Oklahoma softball: Three reasons Sooners will spoil Texas’ title bid in Big 12 Championship
By Chip Rouse
It’s a Red River Showdown later today for the Big 12 Tournament championship between the best team in the nation, the Oklahoma softball Sooners, and the Texas Lady Longhorns, the second best team in the Big 12 and No. 7 team in the country.
The two-time defending national champions are seeking their fourth Big 12 postseason tournament championship in the last five seasons in which the tournament has been played and eighth overall. Texas has won the tournament crown four times, but last did so in 2005.
On paper, this is the perfect matchup: Nos. 1 and 2 in the conference in both hitting and pitching and two of the best three fielding teams in the Big 12.
As close as the two teams are in statistical rankings within the conference, however, their is a notable difference in the actual performance numbers and depth of talent. And that will ultimately be the difference in the outcome of Saturday’s Big 12 Championship.
Here are three reasons why the Sooners will succeed in sweeping both the regular- and postseason Big 12 championships:
OU has the more lethal offensive lineup
Oklahoma has four starters hitting better than ,400 on the season and five of the top 10 hitters in the Big 12 based on batting average, The Sooners average 8.2 runs per game to 6.3 per game for the Longhorns. The Sooners’ chances of hitting the ball out of the park are twice as great as Texas (93 to 51). During the regular-season meeting between the two Red River rivals, OU swept the Longhorns in Austin, outscoring them 24-6 and outhitting them 33-13.
Sooners have the superior pitching depth
The Texas pitching staff gives up over two earned runs per game (2.18), While that is highly respectable, the Sooners lead the Big 12 and all of NCAA Division I softball with an incredible staff ERA of 0.85. Three Sooner starting pitchers rank in the top-10 nationally, including two of the top four,
Oklahoma is dominant in Oklahoma City
OU has won 30 of the last 31 games against Texas and seven straight games against the Longhorns played in Oklahoma City. The Sooners enter the championship game against Texas riding the nation’s longest active win streak at 42 games. That is five away from tying the all-time record held by Arizona State. Notably, Oklahoma had a 40-game win streak to open the 2022 season that was snapped in a 4-2 loss to Texas.
Championship prediction
No run-rule or shutout win this time, but the Sooners are the better team, Look for Nicole May, who is 15-0 this season and owns the country’s second-best ERA (0.55) to hold down the Texas offense while the OU offense takes over the game. Sooners prevail 7-3 and the streak goes to 43.