Even after winning the last four national championships, the Oklahoma Sooners have never been more prepared for the postseason than they are now.
After surviving their first SEC schedule this season, the Sooners were handed the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Softball Championship behind fellow conference mate Texas A&M. The Aggies and Sooners were two of a record 14 SEC teams to make the NCAA tournament when the bracket was revealed on Sunday.
SEC sent record 14 teams to NCAA Softball Championship
With 14 SEC teams making the postseason, that left only the Missouri Tigers with a concluded season and staying home. Of the 16 regionals that make up the NCAA Softball Championship, only two don't include an SEC team. Nine of the regionals will be hosted at SEC sites as the conference made up over half of the top-16 national seeds.
That also means all but one potential super regional pairing could feature an SEC squad fighting for a spot in the Women's College World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
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The Sooners endured a gauntlet that included that historically great group and won more games than anyone else. OU clinched the SEC regular-season conference championship after going 17-7 in conference play and finishing first in conference standings. The Sooners faced five teams who eventually earned a top-8 overall seed.
There were times during that run the Sooners were humbled, but since it didn't kill them, it only made a young OU squad even stronger. Missouri, the only team that failed to make the postseason, handed OU its first SEC loss and ended the Sooners' 31-game winning streak that dated back to last year.
A week later, Tennessee took two of three from OU at Love's Field for the Sooners' first series loss. Then, Alabama did the same OU's next SEC series. During that span, the Sooners were 4-5 in SEC play and it seemed the formidable SEC might be too much for a young OU team that replaced nearly its entire roster before entering its first season in the SEC.
But as experience hands out the test before giving the lesson, the young Sooners figured things out after a few failures and rattled off sweeps over Mississippi State and Texas their next two series. All of a sudden leading the pack as the entire conference beat up on each other, the Sooners beat Florida in Game 1 of series before securing the regular-season crown the next day.
Earning the top seed in the SEC Softball Tournament, which Patty Gasso referred to as "a mini College World Series," OU handled LSU before mounting a historic comeback to survive Arkansas and advance to the championship game against Texas A&M. The finals, though, were canceled because of weather and the teams were deemed co-champs in an unprecedented decision from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey.
Despite proving to be the best team in the SEC, the Sooners were still given the No. 2 overall seed behind the Aggies after never getting a shot at Texas A&M.
It was the SEC's commissioner who robbed OU of competing for the top seed and the teams from the SEC that at times humbled the Sooners, but it was also the SEC that has the Sooners more ready for the NCAA Softball Championship than they ever were before winning one of their eight national titles under Patty Gasso.
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