Oklahoma softball: Is this year’s team the best Sooner squad all-time?
By Chip Rouse
In 25 seasons coaching Oklahoma softball, Patty Gasso has led 25 different Sooner teams into postseason play. And in 50 percent of this NCAA appearances, Oklahoma has made it all the way to the Women’s College World Series.
That is a remarkable record, and is a big reason why Gasso is considered one of the best softball coaches in the country and she has 1,250 career wins at Oklahoma and a .790 winning percentage to prove it.
The Sooner head coach has won four national championships at Oklahoma, including two in the last three seasons, and her 2019 OU team owns the best record in the country and is the No. 1 overall seed in this season’s NCAA Softball Championship. This weekend the Sooners are making their 10th consecutive trip to the NCAA Super Regionals, six of which have been hosted in Norman, including this year.
The rest of the 2019 journey for Oklahoma begins Friday in a best two-of-three series against Northwestern, the 17th ranked team in the country. The Sooners are 14-2 all-time against the Wildcats out of the Big Ten.
This year’s team is on a pace to post the best season record in program history and leads the country in multiple statistical categories. Which begs the question: Is this the greatest Sooner softball team ever, and perhaps the best college softball team all-time?
Gasso’s 2019 Sooners are certainly making a strong case for being the best she has ever had at OU. But the 2000, 2013 and 2017 Sooner national championship teams also have strong arguments for claiming that honor.
The Sooner teams in all four of those years have a common denominator. They all were scary strong offensively and had outstanding pitching. To be considered the greatest ever, though, the season-long journey almost has to end in a national championship. And that is a destination that the 2019 Sooners have yet to reach. But they are still on the path and getting closer.