Oklahoma softball: Sooners a heavy favorite in Big 12 Championship

No team in the country is playing as well as the Oklahoma softball team is right now — not by a long shot.

The Sooners are 48-2 through 50 games, have strung together a program-record 38 consecutive victories and just completed back-to-back seasons with a perfect 18-0 record in the Big 12. They have more than earned their No. 1 national ranking.

In addition, 23 of Oklahoma’s 48 wins this season have been by run rule (a game is considered over after five innings if a team is ahead by eight or more runs) and 22 by shutout.

This weekend, in the Big 12 Softball Championship, the rest of the league gets one last chance this season at knocking off a Sooner squad that has not lost a game to a conference opponent since the 2017 season. Oklahoma is 43-0 since then against teams from the Big 12.

The dynastic Sooners are seeking a 10th straight Big 12 Tournament championship to go along with their eight consecutive regular-season conference crowns. This is the 24th year for the Big 12 Softball Championship; Oklahoma has captured the tournament title six times, including the last three (the postseason conference tournament was not played between 2011 and 2016).

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Oklahoma, the top seed, will play No. 4 Texas Tech (38-13, 8-10) and No. 6 Kansas (15-35, 3-15) as part of Friday’s pool play schedule. The other side of the bracket features No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Texas and No. 5 Iowa State.

If Oklahoma wins both of its Friday games, and in the process extends its current winning streak to 40 games, the Sooners will qualify for the championship game on Saturday against the winner of the other bracket.

In head-to-head competition against Texas Tech, Oklahoma is 59-7 all-time, including 23-0 in the last 23 meetings. The Sooners swept the then No. 14-ranked Red Raiders in Lubbock this season, outscoring them in the three-game series by the combined score of 26-5.

Against Kansas this season, the Oklahoma pitchers held the Jayhawks scoreless in three games, allowing just five hits total. The Sooners have won 10 consecutive games against Kansas and are 69-44 all-time.

The Sooners not only own the top seed in the tournament,, but are also playing close to home, in Oklahoma City, at the USA Hall of Fame Stadium Complex, which is also the site for the Women’s College World Series. OU is hoping this will serve as a preview of where it wants to be playing in several weeks.

Oklahoma comes into the 2019 Big 12 Championship tournament leading the conference in hitting (.367 team batting average), pitching (1.17 team earned run average), fielding (15 errors, .987 fielding percentage) and, of course, the standings. OU won the Big 12 regular season by five games over second-place Oklahoma State.

Five of the top 10 hitters in the league play for the Sooners, and three of the top four earned-run averages belong to OU starting pitchers.

The defense rests…