Oklahoma Softball Primer | Sooners Face Utah Valley & Duke To Open Puerto Vallarta College Challenge

The top-ranked Sooners are taking their 53-game winning streak south of the border to begin the 2024 softball season at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. OU will start the season against Utah Valley before facing Duke to end Thursday’s competition with a Top 10 matchup.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Time	TV	Result
February 8	Utah Valley	10:30 AM	Flo-Softball
February 8	Duke	1:00 PM	Flo-Softball

Tuning In

Both games on Thursday will be broadcast on 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2.

Notes & Storylines

• Three of Oklahoma’s four opening-weekend opponents reached the NCAA Tournament last season. Washington advanced to the Women’s College World Series, Duke was eliminated by Stanford in the Super Regionals and Long Beach State earned a berth in the Stanford Regional.
• OU last participated in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in 2020, going 4-0 and outscoring its opponents 27-9.
• Oklahoma will enters the 2024 season as the unanimous No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 for the third consecutive campaign.
• Oklahoma’s No. 1 spot in the NFCA poll marks the fifth time the Sooners enter a season in the top spot (2017, ’18, ’22, ’23, ’24) and the fourth time OU has been the unanimous choice in the coaches poll, joining the 2017, 2022 and 2023 squads.
• Patty Gasso is just one win from reaching former longtime Fresno State head coach Margie Wright (1,457) for third all-time in career NCAA victories.
• Senior pitchers Nicole May and Kelly Maxwell, senior outfielders Rylie Boone and Jayda Coleman, senior infielders Alyssa Brito and Tiare Jennings and senior catcher Kinzie Hansen were among the 19 players chosen to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team by the league’s head coaches.
• Maxwell, Coleman, Jennings, Brito and Hansen each added first-team preseason All-America honors from both Softball America and D1 Softball.

Heavy Hitters

• Oklahoma’s Tiare Jennings led the Big 12 in total bases in 2023. Hitting .415 on the season, Jennings accounted for 143 total bases, and scored 57 runs. For the season, she hit 16 doubles and 17 home runs.
• As a team, the Sooners posted a .366 batting average in 2023 and scored 501 runs.
• Utah Valley had a batting average of .266, with 191 runs scored in 2023.
• Duke scored a total of 351 runs in 2023, with a team batting average of .318

From The Circle

• Oklahoma State transfer Kelly Maxwell will take the circle for the first time in a crimson and cream uniform. The former Cowgirl led the Big 12 with 229 strikeouts in 2023, and posted a 16-7 record.
• Oklahoma’s pitching staff only allowed a total of 59 runs during the 2023 season.
• Utah Valley’s pitching staff allowed 253 runs in 2023.
• Blue Devil pitchers were scored upon 168 times last season.

Pick The Score Contest

Alright, we’re trying something new with select games this season. Give us your score prediction for the Oklahoma/Duke game in the comments section below. If you get it right you can win some OU merch.

Tiebreakers

In addition to the score prediction give us the following.

A) Total strikeouts recorded by Oklahoma pitchers during the game

B) Total bases for Jayda Coleman

• We’re going with the “Price is Right Rules” for the tiebreakers. If you go over the amount you bust. The person with the closet tie breaker prediction, without going over, will win.
• Make sure that we can contact you. If you aren’t registered for the site (through WordPress) make sure that we can reach you by dropping your Twitter/X handle in your comment.

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