Some of you may be interested in this, so as the board's resident softball expert, I thought I'd give a preview of this weekend's Super Regional.
Last week I said we were the best team in the Oregon Regional and that Oregon was extremely overrated. Unfortunately that is not the case this week. Oklahoma, the No. 3 national seed and winners of four of the last five national championships may be underrated. This is going to be a tough task, but they are not the unbeatable team they were circa 2023 when they were 64-1. The last time Oklahoma did not make the WCWS was 2014.
We are going to play at Love's Field in Norman. It's the DNF of college softball. It will be packed (capacity 4,200) and they love softball at Oklahoma. The WCWS is in nearby Oklahoma City in a complex that boasts the softball hall of fame. If there were a such thing as a state sport - college softball is to Oklahoma the way college softball is to Mississippi. First game is Friday at noon and will be on ESPN2.
So what are we really up against? Oklahoma is 51-8 and they have 35 run-rule victories this season. They won a road game at UTEP this season 34-0. They have five hitters in their lineup batting over .400, led by Kai Minor. They have two hitters with 22 HR each, which is amazing until you realize they have another in Kendall Wales with 37 home runs. Throughout the lineup they can kill you. Pitching is not overwhelmingly good, but solid. Lowry is 22-3 with a 2.61 ERA and Guachino is 15-2 with a 2.92 ERA. Those will be the two starters for the Sooners this weekend.
Our strength is in the circle with Faircloth (2.28 ERA) and Goold (2.12) expected to pitch every inning this weekend. We just don't hit the ball well, with our top hitter Sells batting .342. Her and Barbary do have 14 HR each.
Patty Gasso has been the Oklahoma coach since 1995. A lot of chatter that Ricketts will be one of the top targets to replace her. We are certainly overmatched. We did not play OU this season, but have played them in past seasons:
2025: L, 0-4, L 5-6, L 6-9
2024: L, 3-9
2023: L, 0-7, L, 3-9
Fun factL: We are the only team Oklahoma has played 6+ times in the past four seasons that has not lost a game via run rule.
Last week I said we were the best team in the Oregon Regional and that Oregon was extremely overrated. Unfortunately that is not the case this week. Oklahoma, the No. 3 national seed and winners of four of the last five national championships may be underrated. This is going to be a tough task, but they are not the unbeatable team they were circa 2023 when they were 64-1. The last time Oklahoma did not make the WCWS was 2014.
We are going to play at Love's Field in Norman. It's the DNF of college softball. It will be packed (capacity 4,200) and they love softball at Oklahoma. The WCWS is in nearby Oklahoma City in a complex that boasts the softball hall of fame. If there were a such thing as a state sport - college softball is to Oklahoma the way college softball is to Mississippi. First game is Friday at noon and will be on ESPN2.
So what are we really up against? Oklahoma is 51-8 and they have 35 run-rule victories this season. They won a road game at UTEP this season 34-0. They have five hitters in their lineup batting over .400, led by Kai Minor. They have two hitters with 22 HR each, which is amazing until you realize they have another in Kendall Wales with 37 home runs. Throughout the lineup they can kill you. Pitching is not overwhelmingly good, but solid. Lowry is 22-3 with a 2.61 ERA and Guachino is 15-2 with a 2.92 ERA. Those will be the two starters for the Sooners this weekend.
Our strength is in the circle with Faircloth (2.28 ERA) and Goold (2.12) expected to pitch every inning this weekend. We just don't hit the ball well, with our top hitter Sells batting .342. Her and Barbary do have 14 HR each.
Patty Gasso has been the Oklahoma coach since 1995. A lot of chatter that Ricketts will be one of the top targets to replace her. We are certainly overmatched. We did not play OU this season, but have played them in past seasons:
2025: L, 0-4, L 5-6, L 6-9
2024: L, 3-9
2023: L, 0-7, L, 3-9
Fun factL: We are the only team Oklahoma has played 6+ times in the past four seasons that has not lost a game via run rule.
