Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma softball: WCWS field includes OU and two chief Big 12 rivals

ByChip Rouse|
Jun 9, 2021; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma pitcher Giselle Juarez (45), Grace Lyons (3) and Kinzie Hansen (9) celebrate after defeating Florida State to force game three in the NCAA WomenÕs College World Series Championship Series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 9, 2021; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma pitcher Giselle Juarez (45), Grace Lyons (3) and Kinzie Hansen (9) celebrate after defeating Florida State to force game three in the NCAA WomenÕs College World Series Championship Series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

The top-seeded Oklahoma softball team returns to its home away from home this week and its 15th appearance in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

The defending national champions are seeking a fifth national title and fourth in the last six seasons. Patty Gasso’s national powerhouse squad — to this point the best in Sooner softball history, based on winning percentage — is hoping to win back-to-back national championships for the second time since 2016-17. OU also made it to the title game in 2019 but lost to UCLA.

Oklahoma’s five national softball titles trails only UCLA (12) and Arizona (8). All of OU’s national championships have come since 2000 and all under Gasso’s leadership.

If the Sooners are to run it back in 2022, though, they will have to do it against a formidable field that includes two other Big 12 schools, No. 7 Oklahoma State and Texas, as well as three schools from the Pac-12 Conference (No. 5 UCLA, Oregon State and Arizona) and one each from the Big Ten (No. 9 Northwestern) and SEC (No. 14 Florida).

Both Texas and Oklahoma State are responsible for Oklahoma’s two losses this season

Oklahoma will begin defense of its 2022 WCWS championship on Thursday afternoon at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium taking on Big Ten champion Northwestern, which defeated host Arizona State in the Arizona State Super Regional. The Sooners and Wildcats have played each other 22 times previously, most recently in a two-game series in Norman in 2020. OU won both of those games and owns a 20-2 overall record against Northwestern.

If the Sooners win their first-round contest on Thursday, they will face the winner of the Thursday game between UCLA and Texas in the winners’ bracket on Saturday.

Oklahoma State is on the other side of the bracket and would not square off against the Sooners unless both teams reach the two-out of three championship series.

Oklahoma will face the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year in Northwestern’s Danielle Williams, who has won 31 games and been charged with just four losses this season and has an ERA of 1.74. She will go up against the most prolific offensive lineup in Division I college softball in the Sooners.

While OU boasts the NCAA career leader in home runs in Jocelyn Alo and two of the top three home-run hitters in the country (Alo is No.3 with 28 and Tiare Jennings is No. 4 with 24), Northwestern has a long-ball artist of its own. Big Ten Player of the Year Rachel Lewis has gone yard 22 times, tied for eighth most in the country. Lewis also leads the Wildcats in on-base percentage (.498) as well as slugging percentage (.843).

Northwestern was the Big Ten regular- season champion this season with a 19-4 record. The Wildcats are 45-11 overall.

Oklahoma is making its sixth consecutive trip up I-35 to the Women’s College World Series. The Sooners are trying to go back-to-back in winning the WCWS for the second time in OU softball history and become just the ninth team in NCAA history to do so. They won back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017.

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