Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma softball by the numbers midway through 2023 season

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings (23) is greeted at home by teammates after hitting a home run in the first inning of a college softball game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Auburn Tigers at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Saturday, March 18, 2023.Ou Softball Vs Auburn
Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings (23) is greeted at home by teammates after hitting a home run in the first inning of a college softball game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Auburn Tigers at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Saturday, March 18, 2023.Ou Softball Vs Auburn /
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At this time a year ago, Oklahoma softball stood 32-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. Little has changed a year later as the Sooners remain No. 1 and are 33-1 entering the third weekend of Big 12 action.

Even the opponent is the same as last year as OU gets set to play Texas Tech on the second weekend in April. The Sooners not only swept the three-game series against the Red Raiders last season but did so in truly dominant fashion, not allowing Texas Tech to score a single run over three days. All three games ended by run rule after five innings with OU winning 11-0, 11-0 and 21-0.

Whether the Sooners can repeat that performance, or even come close, this time around remains to be seen. The one thing we do know is that the crowd atmosphere will be entirely different with this year’s venue away from home in wind-swept plains of West Texas.

Oklahoma is attempting to achieve something extremely rare in college softball: a national championship three-peat. UCLA is the only team to win the Women’s College World Series three years in a row (1988, ’89 and ’90).

OU is currently one of just three teams (UCLA and Arizona are the other two) to win back-to-back national titles in softball. The Sooners have done it twice (2016-17 and 2021-22) and are well on pace to match UCLA’s historic achievement of three decades ago.

The Sooners have won 67 straight series against Big 12 opponents on the way to 10 consecutive Big 12 regular-season championships. But that domination is not just isolated to the Big 12. Oklahoma is also a statistical giant at the national level.

The Sooner softball machine sits at No. 1 in numerous team statistical categories nationally more than midway through the 2023 season:

Scoring: Nearly 9 runs per game

Batting average: .390

Doubles: 2.15 per game

On-base percentage: .475

Slugging percentage: .704

Shutouts: 19

Fielding: .989 (only team in Division I with single-digit errors [9])

In addition, Oklahoma ranks second nationally in staff ERA (1.00) and home runs per game (1.85)

There is still a long way to go in the 2023 college softball season, but the story the numbers tell to this point certainly point to Oklahoma as the prohibitive favorite to be the last team standing once again when the calendar hits June 9 at this year’s Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

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