The setting couldn't be more perfect for the penultimate weekend of the Oklahoma softball regular season.
It's Red River Rivalry weekend with the Sooners hosting the Texas Longhorns for three games of giant importance for both teams before what is certain to be a capacity, highly partisan crowd at Love's Field in Norman.
Oklahoma hosts Longhorns for massive SEC series
The Sooners (39-5, 13-5) and Longhorns (42-6, 13-5) not only are tied for second place in the SEC conference standings, a half game behind Texas A&M, but are ranked No. 4 and No. 3, respectively, in the national rankings. Pretty hard not to view this matchup as the marquee series of the weekend in college softball.
This will be the 84th meeting of these two longtime rivals. Oklahoma is 53-30 in the all-time series, including a two-game sweep of Texas in the championship series of last year's Women's College World Series. OU also swept the Longhorns in the championship finals of the 2022 WCWS in winning the second of the Sooners' four consecutive national titles.
Oklahoma is 13-3 against Texas in the past three seasons and is 23-7 when the two teams play in Norman.
Although the two teams that are matched up this weekend are different teams than the ones that have met 16 times over the last three seasons, these two programs are very familiar with each other, having been members of the Big 12 for the previous 28 seasons.
When OU and Texas met in the WCWS last season, it was the Sooners who were the veteran squad. That situation has flipped this season with Oklahoma's 2025 roster featuring only three starters from a year ago.
"We have a freshman captain. That tells the whole story," Sooner head coach Patty Gasso said this week.
Texas picked up its SEC-leading 42nd win of the season with a 1-0 shutout over former Big 12 foe Oklahoma State on Wednesday. The Sooners defeated their in-state rivals 11-3 in five innings a couple of weeks ago.
As terrific as the Longhorns have been this season (Texas was the preseason No. 1 team; OU was No. 3), they have shown some vulnerability in recent games. The Horns are 3-3 in their last six games.
All three games in the OU-Texas softball series will be nationally televised. Friday's series opener will be on ESPNU at 5 p.m. CT. On Saturday, the game will start at 11 a.m. and be aired on ESPN2 and at 1 p.m. on Sunday, again on ESPN2.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
- Redshirt junior Hannah Coor is taking advantage of her opportunity to play healthy and insertion in the starting lineup this season and has made some key contributions in the month of April. Since the Tennessee series the final weekend in March, Coor has gone 7-for-14 at the plate with a pair of home runs and five batted in. Both home runs, her first this season, came in last weekend's series sweep over Mississippi State.
- Oklahoma leads the SEC in slugging percentage (.632), is second in on-base percentage (.451) and home runs (84), and ranks third in runs scored (7.7 per game). The Sooners are going to have to have all of that clicking in they are going to take at least two games in the series with their Red River rivals.
- Four players in OU's starting lineup have driven in between 36 and 43 runs this season -- Kasidi Pickering (43), Nelly McEnroe-Marinas (43), Gabbie Garcia (38) and Ella Parker (36) --illustrative of the Sooners' offensive balance.
- Texas has not won a softball series over Oklahoma since the 2006 season.
Texas
- As a team, Texas leads the SEC in batting average (.359), is second in runs scored (7.4 per game) and total bases (739), third in slugging percentage (.595) and fourth in home runs (64). The Longhorns have also been outstanding in the pitching circle with an ERA of 2.07 and 325 strikeouts, both second best in the SEC. Horns pitching ranks third in the conference in opponents' batting average (.205).
- Four players in the Texas starting lineup (Mia Scott, Kayden Henry, Ashton Maloney and Reese Atwood) are hitting .415 or better. All four are ranked in the top 15 in the SEC. In contrast, only one Oklahoma hitter (Kasidi Pickering with a .431 batting average) ranks in the top 15 in the conference.
- The Longhorns aren't only a great hitting team. They also feature two of the best starting pitchers in both the SEC and the country. Teagan Kavan is 20-3 with a 1.63 ERA in 137.1 innings and nearly nine strikeouts per seven innings. Citlaly Gutierrez is 9-0 with a 1.64 ERA.
- The last time Texas won a game played in Norman was 11 years ago on April 18, 2014. This is the first time the Longhorns have played at the Sooners' new home ballpark, Love's Field.
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