WCWS has become a lot like 'Oklahoma and the seven dwarfs'

Older Oklahoma Sooner fans will remember a time in the Big Eight era when OU football was caustically referred to as "Oklahoma and the Seven Dwarfs."

That sarcastic expression may also now be an apt description of what the Women's College World Series has become with as often as Oklahoma has been there in recent seasons and ruled the roost in doing so. And this year's WCWS looks a lot like an SEC tournament with a record five teams from the conference composing the eight-team WCWS bracket.

The Oklahoma softball team is making the short trip up Interstate 35 to Oklahoma City later this week to appear in its ninth consecutive Women's College World Series. The highest-seeded Sooners will be joined in OKC by No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 11 Ole Miss from the SEC, along with No. 9 UCLA and No. 16 Oregon out of the Big Ten and No. 12 Texas Tech, the Big 12 champion.

Sooners making ninth straight WCWS trip as four-time defending national champions

It probably shouldn't be that big of a surprise that five SEC teams were able to advance to the WCWS. Fourteen of the 15 SEC teams that compete in softball qualified for the NCAA tournament, with 11 earning top-16 national seeds and nine making it to Super Regionals.

Oklahoma began the NCAA postseason as the No. 2 overall seed, but became the highest seed of the remaining teams in the tournament after No. 1 Texas A&M lost in regionals to Liberty.

Six of the eight team's in this season's WCWS field, including the Sooners, UCLA, Florida, Texas, Tennessee and Oregon, have been there multiple times and have combined for 23 national championships. Texas Tech and Ole Miss are making their first WCWS appearances.

Oklahoma lays claim to eight of the 23 national championships won by teams in this year's WCWS (UCLA beats everyone in college softball with 13 national titles and Florida has been crowned national champion twice). The Sooners have dominated college softball the past four seasons, putting together an overall record of 235-15, a phenomenal .940 winning percentage, and winning an unprecedented four consecutive national championships.

The Sooners' quest for a fifth consecutive national championship begins on Thursday against Tennessee, a team OU lost two of three to in the regular season. The Sooners and Volunteers will play at 1:30 p.m. CT on Thursday at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.

OU is in an all-SEC side of the bracket. The loser of the OU-Tennessee game will play the loser of Texas vs. Florida on Friday. The winners of Thursday's opening-round games get a day off and will play each other on Saturday.

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