Oklahoma, the standard bearer in college softball over the past decade-plus, has a winning record against practically every team it has faced at least 10 times in program history. But not all.
The No. 2 Sooners (48-7) are the highest remaining seed in the 2025 NCAA Softball Championship and will host No. 15 Alabama (40-21) in the Norman Super Regional this weekend. The Crimson Tide are one of the few teams that own a winning record all-time against Oklahoma in softball, including winning two of three over the Sooners earlier this season.
Oklahoma needs revenge over Crimson Tide to advance to Women's College World Series
Oklahoma is just 9-12 in its all-time series with Alabama. Eight of those previous meetings were over four different seasons in the Women's College World Series. The two teams split those eight WCWS games. The Sooners and Crimson Tide have met once before in a Super Regional, in 2015 in Tuscaloosa. Alabama won the series 2-1.
Game 1 in the Norman Super Regional will be 4 p.m. CT on Friday at Love's Field, where the Sooners are 25-2 this season. Game 2 in the best-of-three series will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The deciding game, if necessary, to determine which team will advance to the 2025 Women's College Series will be played on Sunday.
OU became the top remaining national seed, a position it's well familiar with the past few seasons, as a result of No. 1 Texas A&M losing at home to Liberty in last weekend's regional competition.
Oklahoma enters Super Regionals on a five-game winning streak. The SEC regular-season champion and co-champion in its first SEC Softball Tournament advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the 15th consecutive season with wins over Boston University and California twice.
Alabama earned its trip to the Norman Super Regional by winning the Tuscaloosa Regional with consecutive wins over Jackson State and a good Virginia Tech team twice.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
- OU came from behind, scoring five runs in the seventh inning to win 5-1 in the opening game of a three-game series at Alabama in mid-April. Sooner ace Sam Landry pitched a seven-inning complete game, allowing one run and just three hits while striking out six. The Sooners were held to just two runs combined over the final two games in the series, losing 6-1 and 2-1. Both of OU's runs in the two losses came on solo home runs.
- Oklahoma has served as a Super Regional host site in each of the past six seasons an NCAA tournament has been held in softball and 12 times total. The Sooners are 12-0 in Super Regional action the past six seasons and 21-3 with eight championships the 11 times the Super Regional has been held in Norman.
- The Sooners lead the SEC in on-base percentage (.456), slugging percentage (.642) and home runs (110), and rank fourth in team batting average (.335), earned run average (2.45) and opponents' batting average (.214).
- Oklahoma has hit an SEC-best 110 home runs this season, third-most among Division I softball teams. Forty-nine of that total have been hit by Sooner freshmen. Freshman shortstop Gabbie Garcia leads the team with 18 four-baggers. Six Sooner starters have 10 or more home runs and 13 OU players have at least two. Oklahoma is the only team nationally that has hit 100 or more home runs for six straight seasons.
Alabama
- Alabama is making its NCAA-best 19th appearance in Super Regionals since the postseason format was adopted in 2005.
- Bama freshman centerfielder Audrey Vandergriff sets the table for the Crimson Tide from the leadoff position with a team-best .406 batting average, 13th-best in the SEC. Seniors Kali Heivilin (14 home runs and 46 RBI) and Brooke Ellestad (8 home runs and 46 RBI) provide the power.
- Team statistical comparison: Batting average (.316, 7th in the conference), on-base-percentage (.399, 10th), slugging percentage (.495, 9th), home runs (58, 12th) staff earned run average (2.93, 5th), opponents' batting average (.247, 11th).
- Alabama leads the SEC with 113 stolen bases in 130 attempts. The Crimson Tide are the only SEC team with 100 stolen bases this season, 18 more than the next closest team (Florida).
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