For the first time in five seasons, Oklahoma softball will not begin the 2026 season as defending national champion, but the Sooners will still begin the new campaign in the top 3 of the Softball America's Preseason Top 25 rankings.
The order is slightly different, but the 2026 preseason top 10 is mostly the same familiar faces that finished in the top 10 at the end of last season. Texas Tech, last season's national runner-up, jumped reigning national champion Texas for the top spot leading into the 2026 season, according to Softball America. The Longhorns are No. 2 and the Sooners follow at No. 3, the same position they were in to end the 2025 season.
Sooners pegged No. 3 in Softball America's 2026 Preseason Top 25
The Softball America preseason rankings featured five SEC teams in the top 10 and a dozen overall. Tennessee is No. 4, followed in order by Oregon, Florida State, Arkansas, UCLA, Clemson and Florida. Seven other SEC teams help fill out the top 25 teams, including five consecutive spots with LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia and South Carolina at 12-16.
OU was also No. 3 last year, with Texas on top. The last time before that the Sooners were not ranked preseason No. 1 was in 2021, with UCLA holding down the top spot to begin that season. Oklahoma, however, won the first of its four consecutive national championships (2021-24) that season, finishing with a 56-4 overall record, defeating Florida State in the Women's College World Series.
Oklahoma fell short in its national championship quest last season, but the Sooners managed to win 52 games and captured the SEC championship in their first year in the conference and made their 13th consecutive appearance in the Women's College World Series.
Patty Gasso will begin her 32nd season leading the Oklahoma softball program in 2026. With another top-ranked recruiting class added to the roster, seven position players returning and several impactful additions from the Transfer Portal, as well as another strong pitching rotation, the Sooners should be more than worthy of their top-3 preseason ranking and, once again, a solid national championship contender in the coming season.