Oklahoma and Texas A&M were the last two teams standing last season in the SEC Tournament and were to play in the championship game, but that game never took place, canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, an outright tournament champion for 2025 was never declared, and both teams were anointed co-champions.
That outcome didn't sit very well in either Norman or College Station, where the No. 1 Sooners (46-6, 18-3) and No. 10 Aggies (35-14, 15-6) will meet this weekend in a series that will close out the regular season and again have a direct impact on the conference championship, this time for the regular-season SEC title.
Oklahoma was last year's regular-season champion in the Sooners' first season as a member of the country's premier softball conference. The Sooners are seeking to duplicate that feat this weekend.
Sooners head to Texas A&M with SEC title at stake
The OU-Texas A&M series will begin Thursday and run through Saturday. Oklahoma needs one win in the A&M series to guarantee at least a share of the regular-season conference title. A win in combination with a loss by both Alabama and Florida would award the Sooners the outright regular-season championship. Otherwise, two wins will get the job done regardless of what Alabama or Florida do.
Read more: Sooners can finally seal another SEC title and it feels inevitable now
There's also plenty at stake for Texas A&M in the series. Were the Aggies to pull off an unexpected series sweep of the Sooners, they would jump over OU in the standings and could potentially steal the conference title away from Oklahoma, Alabama and Florida on the final weekend of the regular season.
The chances, however, of Texas A&M winning two or more games against Oklahoma are not particularly promising. The Sooners have won two or more games and the series against all seven of their SEC opponents this season.
Oklahoma and Texas A&M have played 83 times in softball. The Sooners lead the all-time series with a record of 53-30, but they are just 13-10 in games played in College Station.
The two teams have not played each other in three years, the last time being in February 2023 in the Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs, an 8-0 OU victory. The last time Oklahoma played in College Station was in 2012, when both teams were members of the Big 12. The Sooners took two of three games in that series.
Thursday's series opener will start at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network. SEC Network will also carry the game on Friday with a 5 p.m. start time. Saturday's series finale will be televised on ESPN2 at 4 p.m.
What to know about Texas A&M
- Texas A&M ranks sixth in the SEC in hitting (.346 team batting average). The Aggies have hit 69 home runs (100 fewer than Oklahoma) and average 6.9 runs per game.
- Aggie first baseman Mya Perez ranks third in the SEC with an overall .455 batting average and leads the league in SEC play with 25 walks and an impressive .623 on-base percentage.
- Texas A&M is 20-3 this season when scoring first and 31-1 when leading after the fourth inning.
- Junior right-hander Sidne Peters leads the Aggies in games pitched against SEC opponents. She has a 6-1 record and four saves and a 3.10 ERA in 13 appearances against SEC teams and has struck out 49 batters in 44.0 innings.
What to know about Oklahoma
Head coach Patty Gasso said this week in her weekly press conference that she likes where her team is at heading into the series with Texas A&M on the final weekend of the regular season and that the team feels it hasn't played its best game yet this season.
"They know what we're walking into (at Texas A&M)," she said, "and they know that they're going to have to be tough and gritty to handle the enviroment. I feel like we're pretty prepared. We've played in the Texas environment. We've played in our own environment."
Oklahoma leads the nation and the SEC with a .401 team batting average, home runs (NCAA record 169), and total runs (551). The Sooners lead the SEC and rank No. 2 nationally in these other offensive categories: scoring (10.6 per game), on-base-percentage (.498) and slugging percentage (.828).
Ten of OU's last 11 games have been against teams ranked in the top-25, with six of those (three each against Texas and Arkansas) against teams ranked in the top 10.
Four Sooner players learned this week that they are top-25 finalists for the 2026 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. The four are: freshman center fielder Kai Minor, sophomore shortstop Gabbie Garcia, junior outfielder Ella Parker and freshman catcher Kendall Wells. Two different Oklahoma players have won this prestigious national award a total of four times (pitcher Keilani Ricketts in 2012 and 2013 and outfielder/DP Jocelyn Alo in 2021 and 2022).
Key players to watch
Texas A&M
1B Mya Perez: .455 batting average (3rd in SEC), 17 home runs, 50 RBI
3B Kennedy Powell: .418 batting average, 17-20 stolen bases
DP/INF Micaela Wark: .321 batting average, 19 home runs, 63 RBI
P Sidne Petters: 13-5 record, 2.67 overall ERA, 117 strikeouts in 107.2 innings
P Sidney Lessentine: 14-3 record, 2.82 overall ERA, 93 strikeouts, 119.0 innings
Oklahoma
C Kendall Wells: .377 batting average, 36 home runs (NCAA leader), 79 RBI (leads SEC)
SS Gabbie Garcia: .416 batting average, 22 home runs, 66 RBI
CF Kai Minor: .440 batting average (4th in SEC), 7 home runs, 35 RBI, 17-21 stolen bases
RF Ella Parker: .430 batting average, 19 home runs, 57 RBI
P Audrey Lowry: 20-2 record (2nd in SEC), 2.45 ERA, 71 strikeouts, 102.2 innings
P Miali Guachino: 14-1 record, 2.68 ERA, 97 strikeouts, 78.1 innings
Prediction
The series with Texas A&M has championship implications for both teams, but more so for the Sooners. Both teams are playing well right now: A&M has won 10 of its last 12, while Oklahoma is 9-3 over the last 10 games. The Sooners are the more complete team and much more explosive top-to-bottom in the lineup. Oklahoma wins two of three and repeats as SEC regular-season champion.
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