Nearing two months into the college softball season, Oklahoma is not enjoying quite the rarified air in national recognition that it has grown accustomed to in recent seasons.
Since stunningly losing to Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso's alma mater, Long Beach State, on Feb. 21, falling to 11-2 at the time, the Sooners have won 17 consecutive games, and 13 of those were by run rule.
Despite this recent surge of success, including a three-game series sweep over Auburn in their SEC season opener this past weekend, the eight-time national champions Oklahoma Sooners have advanced no higher than No. 4 in national rankings, and were even lower than that for several weeks in a couple of national polls.
The Sooners remained at No. 4 this week in the ESPN/USA Softball poll, but they were No. 5, up one spot, in the Softball America Top 25 and No. 6 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) poll.
Sooners' top-25 movement has been static, but that could quickly change
Entering Week 7 of the college softball season, only Florida among ranked teams in the nation's top 10 has more wins at 29-1 than Oklahoma 28-2. The Sooners have overpowered most of their opponents. Sixteen of their 28 wins have been by victory margins of 10 or more runs and 21 have ended after five innings by run-rule, which leads all of college softball.
The biggest factor weighing against the Oklahoma softball team at this point in the season is the perception by those who participate in the voting process in the various national polls that the Sooners may be winning big, but they haven't played enough quality opponents. That is certain to change dramatically, though, as Oklahoma gets further along in its SEC schedule.
Eleven SEC teams, including Oklahoma, are currently ranked in the ESPN/USA Softball Top 25. The Sooners will play three-game series with five of them in the weeks ahead, including series against No. 2 Texas and No. 9 Arkansas.
Tennessee and Texas, two of the three teams ranked ahead of the Sooners, will face similar challenges against ranked conference opponents. Tennessee, for example, plays at No. 8 Florida this weekend and has to face No. 5 Alabama in late April. Similarly, the Longhorns have games ahead against Alabama, No. 13 Georgia, No. 15 Texas A&M and, of course, Oklahoma.
So changes are likely up and down the national rankings as the season progresses, which could be beneficial, and also hurtful, to the Sooners' national standing. But at least they will have control of their own destiny, and strength of the nonconference schedule will become a non-factor.
If the national rankings were based on offensive performance alone, Oklahoma would be a clear No. 1, a position the Sooners have owned for most of the past decade. Only once in the past 10 full regular seasons has an OU team finished outside of the top three in the final top 25.
But national rankings are not based on offensive dominance or how many run-rule wins you record. They are determined by how many wins you deposit in the bank over the long season and, more importantly, who those wins are against.
Through the first half of the season, the 2026 Sooner team has showcased the most explosive lineup in college softball and leads the nation in 10 offensive statistical categories. Oklahoma's record-setting 115 home runs through 30 games is 29 more than the next closest team and its 386 runs is 68 more than anyone else.
The Sooners also have the nation's highest team batting average (.452), on-base percentage (.541) and slugging percentage (.944), as well as the seventh-best fielding percentage and a pitching staff that is giving up just 2.9 runs per game.
Those are impressive numbers, indeed. Now comes the impressive schedule that, in combination, will either confirm or deny Oklahoma's claim to a top national standing.