This weekend’s matchup between Oklahoma and Texas features a pair of top 10 teams with top 10 offenses.
This year’s Red River Showdown comes to Oklahoma City for a matchup that will feature some of the best hitters in the nation. It’s a pair of lineups that are scoring runs at an incredible rate this season.
The Texas Longhorns are eighth in the country, scoring 7.06 runs per game. Though they aren’t hitting as many home runs, the Sooners lead the nation in scoring at 8.97 runs per game, a full run better than the No. 2 team in the nation.
With explosive offenses coming to the plate, the two pitching staffs will be challenged from the first pitch to the final out. Oklahoma Sooners head coach Patty Gasso is well aware of the challenge that the Longhorns present but knows her pitchers are ready because of the challenges they’ve faced this year.
“We’ve got a good challenge ahead of us,” Gasso said on Thursday. “But we’ve also faced some really outstanding offensive opponents. So our pitchers are primed for it, ready for it, anxious for it, excited for it.”
In a rematch of last year’s Women’s College World Series championship, the Sooners face a deep lineup that will put [autotag]Jordy Bahl[/autotag], [autotag]Nicole May[/autotag], and [autotag]Alex Storako[/autotag] to the test. Oklahoma’s done well against ranked opponents this season, going 9-0 in 2023. They’ve picked up top 10 wins over the likes of UCLA and Florida State. That experience will help fuel the Sooners in their showdown with No. 8/9 Texas.
Gasso said, “It’s gonna be a good measuring stick this time of the season. But we can’t measure; there’s no measuring right now. It’s like you got to clutch up and step up because the road to the Big 12 championship is coming through Norman right now and through Hall of Fame. So we’ve got to be really playing well, at our best.”
The Sooners’ pitching staff has registered an ERA of 1.00 through their first 31 games, which is third in the nation. Oklahoma has 19 shutouts, which leads the nation. With as good as they’ve been, statistically, the Longhorns are the best offense they’ve faced all year.
Hitting .351, the Horns are fourth in the nation. Patty Gasso knows they’ll get Texas’ best this weekend in Oklahoma City.
“And one thing about Texas, they always make us better every time we play them,” Gasso shared about the Longhorns. “They are aggressive on the base pass, they move quickly, they’re strong, they’re well coached. I mean, there’s a lot to bring to the table. And we’ve had two really good practices where we’re very fine tuning a lot of areas where we believe that they’re going to try to expose us. So it’s going to be a challenge for the pitchers without question, but they have shown that they’re up for this challenge.”
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