Oklahoma softball is a dynasty, and the record books are their competition
The Oklahoma Sooners softball team are the two time defending NCAA champions. And going into this season they are once again the preseason favorite by FloSoftball to win again. If they can pull this off that would not only be a three peat, but their sixth championship dating all the way back to 2013. If is safe to say that Norman, Oklahoma is home to a softball dynasty, and just about everyone in college softball knows it. But what is the secret to their success? The truth is that the Sooners have figured out how to out-recruit and out maneuver the entire nation. So much so that they are no longer competing with the rest of the nation, but rather with the record books. And coach Patty Gasso has absolutely no plans on slowing down.
Oklahoma is out-recruiting the nation
It is not a surprise that Oklahoma softball has arguably the most talented players. But how they pulled that off is the real question. Everything starts with their consistency in recruiting where they are willing to go wherever necessary in order to recruit the best. Entering this season they only have 1 Oklahoma native on their roster, and as many as 7 athletes from the state of California alone. This is a very big deal because softball is not a Division 1 headcount sport where every rostered athlete is expected to receive an athletic full-ride scholarship.
The reason why they are willing to go all the way to the west coast to recruit talent is because they are looking for the best of the best. Oklahoma has been able to sustain bringing in a top 5 recruiting class each of the past four years. They were ranked number 5 in 2020 on FloSoftball, number 2 in 2021 on Softballrecruiting, number 5 in 2022 on 247, and are projected at number 2 again in 2023 on Extrainnings. What might stand out at first is that they have never had the number 1 class. But that doesn’t really matter when you realize that nobody else in the nation has been able to stay in the top 5 for that long. Every team drops out of the top 5 at some point in a 4 year rotation, but not Oklahoma. This means that no matter who is graduating out even if it’s the national player of the year Jocelyn Alo, Oklahoma is ready to reload the following year. Regardless of the names on the roster, the product on the field hasn’t changed that much over the past decade. So the name on the front of the jersey is all that really matters when you are judging the person in it. If she plays for Oklahoma she is one of the best.
Oklahoma is out-performing the nation
Stand aside get on board or get run over. That might as well be the motto when you play the Oklahoma Sooners. During their last two national championships they outscored their opponents 16 to 6, suggesting that neither game was every truly in question. To take it a step further, the record books are already on notice where last season they finished their season with 59 wins, and only 3 losses. No team has lost 3 games or fewer since 1994 when the University of Arizona pulled it off, which is before any of the players for the Sooners were even born.
Furthermore, when the Sooners win they win big. Last season they opened their first 13 games giving up only seven runs in total. And two of those games were against top 10 ranked opponents. There is a psychological component to sports that cannot be understated, especially at the college level. Oklahoma now has an edge on any team they play, where often times they may subconsciously play the game, not even with hopes of winning, but simply getting a run on the board. And in a game as fluid as softball it is almost unheard of for any team, especially one at the highest level to be this good. The Sooners have essentially turned real life Division 1 softball into a video game, and everyone wants to pick the Sooners as their team.
Oklahoma is out pacing the nation
Going forward there appears to be no evidence that the field is getting any closer to catching up with Oklahoma. Their 2023 recruiting class is once again number 2 in the nation. They also enter this season not only as the top ranked team in the preseason polls, but with 6 first team preseason All Americans. To clarify, nobody else in the nation has more than two. To beat a team like Oklahoma you first have the talent enough to do it, and then play a nearly perfect game to give yourself a chance come the final innings. Oklahoma City is famously the site of the national championship game every year since 1990. And in recent memory the championship trophy has barely had an opportunity to leave the state. There is no way to truly know just how long this run of dominance can last. But it is abundantly clear that Oklahoma doesn’t have any plans on slowing down. For everyone else including the record books, your choices are simple. Stand aside, get on board, or get run over, because the Oklahoma Sooners are coming.
KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.
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