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Oklahoma softball: Sooners ranked 2nd in preseason top-25 poll

By Chip Rouse

CHIBA, JAPAN - AUGUST 10: Monica Cecilia Abbott #14 of United States pitches against Australia during their Playoff Round at ZOZO Marine Stadium on day nine of the WBSC Women's Softball World Championship on August 10, 2018 in Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)
CHIBA, JAPAN - AUGUST 10: Monica Cecilia Abbott #14 of United States pitches against Australia during their Playoff Round at ZOZO Marine Stadium on day nine of the WBSC Women's Softball World Championship on August 10, 2018 in Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma softball will begin the 2020 season as the nation’s No. 2 team, according to the preseason top-25 rankings put out by FloSoftball.

The Sooners, runner-ups to UCLA in last season’s Women’s College World Series, begin the new season in two weeks in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, against Nevada. The eight-time defending Big 12 champions are beginning their 26th season under head coach Patty Gasso, the winningest coach in the 44-year history of Sooner softball.

Oklahoma has been ranked in the top-25 of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll every week since Gasso became the OU head coach.

UCLA earned the top ranking in the FloSoftball preseason top 25 and will probably be ranked in the top spot in the other college softball preseason rankings. Washington, Alabama and Arizona round out the preseason top five in the FloSoftball poll. The Sooners will play No. 3 Washington on Feb. 22 as part of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Tournament in Palm Springs, California.

Texas is the only other Big 12 team ranked in FloSoftball Preseason Top 25. The Longhorns are ranked 7th.

OU will play 12 games this season against teams that made the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The Sooners, who were 57-6 and a perfect 18-0 in the Big 12 a year ago, return five All-Big 12 honorees, including first-team selections pitcher Giselle Juarez, along with utility players Jocelyn Alo and Grace Green. Green was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season.

Also back in 2020 are All-Big 12 second-team selection Shannon Saile and Grace Lyons, who was voted to the conference All-Freshman team.

Oklahoma also boasted the country’s top 2020 recruiting class, according to FloSoftball. The Sooners are regularly among the top recruiting teams in college softball, which is one reason they have been so good for so long under Gasso’s coaching reign.

Oklahoma finished 8-0 in its fall schedule of games. The Sooners outscored their eight opponents by a combined score of 114-6.

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