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Oklahoma softball: Sooners looking good for shot at WCWS championship

By Chip Rouse

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 26: A general view of the Arkansas Razorbacks batting helmet case in the dugout, prior to game one of the College World Series Championship Series between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Oregon State Beavers on June 26, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 26: A general view of the Arkansas Razorbacks batting helmet case in the dugout, prior to game one of the College World Series Championship Series between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Oregon State Beavers on June 26, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma softball is in a very good place right now: 56 wins on the season and just three away from reaching every team’s ultimate goal: winning the national championship.

As the No. 1 seed, the Sooners are the favorites to win their third Women’s College World Series title in the last four seasons, but that has only happened five times in the last 15 years. One of those five times, however, was OU in 2013, the last time the Sooners earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Softball Championship.

The Sooners’ 6-1 win over their in-state rivals, the Cowgirls of Oklahoma State, on Friday night, advanced Oklahoma further into the winner’s bracket. The benefit of Friday’s win is the Sooners do not have to play again until Sunday, and they would have to lose twice on Sunday to fail to make it to the best-of-three championship series.

If recent history is an indicator, Oklahoma should be a virtual lock to make it to the championship series, which begins on Monday. The Sooners have not lost back-to-back games in over two years. OU last lost two consecutive games in late March 2017, when nonconference foe Cal Poly turned the trick on back-to-back days in a tournament hosted by Loyola Marymount. The score was 3-1 in both games.

Oklahoma and Oklahoma State had played each other 163 times before Friday’s game, but none of those matchups had ever been in the WCWS. The capacity crowd at USA Softball Stadium in Oklahoma City was all about the state of Oklahoma, with the school colors of the two opponents — crimson for the Sooners and orange for the Cowgirls — rampant throughout the stands.

Sooner junior transferee “G” Juarez, who pitched against OU for Arizona State in last season’s WCWS, struck out 11 and allowed just four hits in beating OSU for the second time this season. She pitched a one-hitter and struck out 13 in a 3-0 complete-game victory earlier.

Oklahoma State senior pitching ace Samantha Show, who hit a pair of home runs in OSU’s 2-1 opening-game victory over No. 5 Florida, was 0 for 3 against Juarez, including two strikeouts.

Oklahoma collected eight hits in the Friday win over Oklahoma State, each from a different Sooners. Freshman shortstop Grace Lyons, who batted eighth in the lineup was the only OU player in the starting lineup without a hit.

Oklahoma and No. 2 UCLA are both 2-0 and the only unbeaten teams remaining in the WCWS. The Sooners’ opponent on Sunday will be either Arizona, Florida or Alabama, depending on the outcome of Saturday’s elimination games. OU defeated Alabama, the No. 8 seed, 3-2 in Thursday’s opening round.

A win by either the Sooners or UCLA on Sunday will send both teams to the championship series. If that is the case, Oklahoma will have the opportunity to avenge one of its three losses this season. The Sooners lost to then-No. 2 UCLA 7-1 in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs in late February.

UCLA and OU are two of the four schools with the most WCWS titles. UCLA leads all schools with 12 national championships in softball and 32 WCWS appearances. The Sooners have been to the WCWS 17 times and have won it four times (2000, 2013, 2016, 2017) .

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