It's a new season and a different start for head coach Patty Gasso and her eight-time national champions Oklahoma Sooners.
The 2026 college softball season gets underway on Thursday, with the Sooners in Arizona for opening weekend. Oklahoma will open the new season against Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona, on Thursday. That will be followed by a three-game weekend series in Tucson against No. 18 Arizona.
Oklahoma opens season strong as ever and once again with a championship mindset
Gasso is excited about the prospects for Oklahoma softball in the 2026 season, and with a boatload of talented core players returning and another No. 1 recruiting class, she has every reason to be fired up.
"I think that's the biggest reason why we are where we are right now in the way of preparation," Gasso said during OU's media day. "They know the drill. They've been sharing. There's a lot of leading and talking."
Coming off of a 52-9 season and a ninth consecutive appearance in the Women's College World Series, Oklahoma begins the 2026 season ranked No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Softball Preseason Poll and picked to finish second behind reigning national champion Texas in the SEC.
Among the Sooners' core returning stars arefour players named to the 2026 Preseason All-SEC Team. Utility Ella Parker, outfielder Kasidi Pickering, shortstop Gabbie Garcia and third basemen Nelly McEnroe-Marinas make up four of the eight players who were in the Sooners' starting lineup on the final day of the 2025 season.
Those same four players, plus starting pitcher Sydney Berzon, a transfer from LSU, were named to the Softball America Top 50 Watch List for 2026 Collegiate Softball Player of the Year.
The entire OU infield is back for another season, short of first baseman Cydney Sanders, who graduated. Sophomore Sydney Barker, who hit .349 with eight home runs and 32 runs batted in primarily as an outfielder her freshman season, will likely take over the first base spot.
The Sooner outfield is also elite with returnee Pickering, who was second on the team last season with a .392 average, a team-high 58 RBI and 18 home runs. Abby Dayton, who hit a solid .325 with 51 hits and 51 runs scored last season and the year before that led the Pac-12 with a 431 batting average as a sophomore at Utah, will switch off with Pickering at the two corner outfield spots.
Freshman Kai Minor, who Pickering described in a recent interview as one of the fastest players she's ever met, will take over in center field this season. Gasso portrayed Minor as a Jayda Coleman-style player who can run things down and make big plays, while also wielding a clutch bat. Coleman was a fixture in center field for the Sooners from 2021-24 and was a three-time consensus First-Team All-American.
Junior Ella Parker, who was the team's primary designated player last season due to a foot injury, is back and healthy in 2026, which is not something OU opponents will want to hear. Parker, an NFCA First-Team All-American in 2025, led the Sooners in hitting a year ago with a .423 average, along with 15 home runs and 53 RBI. She could be an even bigger contributor this season with a healthy foot.
Gasso wants to take a different approach with the pitching staff this season. The Sooners lost their workhorse from last season, Sam Landry, to graduation. Over the course of the season, Landry became more than the ace of the staff, Gasso acknowledged during OU's media day over the weekend. She became the only arm the Sooners could truly rely on.
Gasso and her staff believe they have addressed that issue with the addition of two talented transfers in the right-hander Berzon and Miali Guachino, who also throws from the right side and played her freshman season at Ole Miss.
Berzon is a three-year veteran, who over three seasons at LSU pitched a total of 486.1 innings with a 2.02 ERA, 406 career strikeouts and an overall record of 52-25. Guachino was 14-11 with a 3.65 ERA for Ole Miss last season and set a program record with 19 strikeouts in a game. Gasso is high on Guachino's prospects of becoming a solid piece in the starting rotation.
The Sooners also have returning senior left-hander Kierston Deal and sophomore Audrey Lowry, who was impressive at times last season as a freshman but also battled through an injury. Upon arriving at OU, Lowry drew a comparison to former OU All-American pitcher Kelly Maxwell. Deal posted a record of 14-1 with an 1.97 ERA her sophomore season in 2024, but her numbers dropped off some last season.
The OU pitchers will be pitching to veteran catcher Isabella Emerling, a former transfer from North Carolina who is in her second season with the Sooners, and newcomer Kendall Wells, who packs plenty of power with the bat and is expected to see plenty of action behind the plate as a freshman.
"Kendall Wells is a name you're going to remember," Gasso said. "Swings like some of the greats in this program."
Last year's Oklahoma softball team fell just short in its quest for an unprecedented fifth consecutive national championship, but in doing so, the Sooners ranked second in Division-I softball in home runs (121), third nationally in slugging percentage (.629) and ninth in scoring (7.4 runs per game).
And here's the scary part: Gasso expects the 2026 team to display more power top-to-bottom through the lineup.
"It's a game-changer," said the OU head coach beginning her 32nd season in Norman. "The strength of this team and their swings -- I would not want to be an OU pitcher having to face this lineup over and over. The swings are good, and they're powerful, and they're smart."