Oklahoma opens up defense of its 2025 SEC softball regular-season championship this weekend, hosting Auburn for a three-game series at Love's Field.
The Sooners come into the weekend series with a 25-2 record and riding a 14-game win streak. OU picked up its 25th win with a 9-0 run-rule victory over Tulsa on Wednesday, its 20th run-rule win of the season.
Auburn is 19-7 overall and is fresh off of a series win over Kentucky in its conference opener last weekend.
Oklahoma is ranked No. 4 in the country by both ESPN/USA Softball and Softball America, the lowest a Sooner softball team has been ranked entering the conference schedule in nearly a decade. Despite having just two losses and leading the SEC, as well as the nation, in multiple offensive categories, including batting average, runs and home runs, the Sooners haven't been able to move up in rankings largely because of a weaker nonconference strength of schedule than in past seasons.
That will not be the case now that Oklahoma is moving into the much more challenging conference schedule. The SEC is the highest rated conference by RPI, and has 10 teams, including the Sooners, currently ranked in the nation's top 25. OU's conference schedule includes four teams currently ranked in the top 25 and six in the RPI top 30.
Friday night's series opener will be the 11th meeting all-time in softball between Oklahoma and Auburn, and the first as joint members of the SEC. The Sooners have won eight of the previous 10 games. Auburn's only visit to Norman prior to this weekend was in 2011, a 6-0 shutout by the Sooners.
Game times for the Auburn series at Love's Field are 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday. The games on Friday and Saturday will be streamed on SEC Network+. Sunday's series finale will be televised on SEC Network.
What to know about the Auburn Tigers
Auburn ranks eighth in the SEC in batting (.341 average) and seventh in runs (198 total and 7.61 per game). On the pitching side, Auburn ranks at the bottom of the league at 15th with a 3.96 staff ERA and is also at the bottom of the conference in fielding, having committed a league-high 34 errors.
Former Oklahoma pitcher SJ Guerin was named one of Softball America's Stars of the Week, earning wins in both ends of a doubleheader against Kentucky on Saturday. The junior left-hander has a 4-3 record this season with a 3.68 ERA in seven starts.
Auburn has hit two or more home runs in 11 of its 26 games this season and is 10-1 in those contests.
The Tigers' 239 hits this season are tied for 20th most in NCAA Division-I softball.
What to know about Oklahoma
Oklahoma leads the SEC and the nation with a team batting average of .456 and 11 different players hitting .400 or better. They also lead all of college softball in 10 different offensive categories, including 107 home runs (six Sooners have at least nine home runs), 450 total runs, a .546 on-base percentage and a .951 slugging percentage. OU's 107 home runs in 27 games is the fastest to 100 home runs in NCAA history.
The Sooners had the No. 1 2025 recruiting class, and three of those freshmen are already making a major contribution. Kai Minor and Lexi McDaniel are the team's top two hitters, with .529 and .510 batting averages, respectively. And freshman Kendall Wells leads the country with 19 home runs.
The Oklahoma offense has scored at least four runs in 38 innings this season, while also hitting five or more home runs in 12 of the 27 games played.
Oklahoma sophomore left-handers Audrey Lowry and Miali Guachino have a combined record of 18-1 this season with an ERA of 1.89.
Key players to watch
Oklahoma
OF Kai Minor: .529 batting average (1st in SEC)
C Kendall Wells: .382 batting average, 19 home runs, 37 RBI
UTL Ella Parker: 500 batting average, 13 home runs, 40 RBI
OF Kasidi Pickering: .493 batting average, 10 home runs, 33 RBI
SS Gabbie Garcia: .434 batting average, 12 home runs, 39 RBI
P Audrey Lowry: 11-1 record, 1.63 ERA, 34 strikeouts in 7 starts and 51.2 innings
P Miali Guachino: 7-0 record, 2.24 ERA, 44 strikeouts in 6 starts, 34.1 innings
Auburn
INF Alyssa Hastings: Team-best .476 batting average
OF McKaela Walker: .397 batting average, 8 home runs, 25 RBI
INF Destiny Rodriguez: .356 batting average, 5 home runs, 25 RBI
UTL Ma'Nia Womack: .262 batting average, 8 home runs, 24 RBI
P Ella Harrison: 8-3 record, 3.26 ERA, 81 strikeouts in 13 starts