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Kendall Wells and the Sooner offense are the headliners for OU softball.
Rightfully so — Wells may well break the single-season home-run record before the end of the regular season while the Sooners are going to obliterate college softball's single-season record for dingers and may well flirt with hitting 200.
But what Oklahoma's pitchers did this past weekend at Texas shouldn't go unnoticed.
The Sooner arms, which have had their struggles this season and have ended up leaning fairly heavily on ace Audrey Lowry, bowed up and went toe-to-toe with the Longhorns. They allowed only three runs over the first two games of the series, which the Sooners won with a combination of Lowry and Miali Guachino. Then in the series finale, even though five OU pitchers surrendered eight runs in an extra-inning loss, they kept Texas within arm's length the entire time.
More: Kendall Wells 'like no other hitter' OU softball coach Patty Gasso has ever seen
If the OU pitching is coming around, look out.
The Sooners, after all, are already stout.
OU takes over the top spot in The Oklahoman's College Softball Super 16 this week, riding the momentum from its series win at Texas. OU not only bested Texas Tech, which had been No. 1 but got shutout in the second game of its series against Utah, but also leapfrogged Alabama, which swept in-state rival Auburn.
Even though the Sooners have not been ranked outside the top five this season, this is the first time they have been No. 1.
Let's get to the Super 16.
More: Get ready for epic college softball HR race with OU's Kendall Wells, UCLA's Megan Grant
Team, Points (first-place votes), Record, Last week’s ranking
1. Oklahoma, 174 (9), 40-4, 3
2. Alabama, 160 (2), 39-3, 2
3. Texas Tech, 148, 40-3, 1
4. Nebraska, 146, 33-6, 4
5. Arkansas, 126, 35-6, 6
6. Texas, 122, 33-6, 5
7T. Florida, 106, 40-5, 8
7T. UCLA, 106, 37-5, 9
9. Tennessee, 97, 36-6, 10
10. Virginia Tech, 57, 36-6, 12
11. Texas A&M, 54, 30-12, 13
12. Duke, 44, 31-12, 15
13. Georgia, 42, 31-11, 14
14. Florida State, 35, 36-7, 7
15. Arizona, 30, 30-11, 11
16. LSU, 1, 28-14, RV
Others receiving votes: Mississippi State, 12, 34-11, 16; Oregon, 10, 32-9, RV; Stanford, 4, 26-12, NR; Washington, 2, 34-9, RV
Voters: Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman; Nathan Giese, Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal; Cora Hall, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel; Eric Lopez, In The Circle; Justin McLeod, D1Softball.com; Joe Mussatto, The Oklahoman; Noah Ram, Gainesville (Fla.) Sun; Colton Sulley, The Oklahoman; Brady Vernon, Softball America; Kirk Walker, Oklahoma City Spark general manager; Scott Wright, The Oklahoman.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Super 16 softball rankings: Oklahoma takes top spot, leaping Alabama
Continue reading...
Rightfully so — Wells may well break the single-season home-run record before the end of the regular season while the Sooners are going to obliterate college softball's single-season record for dingers and may well flirt with hitting 200.
But what Oklahoma's pitchers did this past weekend at Texas shouldn't go unnoticed.
The Sooner arms, which have had their struggles this season and have ended up leaning fairly heavily on ace Audrey Lowry, bowed up and went toe-to-toe with the Longhorns. They allowed only three runs over the first two games of the series, which the Sooners won with a combination of Lowry and Miali Guachino. Then in the series finale, even though five OU pitchers surrendered eight runs in an extra-inning loss, they kept Texas within arm's length the entire time.
More: Kendall Wells 'like no other hitter' OU softball coach Patty Gasso has ever seen
If the OU pitching is coming around, look out.
The Sooners, after all, are already stout.
OU takes over the top spot in The Oklahoman's College Softball Super 16 this week, riding the momentum from its series win at Texas. OU not only bested Texas Tech, which had been No. 1 but got shutout in the second game of its series against Utah, but also leapfrogged Alabama, which swept in-state rival Auburn.
Even though the Sooners have not been ranked outside the top five this season, this is the first time they have been No. 1.
Let's get to the Super 16.
More: Get ready for epic college softball HR race with OU's Kendall Wells, UCLA's Megan Grant
The Oklahoman's College Softball Super 16
Team, Points (first-place votes), Record, Last week’s ranking
1. Oklahoma, 174 (9), 40-4, 3
2. Alabama, 160 (2), 39-3, 2
3. Texas Tech, 148, 40-3, 1
4. Nebraska, 146, 33-6, 4
5. Arkansas, 126, 35-6, 6
6. Texas, 122, 33-6, 5
7T. Florida, 106, 40-5, 8
7T. UCLA, 106, 37-5, 9
9. Tennessee, 97, 36-6, 10
10. Virginia Tech, 57, 36-6, 12
11. Texas A&M, 54, 30-12, 13
12. Duke, 44, 31-12, 15
13. Georgia, 42, 31-11, 14
14. Florida State, 35, 36-7, 7
15. Arizona, 30, 30-11, 11
16. LSU, 1, 28-14, RV
Others receiving votes: Mississippi State, 12, 34-11, 16; Oregon, 10, 32-9, RV; Stanford, 4, 26-12, NR; Washington, 2, 34-9, RV
Voters: Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman; Nathan Giese, Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal; Cora Hall, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel; Eric Lopez, In The Circle; Justin McLeod, D1Softball.com; Joe Mussatto, The Oklahoman; Noah Ram, Gainesville (Fla.) Sun; Colton Sulley, The Oklahoman; Brady Vernon, Softball America; Kirk Walker, Oklahoma City Spark general manager; Scott Wright, The Oklahoman.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Super 16 softball rankings: Oklahoma takes top spot, leaping Alabama
Continue reading...
