The outdated RPI rankings might show something different, but the 64-team field for the NCAA Softball Championship that was announced on Sunday was further proof that there's not a team out there more battle-tested at this point than the Oklahoma Sooners.
The Sooners were handed the No. 3 national seed behind Alabama and Texas, respectively, and that seemingly disrespectful position was likely heavily influenced by OU's No. 6 ranking in the latest RPI, which is a major influence for the selection committee. However, actual head-to-head results reveal the Sooners, no matter how easy they've made it look at times, successfully navigated one of the most demanding schedules in college softball, especially down the stretch.
SEC boosts Oklahoma's schedule to have Sooners prepared for postseason
Of the 64 teams that made the NCAA Softball Championship, the Sooners already took on 14 of them and went 22-6 against that competition during the regular season. The only team in the field that OU has a losing record against this season is Bedlam rival Oklahoma State, but the rivals met just once in a midweek matchup.
And the Sooners didn't just prevail over the teams that barely snuck in. OU has played seven of the 15 teams, not including itself, that's hosting a regional as a top-16 team in the country, including No. 2 Texas, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 10 Georgia, No. 12 Duke, No. 13 Oklahoma State, No. 15 Texas A&M and No. 16 LSU. The Sooners are 12-6 against those teams, as well as 4-2 against Texas and Arkansas, which get to host a Super Regional as a top-8 squad. Despite the Longhorns being ahead of OU, the Sooners took two of three from Texas in Austin.
Read more: Oklahoma’s NCAA Softball Championship seeding defies common sense
OU admittedly had a lackluster nonconference schedule, but even that's looking stronger than it did at the time with the rise of teams like Duke as top-16 squad. However, the Sooners' SEC gauntlet did more than enough to balance out their schedule and prepare them for the postseason.
Six of the top-8 seeds in the NCAA tournament hail from the SEC, which the Sooners absolutely dominated while not losing a single conference series and claiming the regular-season title for the second year in a row. OU slipped to Georgia in the quarterfinals of the SEC Softball Tournament, but there's still no question the Sooners are better than the Bulldogs after sweeping them during the regular season. The same could be said about SEC Softball Tournament champion Texas.
That talk of the Sooners having an easy schedule is now old news, and there's even proof of that when it matters the most here at the end, so OU fans can at least be assured heading into the NCAA Softball Championship that the Sooners are as ready as anyone.
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