Back in February, OUInsider's Joey Helmer wrote a pre-season look at OU softball highlighted around a quote from ESPN's Jen Schroeder on week one of the Out of the Box Podcast. Schroeder didn't believe Oklahoma could fully live up to all its hype entering the 2023 campaign just fresh off consecutive national championships.
“No. And I'm going to say it. This is my big lofty call for the year. I'm excited to watch Oklahoma, but I don't think they're going to be the Oklahoma that we've seen for the last couple of years," Schroeder said. "I'm just saying it. I wish everyone listening could see your guys' faces when I just said that because your eyebrows went up and your jaws dropped a little bit. But I just don't think that Oklahoma is going to be the team that hits 80 bajillion home runs. They may hit 50 bajillion. But it's not going to be—you guys know, Oklahoma was almost invincible last year. We were talking about would they ever lose a game in the season? And I don't think we're going to see that Oklahoma."
OK, let's check in and see how ESPN's softball expert did after last night's 53rd straight win:
Oklahoma became only the second team in Division I history to three-peat as WCWS champions (UCLA, 1988-90), but that is just the tip of the iceberg for how dominant the Sooners have been.
They finished the 2023 season 61-1 with 53 wins in a row (and counting), the longest streak in Division I history. Oklahoma also became the first school to lead the country in scoring, ERA and fielding percentage in the same season. Here are the categories where OU finished No. 1 nationally as the 'big, bad Oklahoma Sooners':
NCAA No. 1 Rank among all D1 teams
Batting Average ............ .366
ERA .................................. 0.96
Fielding Percentage..... .987
HR per game ............... 1.89
On Base Percentage ... .456
Scoring........................... 8.08
Shutouts ....................... 35
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
for a great read -- today's ESPN lead story on OU softball dominance:
espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/37821365/oklahoma-softball-ncaa-championship-wcws-dominance-superteam
“No. And I'm going to say it. This is my big lofty call for the year. I'm excited to watch Oklahoma, but I don't think they're going to be the Oklahoma that we've seen for the last couple of years," Schroeder said. "I'm just saying it. I wish everyone listening could see your guys' faces when I just said that because your eyebrows went up and your jaws dropped a little bit. But I just don't think that Oklahoma is going to be the team that hits 80 bajillion home runs. They may hit 50 bajillion. But it's not going to be—you guys know, Oklahoma was almost invincible last year. We were talking about would they ever lose a game in the season? And I don't think we're going to see that Oklahoma."
OK, let's check in and see how ESPN's softball expert did after last night's 53rd straight win:
Oklahoma became only the second team in Division I history to three-peat as WCWS champions (UCLA, 1988-90), but that is just the tip of the iceberg for how dominant the Sooners have been.
They finished the 2023 season 61-1 with 53 wins in a row (and counting), the longest streak in Division I history. Oklahoma also became the first school to lead the country in scoring, ERA and fielding percentage in the same season. Here are the categories where OU finished No. 1 nationally as the 'big, bad Oklahoma Sooners':
NCAA No. 1 Rank among all D1 teams
Batting Average ............ .366
ERA .................................. 0.96
Fielding Percentage..... .987
HR per game ............... 1.89
On Base Percentage ... .456
Scoring........................... 8.08
Shutouts ....................... 35
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
for a great read -- today's ESPN lead story on OU softball dominance:
espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/37821365/oklahoma-softball-ncaa-championship-wcws-dominance-superteam
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