is just one shy of the 24 they achieved in 62 games in 2015.

Oklahoma pitching, which ranks No. 2 in NCAA Division I softball with a staff ERA of 1.16, also has posted 20 shutout wins this season. That is second best in the nation behind Virginia Tech, which has 21 in 48 games.

The Sooners had two run-rule-shortened shutout wins last week, both on the road: an 8-0 win at Wichita State and a 14-0 whitewashing on Sunday at Iowa State. Both games went just five innings.

Producing that many victories in games that are shortened by the run rule is a testament not only to outstanding team pitching but also to also to a lineup loaded with dangerous hitters and doesn’t make many mistakes in the field. The Sooners have won 43 of 45 games this season, including a record 35 in a row, and are the top-ranked team in the country because they excel in all three facets: hitting, pitching and fielding.

OU leads the nation in team batting average (.366), scoring (352 runs scored, an average of 8.00 runs per game) and fielding percentage (.987 with just 14 errors).

If the goal of every team is to get better with each and every outing, improving as the season goes along, and be playing at your best heading into the postseason, the 2019 Oklahoma softball season should serve as a case study.

The Sooners on pace to post their best season record since 2013, when the Sooners were 57-4 and won the second of their four national championships) and potentially the best in Patty Gasso’s remarkable 25 seasons as the Oklahoma head coach. OU is currently ahead of schedule in what would be program records in batting average, slugging percentage, errors and fielding percentage.

They are the complete package this season, and the way the Sooners are playing right now, there are very few, if any, teams in the country who can play well enough to beat them.