Top 10 Softball Stories of the Year: #3… The Oklahoma Sooners Dynasty (Three Titles In A Row & Counting)

We continue our list of the Top 10 Softball Stories of 2023... the list will run daily through Jan. 1, 2024, when we’ll present the top story of the year. The day after New Year’s Day 2024, we’ll recap the Top 10 one last time, as well as note others that were also considered for the list.

In order to compile this Top 10 list, we considered what were the most impactful and relevant stories of the year and which news headlines or feature story or human interest spotlights pertaining to the world of fastpitch softball caught our attention.

Each day, you can also read in full one of the articles we originally published pertaining to that day’s topic.

Previous Top 10 Softball Stories of 2023

• #10… Addisen Fisher, Why She’s No. 1 in the 2024 Class & A Future UCLA Bruin Star
• #9… Alexia Carrasquillo, Youngest Softball Commit Ever, Preaches “Knows Your Own Worth”
• #8… The Human Experiences (The Painful, Inspirational & Unusual)
• #7… Pro Softball, Post-College Opps For Players Primarily Through Two Professional Leagues
• #6… Club Coach James Lamar Battles Health Trials With Support of Family & Softball Community
• #5… Head Coach Mike Stith Continues His Winning Ways
• #4… Two-Time National Champion Jordy Bahl Goes Home to Nebraska

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Top 10 Softball Stories of the Year: #3… The Oklahoma Dynasty (Three Titles In A Row & Counting)

One of the definitions for the word “dynasty” (dy·nas·ty, pronounced ˈdīnəstē) is “a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time.”

In pro sports, that can refer to teams like the 1950’s New York Yankees in Major League Baseball, the 1950’s and ‘60’s Boston Celtics and later the 1990’s Chicago Bulls in the NBA and the 1970’s Pittsburgh Steelers and, more recently, the 2000 to 2010’s New England Patriots.

In college athletics, you’d have to start with the UCLA Men’s Basketball teams of the 1960’s and 1970’s along with the UConn Women’s Basketball teams of the 2000’s on the hardcourt along with the Alabama football teams of the 2010’s.

When it comes to college softball, the first powerful dynasty would have to be the UCLA Bruins, which has won 11 national championships covering the ‘70’s (1978), the ‘80’s (1982, ’84, ’85, ’88, ’89), the 90’s (1990, ’92, ’99) and 2000’s (2003 and ’04). Note: the SoCal program also won a national title in 1995 which was later vacated by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.

Since the start of this century, however, the college softball dynasty would have to be the Oklahoma Sooners under the leadership of Head Coach Patty Gasso who has helped the current Big 12 program become the preeminent one in women’s fastpitch college softball.

The Sooners have won seven titles overall, with its first coming in 2000, and, of the last 10 championships awarded (the 2020 season was cancelled because of COVID), six have been won by the Univ. of Oklahoma (2013, ’16, ’17, ’21, ’22 and ’23).

To put it in perspective, OU has won:

• 6 of the last 10 national championships,
• 5 of the last 7 national titles,
• the last 3 in a row.

The latter accomplishment makes Coach Gasso and company only the second team in DI softball history to capture three straight national championships, along with the 1988-90 UCLA Bruins.

Remarkably, over the last three seasons of winning NCAA DI trophies, OU has compiled a 176-8 record or a winning percentage of 95.6 percent!

And, as Sooner fans are quick to tell you, they ain’t done yet.

Despite the transfer of ace pitcher Jordy Bahl to Nebraska, Oklahoma still looks to be the team to beat in 2024 with the return of All-American players such as third baseman Alyssa Brito, outfielder Jayda Coleman, catcher Kinzie Hansen and second baseman Tiare Jennings.

Additionally, the coaching staff is superb with Coach Gasso, Associate Head Coach Jennifer Rocha and Assistants JT Gasso and Falepolima Steele.

With one more ring, the Sooners would become the first ever in DI college softball to make it a consecutive quartet of championships and that will certainly be the top storyline to watch in NCAA play in 2024.

But whether Oklahoma wins it all or not, it won’t change the fact that this modern era program certainly fits the definition of “dynasty,” not just in collegiate softball but in all of college sports history.

— Brentt Eads

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Originally published June 9, 2023

Oklahoma Wins the 2023 National Championship

For a moment, Florida State had hope.

After a moment, Oklahoma snatched it away. The Sooners bested the Seminoles 3-1 on Thursday night to clinch the national championship, their third consecutive title.

The championship favorites from the season’s outset, the Sooners lived up to expectations from February through June. Victors in 61 of their 62 games on the year, the Sooners end the season riding an active 53-game winning streak, an NCAA record-long number.

Following a 5-0 victory in Wednesday night’s Game 1 of the WCWS Championship Series, the Sooners entered Thursday needing just one win to clinch the title. Alex Storako, in her first and only season as a Sooner following a transfer from Michigan, got the start in the circle; for Florida State, who else but Kathryn Sandercock would get the ball with the season on the line?

Both starters pitched well; both teams were held scoreless through the first three frames. In the bottom of the fourth inning, with FSU the designated home team for game two, two-way star Mack Leonard put together an impressive at-bat against Storako. After a bouncer down the first-base line was called foul, Leonard stayed in the box and, a few pitches later, proceeded to golf one over the right-field fence.

It was the first lead of the championship series for FSU and just the second time that the Sooners had trailed in the entirety of the Women’s College World Series.

The OU deficit lasted for all of an ESPN commercial break.

Leading off the top of the fifth inning, Cydney Sanders took a 2-0 pitch from Sandercock and drove it to right-center field, not far from where Leonard had hit hers just a few minutes earlier.

Grace Lyons was the next one to the plate, now stepping in in a tied ball game. After a first pitch ball and two pitches fouled away, the game was tied no longer. Lyons launched the 1-2 pitch into the left field bleachers, giving the Sooners their first lead of the game.

It was a lead they would not relinquish.

Jordy Bahl entered the circle to pitch in the bottom of the fifth and turned in her latest impressive outing at Hall of Fame Stadium. A year removed from an injury-hampered WCWS debut in 2022, Bahl was electric in Oklahoma City this time around. Bahl held Florida State off the board for the final three innings, a fitting finale to her World Series showing.

Oklahoma ended the year with a 61-1 overall record and is the second team in Division 1 softball history to win three consecutive national championships, joining the 1988-90 UCLA Bruins.

— Justin Mcleod

Here are some of the other articles from 2023 that were Oklahoma focused…

• Sooners Sign Eight in Leading Extra Inning Softball Recruiting Classes (Roger McAfee, Nov. 2023)
• Oklahoma Does It Again: Another Top 5 2025 Player Headed to the Sooners with Commit of Kai Minor (Brentt Eads, Sept. 2023)
• Recruiting: Two-For-One Special as Oklahoma Gets Commits from Extra Elite 100 Sisters Berkeley and Riley Zache (Brentt Eads, Oct. 2023)
• The Ten Rules of Recruiting From the Accomplished Zache Family (Brentt Eads, Oct. 2023)
• A Look at the Oklahoma Sooners Complete Roster With Signings, Returnees & Four New Transfers for 2024 (Brentt Eads, Aug. 2023)
• Falepolima Aviu Joins Oklahoma Coaching Staff (Justin Mcleod, July 2023)
• TV Numbers: Oklahoma vs. Clemson Battle Leads Super Regional Ratings (Justin Mcleod, May 2023)
• Oklahoma Wins Bedlam Series with Comeback Victory: “They’re Unafraid of Losing” (Justin Mcleod, May 2023)
• Previewing (What Could be the Final) Bedlam in Stillwater (Justin Mcleod, May 2023)

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