The Oklahoma Sooners softball team represents the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

College softball. The team competes in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

, and plays its home games at

OU Softball Complex Marita Hynes Field at OU Softball Complex is a college softball stadium on the campus of the University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research univers ...

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, b ...

. The Sooners are currently led by head coach

Patty Gasso Patricia Marie Gasso ( née Froehlich; born May 27, 1962) is an American softball coach for the Oklahoma Sooners. She has been the head softball coach at the University of Oklahoma since 1995. She has led the Sooners team to seven national champ ...

. Oklahoma has won their conference title 14 times, has been to the NCAA Tournament 27 times, has been to the NCAA

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

15 times, and has won the NCAA championship six times. Oklahoma also appeared in the AIAW Women's College World Series four times.

History

The Sooners won their first national championship back in 2000. They sweept Harvard, Cal-State Northridge, and Oregon State at their home regionals to advance to their first appearance in the

. They beat California and knocked off Southern Mississippi and Arizona to advance to the championship game against UCLA. They beat UCLA 3-1 to capture their first national title. They hosted and won their 2013 regional. They beat Marist and Arkansas with a combined score of 41-6. They hosted again their super regionals against Texas A&M where they outscored the Aggies 18-2. In Oklahoma City, they went through 8 seeded Michigan, #10 ranked Texas, and #11 ranked Washington to reach Tennessee in the championship. Game 1 was where Lauren Chamberlain hit her iconic two-run walk-off home run after 12 innings of play. In game 2, Keilani Ricketts drove in all four runs, and Michelle Gascoigne pitched a shut out to obtain their second national title. Once again, they hosted their regional in 2016 where they beat Wichita State and Ole Miss. They went on to host their super regional against Louisiana-Lafayette where they swept to advance to the Women's College World Series once again. In their first game in the tournament, they beat Alabama in extra innings. They faced #12 Michigan in game 2, and beat LSU in their third to face Auburn in the championship. They won 2-1 in their final game where Paige Parker threw a complete game. In 2017, Sooners hosted another straight regional and won against North Dakota State, Arkansas, and Tulsa. From there, they went to #7 Auburn for the Super Regionals where they won in two games. They held off Baylor in Oklahoma City, overcame #6 Washington, and beat Oregon to face Florida in the finals. They won game 1 in the longest game ever played in the finals in 17 innings. They finished off the series with a swept to capture their fourth national championship. In 2021, the Sooners hosted their regional as the No. 1 overall seed and beat Wichita State, Texas A&M, and Morgan State. They advanced to host their super regional against Washington, which they won in two games. At the Women's College World Series, they lost their first round game to James Madison University; subsequently, they won four straight elimination games to advance to the championship series, besting Georgia, UCLA, and James Madison twice. In the championship series, they lost their first game to Florida State, but returned to win games two and three to claim their fifth national championship.

Love's Field

On October 28, 2021, it was announced a new softball stadium, Love's Field, is planned to break ground in 2022 and open before the 2024 season. Love's provided the naming gift following a $9 million donation. The estimated cost for the project is $27 million. The overall square footage of the complex will be 44,000 square feet and will have a seating capacity of 3,000.

Coaching history

Championships

NCAA Women's College World Series National Championships

Conference championships

Conference tournament championships

NCAA Tournament seeding history

National seeding began in 2005. The Oklahoma Sooners have been a national seed 16 of the 17 tournaments.

Records and results

Year-by-year results

Records by opponent

Sources: ;Big 12 Conference opponents ;Former Big 12 Conference opponents ;Major Non-Conference opponents

College World Series

Oklahoma has made 15 trips to the

, winning the title in 2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021 and 2022. OU finished as runner-up in 2012 and 2019.

2023 Coaching Staff

Notable players

Sources:

National Awards

;

USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year is an award given by USA Softball to the best college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United S ...

