Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma softball: Sooners face formidable Big 12 test at No. 19 Texas

By Chip Rouse

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - JUNE 09: Jana Johns #20 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after hitting a home run during the third inning of Game 2 of the Women's College World Series Championship against the Florida St. Seminoles at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium on June 09, 2021 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - JUNE 09: Jana Johns #20 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after hitting a home run during the third inning of Game 2 of the Women's College World Series Championship against the Florida St. Seminoles at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium on June 09, 2021 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma softball heads to Austin, Texas, for a Red River Showdown with the Texas Longhorns and with a couple of historic streaks squarely on the line.

The Sooners have been dominant all season, fashioning a perfect 36-0 season record, a No. 1 ranking and 30 games that have ended before the official seven innings because of the run rule.

Oklahoma has outscored its opponents 354-27 and opponents are hitting just .133 against the Sooner pitching staff.

If any team is capable of ending OU’s current 38-game winning streak, however, it is the squad the Sooners go up against this weekend on the Longhorns’ home field.

The 19th-ranked Longhorns (30-10) are one of the more complete teams Oklahoma has faced this season. Texas is tied with the Sooners at the top of the Big 12 standings, both with 6-0 records. The Longhorns are batting .321 as a team and the pitching staff has an ERA of 2.99 with an opponents’ batting average of .226.

"“Their offense is improved, without question,” said Sooner head coach Patty Gasso in her weekly press conference this week. “Janae Jefferson is one of the best players in the country and is an obvious leader.“They’ve got a really good pitching staff as well. I know they’ve been hit a little bit, but it doesn’t seem to bother them because they come back.“They can manufacture runs,” the OU head coach said. “You can’t give them extra bases or free bases because they’ll turn those into runs.”"

There are several consecutive-games streaks on the line in this weekend’s Red River Showdown series. To begin with, Oklahoma has not lost to Texas in 21 games and have swept the Longhorns in six consecutive series. The last time Texas defeated OU in softball was in April 2014 with UT prevailing 9-0.

A year ago in Norman, with many of the Sooners from that team on this year’s OU roster, Oklahoma won all three games, outscoring Texas 30-3 and outhitting the visitors 32-12. Then-freshman Tiare Jennings hit a home run in every game, and Lynnsie Elam went yard in two of the three games. Both players rank in the top five in the Big 12 in home runs this season.

The two teams will play evening games on Thursday and Friday, beginning at 6 p.m. and will wrap up the series with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.

Here is what fans need to know about the Red River Showdown in softball

  • Oklahoma owns a 48-24 overall record against Texas, including 17-9 in Austin.
  • The Sooners are three wins shy of tying the most consecutive wins in OU softball history (41). They are 10 wins away from setting a new NCAA record for consecutive wins, presently held by the 1996-97 Arizona team (47).
  • OU has four players who rank in the top 25 nationally in batting average, led by Jocelyn Alo, who leads the country in batting average (.528), home runs (21), on-base percentage (.679) and slugging percentage (1.360).
  • Texas’ best hitter, Janae Jefferson, ranks 56th this season in NCAA Division I softball.
  • Oklahoma has a nation-best 100 home runs this season, with three Sooners ranking in the top-10 nationally. Thirteen different Sooner players have hit at least one home run.
  • Texas has 41 home runs as a team, third best in the Big 12.
  • Oklahoma averages 9.8 runs per game, and the pitching staff is allowing a highly unusual 0.75 runs per game.
  • Texas is averaging 6.7 runs per game, while its opponents are averaging 3.5 per game off of Longhorn pitching.

Prediction

Although it won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination, the Sooners are just the more talented team and have the better pitching staff. I think OU will win all three games, tie its all-time program win streak and remain alive to break the all-time NCAA record for consecutive wins. More importantly, they will sit alone atop the Big 12 standings and continue as the No. 1 team in the country.

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