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Texas softball made a statement in Top 10 win over UCLA.
Texas softball got off to a hot start on Friday. The No. 5 Longhorns earned a Top 10 victory over the No. 8 UCLA Bruins, 3-2. Continue reading “Texas Softball: No. 5 Longhorns defeat No. 8 UCLA Bruins, 3-2”
The Oklahoma Sooners were voted No. 1 in Big 12 preseason coaches poll. How did the rest of the conference stack up?
Surprise, surprise. The three-time defending national champions were voted to win the Big 12. The Sooners have won 11 consecutive Big 12 titles and haven’t lost a regular season series in the conference since 2011 and are 121-4 in Big 12 play since 2016.
In 2023, the Sooners went 18-0 and outscored their conference opponents 123-17 along the way. The pitching staff threw 10 shutouts against Big 12 competition.
In the expanded Big 12, new foes await, but until someone’s able to knock of the Sooners, they’ll remain the favorite in the conference and for the national title.
When they begin the season on February 8 against Utah State, they’ll look to extend their 53-game winning streak and begin their trek to a fourth-straight national championship. No one has ever won four-straight titles, but this Sooners squad looks set up to make another run.
The Sooners return four All-Big 12 first-team selections, including Big 12 Player of the Year [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag].
Let’s take a look at the Big 12 coaches poll.
Note: Coaches could not vote for their own team.
The Oklahoma Sooners softball program now knows who their conference opponents will be in their final swim through the Big 12.
The Oklahoma Sooners will venture through the Big 12 one last time in 2024 and now we know the conference part of their schedule.
The Sooners have dominated the Big 12 since it was established in 1996. They’ve won 15 regular season conference titles, including the last 11. They’ve won eight tournament titles.
In 2023, Oklahoma completed the best season in college softball and set the record for consecutive wins at 53 straight and counting.
As Oklahoma looks to add to their trophy, here’s a look at their conference schedule for the 2024 season.
After a fantastic season Jordy Bahl was named D1Softball’s Pitcher of the Year for 2023.
After a slow start to the 2023 season, [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag] finished with a bang. She closed the season and her Oklahoma Sooners career by pitching 24.2 scoreless innings at this year’s Women’s College World Series. She finished the year with a 0.90 ERA, which helped her earn the Pitcher of the Year honor from D1Softball.
She was named Most Outstanding Player at the WCWS, and her 0.90 ERA for the season was second in the country behind Stanford’s NiJaree Canady.
Bahl performed her best when the competition was at its best. She had wins against Florida State, Tennessee, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Washington, Utah, Duke, Texas and Clemson. She was the ace of a very good pitching staff.
Jordy Bahl finished the 2023 season with a 0.90 ERA, including 24.2 scoreless innings at this year's WCWS.
Bahl was a significant part of Oklahoma's 2023 championship run and earned the 2023 D1Softball Pitcher of the Year.@OU_Softball x @jordybahl
๐ https://t.co/hvMfvncnrx pic.twitter.com/yiNKRUiMlj
— D1Softball (@D1Softball) June 14, 2023
Bahl stunned the softball world by announcing this week she is transferring from Oklahoma back to her home state of Nebraska. Though Oklahoma returns Nicole May and Kierston Deal, and we haven’t seen anything from another signee from their 2022 recruiting class, S.J. Guerin, Oklahoma is going to miss Bahl a lot.
In her two years in Norman, Bahl was 44-2 and recorded 397 strikeouts for the Sooners. In more than 288.2 innings pitched, Bahl allowed 153 hits and 47 runs scored.
Though Bahl’s time in Norman has come to an end, her impact in Norman and on the sport of softball will continue. When the games mattered most, Bahl rose to the occasion and led the Oklahoma Sooners to their third straight national title.
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The Oklahoma Sooners cap off another dominant season with a 3-1 win to claim their third-straight national championship.
Oklahoma capped off a historic season with a 3-1 win over Florida State to win the national championship for a third straight season. The Sooners have now won seven national championships and six in the last ten years.
Alex Storako and Kathryn Sandercock were battling back and forth through the first three innings of the game. Storako got into some trouble in the third inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Kalei Harding drove a ball to deep center field, where Jayda Coleman tracked it down and robbed Florida State of a three-run home run.
Florida State got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to a Mack Leonard home run that made it 1-0 in favor of the Seminoles.
Oklahoma quickly responded in the top of the fifth inning with back-to-back home runs from Cydney Sanders and Grace Lyons, which made it 2-1 in favor of the Sooners. Jordy Bahl provided herself an insurance run in the top of the sixth to put Oklahoma up 3-1 on Alynah Torres’ single.
From their, it was all Jordy Bahl, who retired all nine batters she faced in what was another sensational performance for the sophomore pitcher. Bahl was named Most Outstanding Player of the Women’s College World Series. In the NCAA tournament, she was 7-0 and allowed just one run, back in the super regionals vs. Clemson. In Oklahoma City, Bahl was flawless, going 4-0 and allowing no runs across four appearances, which included a pair of complete game shutouts.
๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฒ๐๐ซ: @jordybahl โจ#WCWS x @OU_Softball pic.twitter.com/NKte04zmMG
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 9, 2023
Storkao was really good for the Sooners in the first four innings of the game. She allowed three hits, one run, and recorded two strikeouts.
Oklahoma finished the season 61-1 as the winningest team in college softball history. They extended their all-time win streak record to 53 games and became just the second team in softball history to win three national titles in a row. There appear to be no signs of this run ending anytime soon. Patty Gasso has created a dynasty.
All season long, the Oklahoma Sooners created magic. In the circle, in the field, and at the plate. This national title-clinching win over Florida State had memorable moments in every phase of the game.
Simply put, Patty Gasso and her team rose to the occasion every time they faced adversity and wouldn’t be denied.
๐๐๐๐PILE ๐ฃ๏ธ pic.twitter.com/hkhNXGEIf1
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 9, 2023
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After trailing 2-0 in the first, Nicole May and Jordy Bahl combined for eight scoreless innings and Tiare Jennings hit the go ahead double in the ninth to send Oklahoma to the WCWS Championship Series.
Oklahoma was tested once again and passed it with flying colors against the Stanford Cardinal, picking up their 51st win in a row, 4-2 in extra innings.
Nicole May and Alana Vawter got the start for their respective sides. Both pitched well before giving way to [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag] and NiJaree Canady, who recreated their pitcher’s duel from Thursday, with the Sooners coming out on top once again.
Stanford started fast in the first inning. They had three hits in the inning, highlighted by Kylie Chung’s two-run home run to give Stanford a 2-0 lead right out of the gate. Each of the three hits came with two strikes in the at-bat.
Oklahoma then scored in the second inning thanks to a sac-fly by [autotag]Alynah Torres[/autotag] that brought home [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag] to make it 2-1 after two innings. [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag] then opened the third inning with a home run that tied it after three innings 2-2. It was Coleman’s 17th home run of the season and is tied for the team lead.
The game was a stalemate the rest of the way as Bahl and Canady put on a pitching clinic. The two underclassmen were fantastic. Even when they gave up a hit, found ways to work around trouble.
In the top of the ninth inning, Oklahoma finally found some separation when, after a leadoff double by [autotag]Grace Lyons[/autotag] and an intentional walk to Coleman, [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] doubled to right field to make it 4-2.
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฅณ๐ฅณ๐ฅณ @_tiarejennings pic.twitter.com/ebp5dj3cS1
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 5, 2023
In the bottom of the ninth, Bahl made quick work of the Cardinal, retiring them in order, including two strikeouts.
After allowing two runs on three hits in the first inning, [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag] rallied to retire the side in the next four frames against Stanford. It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth that she allowed the fourth hit of the game. She collected three strikeouts and didn’t allow a walk in what turned out to be a clutch performance.
Bahl threw four innings, allowing four hits and collecting six strikeouts to pick up her 21st win of the tournament.
For Stanford, Vawter allowed four hits and two runs while also having two strikeouts. Canady was the star for the Cardinal. She allowed four hits and two runs on four hits and picked up six strikeouts.
Game 1 of the WCWS Championship will start on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT, and will be broadcast on ESPN. It’s Oklahoma’s fourth straight trip to the Women’s College World Series Championship and
The Sooners will face the winner of No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 4 Tennessee.
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Jordy Bahl’s complete game shutout lifts the Oklahoma Sooners to a 2-0 win over Stanford in the opener of the Women’s College World Series.
The Oklahoma Sooners openedย the Women’s College World Series with a 2-0 win. The win kept their record-breaking streak intact with a 49th consecutive victory.
Right off the bat, this game had the makings of a pitcher’s duel between Jordy Bahl and Stanford’s NiJaree Canady. In the first inning, both teams put runners on base, but neither team could get anything going. And that would be the theme for much of the afternoon.
The Cardinal were outhitting the Sooners for much of the contest as NiJaree Canady kept the No. 1 offense in the country quiet through four innings. Stanford put multiple runners on base in the first, fourth, and fifth innings but came away empty handed as Jordy Bahl pitched around several difficult situations.
Oklahoma finally found some life in the bottom of the fifth inning. Alynah Torres earned a one-out single. Patty Gasso inserted Avery Hodge to run for Torres. With two outs in the inning, Rylie Boone singled to put runners on first and second. Then Jayda Coleman did what Sooners do and came through in a clutch moment with an RBI single that turned into two runs after an error by the left fielder.
All three base hits in the inning came with two strikes in the count against Canady, who boasts the lowest ERA in the nation.
Several times throughout the game, the Cardinal threatened to score and each time, Jordy Bahl came up with a big strikeout to end the threat. Bahl earned a complete game shutout to move to 19-1 on the season and lower her ERA to 1.03 in 2023.