Keilani Ricketts Keilani Johanna Ricketts Tumanuvao (born September 1, 1991) is an American softball pitcher for the Oklahoma City Spark of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). She played college softball at Oklahoma from 2010 to 2013, where she was the s ...

(2012, 2013) *

Jocelyn Alo Jocelyn Aloha Pumehana Alo (born September 23, 1998) is an American professional softball player for the Oklahoma City Spark of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). She played college softball player for the Oklahoma Sooners. As a freshman ...

(2021, 2022) ; NFCA National Player of the Year *

(2022) ; Softball America Player of the Year *

(2021) ; Softball America Pitcher of the Year * Giselle Juarez (2019) ; NFCA National Freshman of the Year * Paige Parker (2015) *

(2018) *

Tiare Jennings Tiare Rose Jennings (born June 5, 2002) is an American college softball player for the Oklahoma Sooners. As a freshman in 2021, she was named NFCA National Freshman of the Year, Softball America Freshman of the Year and was selected as a first-te ...

(2021) ; Softball America Freshman of the Year *

(2021) ; Honda Sports Award *

(2013) ;Academic All-American of the Year *Lana Moran (2000)

First Team All-Americans

*1999: Lynette Velazquez, At-Large 1st Base *2000: Lisa Carey, Designated Player *2000: Ashli Barrett, At-Large Catcher *2001: Kelli Braitsch, At-Large Shortstop *2003: Leah Gulla, Third Base *2004: Heather Scaglione, At-Large *2005: Heather Scaglione, At-Large *2006: Kristin Vesley, *2007: Norrelle Dickson *2009: Amber Flores *2010: Amber Flores *2011:

*2012: Jessica Shults *2012:

*2012: Lauren Chamberlain *2013:

*2013: Lauren Chamberlain *2014: Shelby Pendley *2015: Lauren Chamberlain *2015: Shelby Pendley *2016: Paige Parker *2018: Paige Parker *2018:

*2018: Sydney Romero *2019: Caleigh Clifton *2019: Giselle Juarez *2019: Sydney Romero *2021:

*2021:

Jayda Coleman Jayda Coleman (born September 27, 2001) is an American college softball player for the Oklahoma Sooners. She also represented the United States at the 2019 U-19 Women's Softball World Cup and USA Softball International Cup. High school career C ...

*2021:

*2022:

Jordy Bahl Jordyn Bahl (born July 24, 2002) is an American college softball pitcher for Nebraska. As a freshman at Oklahoma in 2022, she was named NFCA National Freshman of the Year. High school career Bahl attended Papillion-La Vista Senior High School in ...

*2022:

*2022: Grace Lyons

Conference Awards

; Big 12 Player of the Year *Jill Most (1996) *Lynette Velazquez (1999) *Lisa Carey (2000) *Kelli Braitsch (2001) *Norelle Dickson (2007) *Amber Flores (2009, 2010) *

(2012) *Shelby Pendley (2013, 2015) *Erin Miller (2016) * Shay Knighten (2017) * Sydney Romero (2019) *

(2021, 2022) ; Big 12 Pitcher of the Year *Lauren Eckermann (2007) *

(2013) * Paige Parker (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) * Giselle Juarez (2019) *

(2022) ; Big 12 Freshman of the Year *Lisa Carey (1998) *Jennifer Stewart (1999) * Lauren Chamberlain (2012) * Paige Parker (2015) * Shay Knighten (2016) * Nicole Mendes (2017) *

(2018) *Grace Green (2019) *

(2021) *

(2022) ; Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year *Heather Scaglione (2004, 2005) *Savannah Long (2008) *Lindsey Vandever (2010) *Kelsey Arnold (2016, 2018) *Caleigh Clifton (2019) *Grace Lyons (2021, 2022) ;Big 12 Newcomer of the Year *Andrea Davis (2000) ; Big 12 Coach of the Year *

(1996, 1999, 2000, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)

References

{{University of Oklahoma, athletics __FORCETOC__