OKLAHOMA CITY — The University of Oklahoma is chasing softball history again.
The Sooners (54-6), seeded second overall for this year's NCAA tournament, head into the eight-team Women's College World Series with the opportunity to win an unprecedented fourth straight national title. Their opening game in double-elimination bracket play on Thursday will be against No. 10 seed Duke (52-7).
Last year's Sooners dominated to become the first team with three straight titles since UCLA's run from 1988 to 1990. Soon after the three-peat was secure, though, star pitcher Jordy Bahl transferred to Nebraska, leaving a giant hole on the roster. Oklahoma added Oklahoma State pitcher Kelly Maxwell from the transfer portal, and the Sooners started the season favored to win another championship.
They felt the weight of high expectations.
"The past three years, it's been a blessing," Oklahoma catcher Kinzie Hansen said. "But living up there -- it's really hard to get there, but living up there I would say is even harder."
It hasn't gone as smoothly as some years. Texas won the Big 12 regular-season title, and that set up the Longhorns (52-8) as the 64-team NCAA field's No. 1 seed. The Sooners, though, went 3-0 at their regional on the opening weekend of the tournament, then swept their best-of-three Norman Super Regional against No. 15 Florida State last weekend, winning 11-3 in five innings and 4-2 to clinch the program's eighth straight postseason trip to Oklahoma City.
The Sooners made it through largely due to a strong senior class that Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso calls the best ever.
Rylie Boone, Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, Nicole May and Hansen have been on all three championship teams. Alyssa Brito and Jennings were named All-America first-team selections by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Maxwell has a 20-2 record and a 1.96 ERA this season, transfer pitcher Karlie Keeney has been strong in the circle when called upon, and Riley Ludlam and Alynah Torres have been steady at the plate.
Gasso said the Sooners aren't in Oklahoma City intent on proving anything to anybody.
"We're going to do the best we can to win it as a team and not to prove to the world there's no doubt we are the best," she said. "We've got to earn this."
In the other matchups Thursday, Texas faces No. 8 Stanford (48-15), No. 6 UCLA (42-10) faces No. 14 Alabama (38-18), and No. 4 Florida (51-13) faces No. 5 Oklahoma State (49-10).
Multiple teams in Oklahoma City will be representing their current conferences for the last time, including the top two seeds as Oklahoma and Texas make the move this summer from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, where the longtime members include Alabama and Florida.
Florida coach Tim Walton expects the SEC, which qualified all 13 of its current softball program for this year's NCAA tourney, to be even tougher next year. Walton's Gators will host both Oklahoma and Texas in 2025 as league opponents.
"I'm excited that they're coming to the SEC," Walton said. "I think they're going to expand recruiting bases for their programs, our programs, the television coverage, popularity.
"It's going to be a challenge. We're in for a challenge. They're in for a challenge."
Stanford and UCLA will be the final teams from the Pac-12 -- at least in its current form -- to play in the WCWS. The league will lose 10 schools this summer, including Stanford heading to the Atlantic Coast Conference and UCLA joining the Big Ten.
Current members of the West Coast-based league have dominated the sport for most of its existence. UCLA has won a record 12 NCAA Divsion I softball titles, while Arizona has won eight. Arizona State won in 2008 and 2011, Washington won in 2009 and has three runner-up finishes, and California was the runner-up in 2003 and 2004. Oregon has been a national power for the past decade, and Oregon State qualified for the WCWS in 2022.
Among those schools, only Oregon State will remain next season.
"When you think about the greatest that have played in history, the championships, it is the Pac-12," UCLA coach Inouye-Perez said.
The Pac-12 also boasts USA Softball's collegiate player of the year in Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady, a sophomore who leads the nation with 310 strikeouts and a 0.66 ERA this season.
"It's incredible," she said. "Honestly, it's a dream come true to be here, to play in Oklahoma City, and to get that honor. It's almost everything I could have dreamt up. Next thing is the national championship."
Stanford, which will be joined by Cal in bolting the Pac-12 for the ACC, could strengthen its new conference's reputation in this sport. However, Florida State helped elevate the ACC's softball profile by winning the 2018 title and finishing as runner-up to Oklahoma in 2021 and 2023.
And now Duke is giving the league a boost. The Blue Devils, who began playing in 2018, swept the ACC titles this year on the way to their fourth straight NCAA super regional but their first WCWS berth.
That's not the only history they're making. The NFCA and Duke's sports information department believe the Blue Devils' Marissa Young is the first Black coach to reach the WCWS.
"It means a lot," Young said. "I didn't have that as something to see growing up. Obviously in taking the job here at Duke, I understood that I had an opportunity to do something that's never been done."
Black coaches are rare in college softball. According to the NCAA's demographics database, there were just 19 Black head coaches in Division I in 2023, when there were 297 programs at that level.
Inouye-Perez, an Asian American, said she is a fan of Young and that the achievement by a fellow woman of color should be celebrated.
"She's a quality coach but a better person," Inouye-Perez said. "I'm excited that she's been able to build such a strong program and get to this stage so quickly. Says a lot."
AP photo by Garett Fisbeck / Oklahoma's Rylie Boone runs the bases during an NCAA softball regional game against Oregon on May 17 in Norman, Okla.2024 WOMEN’S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
At OGE Energy Field at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex
Oklahoma City
All Times Eastern
Double-elimination tournament; x-if necessary
Thursday, May 30
Game 1: No. 6 UCLA (39-10) vs. No. 14 Alabama (35-17), noon
Game 2: No. 2 Oklahoma (51-6) vs. No. 10 Duke (50-7), 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 1 Texas (49-8) vs. No. 8 Stanford (44-14), 8 p.m.
Game 4: No. 4 Florida (47-12) vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State (46-10), 10:30 p.m.
Friday, May 31
Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 7 p.m.
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 1
Game 7: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 8: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7 p.m.
Sunday, June 2
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser, 3 p.m.
Game 10: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 loser, 7 p.m.
Monday, June 3
Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner, noon
x-Game 12: Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 13: Game 8 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 7 p.m.
x-Game 14: Game 8 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 9:30 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
(Best-of-3)
Wednesday, June 5
Bracket 1 winner vs. Bracket 2 winner, TBA
Thursday, June 6
Bracket 1 winner vs. Bracket 2 winner, TBA
Friday, June 7
Bracket 1 winner vs. Bracket 2 winner, TBA