Oklahoma softball looks to win its 57th consecutive Big 12 series vs. No. 5 Texas on Saturday
By Chip Rouse
The Oklahoma softball series with Texas this weekend in Austin is undoubtedly the biggest one on the Longhorn schedule this season.
It would mean even more if Texas wasn't joining the Sooners in leaving the Big 12 for the SEC after this season. The Sooners draw the attention and best shot of every team they face every season, but none more so than their chief rivals the Texas Longhorns.
The two rivals have met 83 times on the softball diamond with Oklahoma winning 58 times or 70 percent of the games played. The top-ranked Sooners also won Friday's night's series opener to extend their current win streak against Texas to eight games.
Oklahoma has won 40 consecutive games against Big 12 opponents and 56 consecutive Big 12 series and a win against the Longhorns in either one of the two remaining games in this weekend's series will make it 57. Ironically, the last Big 12 team to beat Oklahoma in softball was Texas, a 4-2 loss in a 2022 regular-season game in Austin.
Another factor that make this series against OU so important for Texas is the simple fact that the Sooners have won 11 consecutive Big 12 championships to just four for the Longhorns (sounds remarkably familiar to the football rivalry between the two schools, doesn't it?).
Before Oklahoma's 5-2 win on Friday, Texas head coach Mike White was asked what it would take for the Longhorns to take down the Sooners in this final regular-season series for both teams as members of the Big 12. "The team that executes and takes advantage of (the big moments) is the one that's going to win." he told reporters.
Oklahoma was that team in game one of the series on Friday, both at the plate and in the circle. Jayda Coleman hit one out of the park with two on base in the fifth, her ninth of the season, that proved to be the difference in the game, and Oklahoma State transfer Kelly Maxwell was masterful in the circle, allowing just three hits in a complete game and striking out a season-high 10 Longhorns on the way to her 11th win of the season without a loss.
In his press conference after Friday's game, White took the high road:
"They (Oklahoma) just continue to get stronger it seems like. We're excited to play them, and that's the way we have to look at it. We're not losing, we're learning."
- Texas head coach Mike White
"This game is about momentum," White said. "Whenever you give up runs, you gotta score right away and come back at them.
The Texas head coach concluded his comments, saying he and his team were looking forward to a really good series continuing on Saturday and Sunday and that the Longhorns will be looking to take it on right from the beginning and be a little more aggressive early on.
Will the Longhorns rebound in the final two games of the series, or will they continue to learn from losing? Oklahoma will have something to say about this, of course. And Patty Gasso's crew usually has plenty to say.