Oklahoma softball: Sooners ranked No. 1 in Softball America Preseason Top 25

The three-time defending national champion Oklahoma softball dynasty is right back where it has ended the past three seasons, as the nation's top-ranked team.

That is where the folks at Softball America stand. The national organization has voted the Sooners No. 1 in its 2024 Preseason Top 25. Oklahoma has ruled college softball over the past three years. Five of the team's seven national championships have been won in past eight years. The Sooners were in the Women's College World Series seven times, national runners-up in 2019 and the season was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Oklahoma's record over the past three seasons is an unworldly 176-8, and Patty Gasso's 2024 Sooner team is loaded once again. Starters catcher Kinzie Hansen, outfielders Jayda Coleman and Rylie Boone, infielder Cydney Sanders and utility Alyssa Brito are all back for another season along with starting pitcher Nicole May and Kiersten Deal. Gasso has also added talent through the transfer portal, including former Oklahoma State All-American pitcher Kelly Maxwell.

And OU keeps filling the pipeline with another top national recruiting class. According to Extra Innings Softball, two of the Sooners' eight members of the 2024 class are ranked in the top five of the 2024 Extra Elite 100, four in the top 10, six in the top 15 and eight in the top 25.

The Sooners will open the 2024 season on Feb. 8 at the Puerto Vallarta College Classic with games against No. 9 Duke and No, 22. Washington. A couple of weeks later, OU will play in the annual Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in the Palm Springs, California. There they will play No. 25 San Diego State as well as games with Mississippi State, Wisconsin and Notre Dame.

Oklahoma will play its season-opening home game the weekend of March 1-3, hosting the OU Tournament at brand new Love's Field. The tournament field includes Miami of Ohio, Liberty and Louisiana.

This will be Gasso's 30th season at the helm of the Oklahoma softball program. Her record at OU is an impressive 1,456-345-2, an .808 winning percentage. The Sooners have never missed an NCAA Tournament under Gasso. The Sooners have made 13 consecutive trips to the Super Regionals and 16 appearances in the WCWS while Gasso has been head coach.