Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma softball: Five reasons OU will win a 5th national championship

By Chip Rouse

CHIBA, JAPAN - AUGUST 03: Haylie McCleney #8 of United States hits two-run home run in the third inning against Mexico during the Preliminary Round match at Akitsu Stadium on day two of the WBSC Women's Softball World Championship on August 3, 2018 in Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)
CHIBA, JAPAN - AUGUST 03: Haylie McCleney #8 of United States hits two-run home run in the third inning against Mexico during the Preliminary Round match at Akitsu Stadium on day two of the WBSC Women's Softball World Championship on August 3, 2018 in Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images) /
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30 Jul 1996: A view of two softballs during the USA versus China women”s softball game in the 1996 Olympic Games at Golden Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
30 Jul 1996: A view of two softballs during the USA versus China women”s softball game in the 1996 Olympic Games at Golden Park in Atlanta, Georgia. /

The road to a fifth Oklahoma softball national championship begins in earnest this Friday, but in reality it began 11 months ago.

The Sooners (49-2, 18-0) are the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Softball Championship, and that’s not by accident. Oklahoma is No. 1 in a number of national statistical areas and is arguably playing the best softball in the program’s well-decorated history.

Oklahoma has not lost a game since falling 7-1 to then-No. 2 UCLA on Feb. 22 in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, California. OU’s current 39-game winning streak is the longest in a single season in NCAA Division I history.

The Sooners are 18-0 in games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time the game was played. Twenty-three of their 49 wins this season were games shortened by run-rule; the same number have been won without allowing a run.

Ever since Oklahoma was eliminated by Washington in last year’s College World Series, the Sooner seniors have made it their 2019 mission not only get back to the WCWS this season, but win it, which is something this group of seniors has already done two times previously.

On Friday at Marita Hynes Field in Norman, Oklahoma will make its 25th consecutive NCAA appearance in softball, all under head coach Patty Gasso. The Sooners are the host of the Norman Regional.

This is the ninth year in a row that OU has hosted a regional tournament. In three of those years (2014, 2016, 2017), the Sooners were crowned Women’s College World Series champions.

Since 2000, Oklahoma has hosted 14 NCAA softball regionals. The Sooners are 41-4 when they have hosted a regional over that time span.

Here are five more compelling reasons the Sooners will be the last team standing in the Women’s College World Series and earn a fifth national championship and fourth in six seasons.

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