Bahl collected 11 strikeouts for the win, navigating around seven base runners in the win. Canady was great for Stanford, allowing just two runs on four hits, while collecting seven strikeouts in the contest.
The win sets up a great matchup, as the Sooners will take on the 4th-seeded Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ABC.
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Grace Lyons wins Gold Glove Award and five Sooners named NFCA first-team All-Americans.
The Oklahoma Sooners dominated the national awards in softball with five Sooners named NFCA first-team All-Americans. Additionally, Grace Lyons won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award as the best defensive player in Division I.
Grace Lyons is a five-year starter at shortstop for the Sooners and has been great in the infield throughout her career. She has started 256 games for the Sooners, all at shortstop, and holds a single-season career-best .975 fielding percentage in 2023. Lyons has helped turn 11 double plays and has committed just three errors during her fifth and final season with Oklahoma.
Lyons collects OUโs first Rawling Gold Glove Award in program history. The award was introduced to collegiate softball in 2022.
๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ โจ@RawlingsSB Gold Glove Award ยป @grace_lyons5 #ChampionshipMindset pic.twitter.com/vH8VRTpRAw
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) May 31, 2023
[autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag], [autotag]Alyssa Brito[/autotag], [autotag]Jayda Coleman[/autotag], [autotag]Kinzie Hansen[/autotag], and [autotag]Tiare Jennings[/autotag] were named NFCA first-team All-Americans. Brito was one of six unanimous selections to the first-team.
It’s the second year in a row that Oklahoma’s had five first-team All-Americans and the 10th season out of the last 11 where they’ve had three first-team All-Americans.
The Sooners (56-1) open their seventh straight Women’s College World Series Thursday at 1:30 p.m. CT versus No. 9-seed Stanford (45-13). They look to keep their record-breaking 48-game winning streak intact.ย
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The Oklahoma Sooners tied the all-time record for consecutive wins with their 9-2 win over the Clemson Tigers.
Oklahoma shrugged off a slow start to beat Clemson 9-2 in the first game of the Norman Super Regionals. The Sooners tied the all-time NCAA softball winning streak at 47 games in a row, which was previously held by the 1996-97 Arizona Wildcats. The Sooners are now 55-1 on the year.
To start the game, Clemson didn’t do much and only got one hit in the first inning. Haley Lee then helped Oklahoma with a sac-fly that brought in Jayda Coleman to make the score 1-0 after one inning.
In the second, the Sooners took advantage of a Clemson error to extend their lead to 2-0. While Oklahoma was leading, Clemson’s Valerie Cagle was keeping the Sooners’ bats in check for the most part.
In the fourth, Cydney Sanders broke the game wide open. for the Sooners with a two-run home run to make the score 4-0. It was the third straight game with a home run for Sanders, who now has seven on the season.
The game got interesting again in the top of the fifth.
Clemson scored two runs thanks to a double by Caroline Jacobsen that scored McKenzie Clark and Ansley Houston. The Tigers had been getting to Jordy Bahl throughout the contest but finally broke through to give the Sooners a scare.
Staying steady, Oklahoma pulled away for good in the bottom of the fifth. Rylie Boone got the inning going with a leadoff bunt single. Jayda Coleman and Tiare Jennings followed suit with singles of their own to load the bases. Haley Lee then came to the plate. After working a 3-1 count, Lee went deep to center for a grand slam and an 8-2 lead.
Alyssa Brito provided the exclamation point in the game with her 15th home run of the season to make it 9-2.
The sixth and seventh innings were very quiet with neither team getting a hit the rest of the game.
Jordy Bahl started the game for the Sooners with 5.1 innings pitched. She allowed eight hits, two runs and had six strikeouts. She battled throughout the game, stranding Clemson runners in the first three innings. Bahl moved to 17-1 on the season. Alex Storako provided 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to close the game for Oklahoma.
National Player of the Year finalist, Valerie Cagle, had a strong start to the game. And despite the two runs allowed in the first two innings, she limited the Sooners lineup from making more noise until the fourth and fifth. Cagle pitched four innings and allowed eight runs on seven hits and had two strikeouts in the game.
Oklahoma and Clemson will meet again in the second game of the Norman Super Regional on Saturday at 12 p.m. An Oklahoma win would send the Sooners to the WCWS, while the Tigers need a win to stay alive in the NCAA Tournament.
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No. 1 Oklahoma vs No. 16 Clemson: how to watch, weekend preview, key players. Can Clemson end the Oklahoma incredible run?
Oklahoma (54-1) has been the most dominant team in softball this year. The Sooners are riding a 46-game winning streak and can break the record for the longest winning streak in college softball this weekend.
Oklahoma’s offense exploded in the Norman Regional, outscoring its opponents 38-3. None of the games against Hofstra, Missouri and California was remotely close.
Clemson got here after it beat UNC Greensboro, 17-2, in the opener before beating Auburn, 7-0, to advance to the regional finals. In the final, Auburn forced a winner-take-all game with a 5-2 win, but the Clemson Tigers bounced back to advance with a 5-1 win.
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