Patty Gasso's college softball dynasty was supposed to be over, or at least go on hiatus. Yet, the Oklahoma Sooners are the No. 1 team in the country and SEC regular-season champions.
The Sooners on Friday clinched the regular-season conference title before even stepping on the field to play the No. 7 Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida, for Game 2 of the last series of the regular season.
In the first game of a doubleheader in Knoxville earlier Friday, Tennessee beat Texas A&M 5-1 to knock the Aggies out of title contention. After beating the Volunteers on Thursday, Texas A&M was the only team left that had a shot at stealing the crown from the Sooners.
But, as if she found the last Infinity Stone somewhere in the dirt at Love's Field, Patty Gasso is inevitable.
The Sooners won their fourth national championship in a row last year and eighth total under Gasso, who was just recently named College Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
But the Sooners had accomplished the task with a team loaded with experienced seniors and on their way out of the Big 12.
This offseason, Gasso had to replace nine players who got significant time in the starting lineup last season, including a pair of pitchers. And she had to rebuild all while preparing and enduring the program's first year in the SEC, which was the toughest conference in college softball this season.
The first time OU took the field for 2025, 11 different players made their debut as a Sooner. Yet, nothing really changed after that. The Sooners are 43-6 with one game left in the regular season and are regular-season conference champions for the 16th time.
College softball fans had become calloused to what Gasso was accomplishing at OU, but after all were expecting at least a slip from grace, the college softball world was in awe after Gasso and the Sooners were yet again the best team in their new conference.
Social media reacts to Sooners' SEC regular-season championship
One last shoutout to the Vols for helping get the Sooners here.
The Sooners and Gators will meet in a rubber match at 4 p.m. CT on ESPN.
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