As huge as last weekend's Oklahoma softball series with Red River rival Texas was, this weekend could be even bigger.
The Sooners (42-5, 16-5) are at No. 7 Florida and right where they want to be on the final weekend of the college softball regular season. Oklahoma sits atop the SEC standings as a result of sweeping the previous-No. 3 Longhorns, and two or more wins over Florida would give OU is first SEC softball championship in its first season in the conference.
The Florida series at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville is a Thursday-Saturday schedule. Thursday and Friday's games are both 5 p.m. CT starts and will be on SEC Network. Game time on Saturday is 4 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN2.
Sooners get Florida in another top-10 SEC softball series
Florida (41-12, 12-9) lost two of three at No. 10 LSU last weekend and is 3-3 in its last six games. Oklahoma, of course, is riding a huge momentum boost coming off of the sweep of Texas and back-to-back home series sweeps over SEC opponents.
Oklahoma owns an 8-2 record in the all-time series with Florida. This weekend will be the first time the two teams have played each other as members of the SEC. The Sooners are 4-1 against the Gators in nonconference matchups in the regular season. This will be the second time OU has played in Gainesville. The first time was back in 2003, with Oklahoma winning 2-0.
The two teams have also met several times in the Women's College World Series (2017, 2018 and 2024). OU is 4-1 when the Sooners and Florida have faced each other in the WCWS.
The one loss came in the semifinals last season. The Sooners fell 9-3 to the Gators, but rebounded for a 6-5 win in eight innings in an elimination game and went on to sweep Texas in the championship series to win a fourth consecutive national title.
Both OU and Florida have two players who were named finalists for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. For Oklahoma, it was senior pitcher Sam Landry and sophomore outfielder Kasidi Pickering. Florida's two candidates were senior Kendra Falby and freshman Taylor Shumaker. Both are outfielders.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
- The Sooners have 17 wins this season against teams ranked in the top-25 nationally and seven wins over teams ranked in the top 10. Oklahoma had already played 18 games against ranked opponents through April 14. That was the most by an OU team by that date since the 2011 season.
- Oklahoma leads the SEC in on-base percentage (.453), slugging percentage (.637) and home runs (90), and is third, behind Florida and Texas, in runs scored (7.9 per game).
Oklahoma starting pitcher Sam Landry is second in the SEC with an earned run average of 1.95 and fifth in strikeouts with 136.
- Four OU position players -- Kasidi Pickering, Ella Parker, Gabbie Garcia and Nelly McEnroe-Marinas -- are hitting .362 or better, led by Pickering's .431 batting average. Landry is second in the SEC with an earned run average of 1.95 and fifth in strikeouts with 136.
- Oklahoma freshmen have combined to hit 41 of the Sooners' SEC-leading 90 home runs. Garcia and McEnroe-Marinas each have 14, and five different freshmen have hit at least two home runs.
Florida
- The Gators rank first in the SEC in runs (7.7 per game), hits (473), total bases (832) and walks (4.4 per game); second in batting average (.351), slugging percentage (.601) and home runs (89), and fourth in on-base percentage (.444).
- Senior outfielder Kendra Falby ranks third in the SEC with a batting average of .456 and leads the conference with 61 runs scored and 78 hits. The Gator lineup, like OU's, possesses a lot of pop. Mia Williams and Taylor Shumaker rank fourth and fifth in the SEC, respectively, with 17 and 16 home runs. Florida has hit 89 home runs in 53 games this season, just one behind conference-leading Oklahoma.
- Florida has 13 wins this season against top-25 teams.
- Florida head coach Tim Walton played baseball at Oklahoma in 1994-95 and was an assistant coach on Patty Gasso's softball staff from 1999-2002. He is in his 20th season at Florida, where he has won two national championships and was twice a national runner-up.
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