In a surprise to absolutely no one, the Oklahoma Sooners were selected as the unanimous #1 team in the D1Softball Top 25. With a plethora of transfers to line up alongside stalwarts Tiare Jennings, Grace Lyons, Jordy Bahl and Jayda Coleman the back-to-back defending champs are a who’s who of All-Stars.
There’s the perception of what Oklahoma Softball is going to be in 2023, Sooners lead three Big 12 programs that are ranked in the initial Top 25, and then there will be a reality. Will they meet expectations? We won’t have to wait long to find an answer. Oklahoma will start the season on Thursday, February 9th when they play Duke to open the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, California. Before the sun comes up on Sunday morning, February 12th, the Sooners would have played #11 Stanford and #21 Washington. That’s some strong competition right out of the gate but Oklahoma’s schedule is littered with heavy hitters in 2023.
In addition to the Mark Campbell Invitational, and what’s waiting during the conference season, the Sooners will play UCLA (Feb. 26), Kentucky (March 3&4), Florida State (March 14), Northwestern (March 17), and Auburn (March 18&19). All things considered, you could make an argument that Oklahoma’s non-conference schedule is more difficult than what they’ll face in Big 12 play.
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