Reigning national champion Oklahoma won't start season at No.1

Oklahoma softball has begun each of the last three seasons ranked No. 1 and has finished just that way. That is not the case in 2025, at least not at the start line.

We've all heard the popular expression, "It's not where you start, but how you finish that matters." Oklahoma begins the 2025 season as the unprecedented four-time defending national champion.

But the Sooners also begin the new season with significant roster turnover, losing five starters from last season's national championship team. Patty Gasso's OU softball dynasty has reloaded with another strong transfer group, as well as one of the top recruiting classes, but because of the uncertainty associated with that, voters for the Softball America Preseason Top 25 have the Sooners starting out in the No. 3 spot.

What's probably most irritating to Oklahoma fans is that the two teams ranked ahead of the Sooners are both out of the SEC: No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Texas, the team OU defeated for the championship in the 2024 Women's College World Series.

Ten SEC teams are ranked in the Softball America Preseason Top 25, including the top three teams, three of the top six and five of the top 10.

Florida was the only team to defeat Oklahoma in last season's WCWS, but the Sooners responded in the elimination game rematch with the Gators. OU fought back from a 5-2 deficit to tie the game in the seventh inning and won it in the eighth on a home run by Jayda Coleman. The Sooners went on from there to sweep Texas in the WCWS Championship Series.

Among the starters who have departed from last year's Oklahoma championship team were outfielders Coleman and Rylie Boone, infielders Tiare Jennings and Alyssa Brito, and catcher Kinzie Hansen. The Sooners also lost starting pitchers Kelly Maxwell and Nicole May.

Oklahoma opens up the 2025 college softball season on Feb. 6 in San Diego against Cal State-Northridge.