Sooners, Cowgirls Softball Prepped For Another Women's College World Series Run

Once again, the Sooners and Cowgirls will compete at Devon Park for the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

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OU Softball will play the Duke Blue Devils on Thursday, a program that's only been around for seven seasons now.

In the last three, OU Softball has claimed the National Championship. Duke says they're just trying to get their name on the map, while the Sooners say they're not trying to prove anything to anyone.

"We're not here to prove anybody anything, 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, we have to earn this," said OU Softball head coach Patty Gasso.

"We weren't just happy to be a new softball program, we wanted to be great," said Duke Softball head coach Marissa Young. "We wanted to compete for championships from day one and we definitely come into this College World Series with the same mindset. We're not just happy to be here for the first time, we want to win and we want to compete."

It's not the first matchup between the Sooners and Blue Devils this season. On Feb. 8, OU beat Duke 3-0.

The Cowgirls also have a familiar opponent on their side of the Women's College World Series bracket; the Florida Gators.

On Feb. 19, OSU softball knocked off the Gators in Gainesville, 3-0. That's not the only connection.

Cowgirl Softball Head Coach Kenny Gajewski was an assistant coach for the program under Tim Walton from 2013 to 2015, helping the team win back-to-back championships.

He spoke emotionally about his longtime friend and Thursday's opponent at a press conference.

"He's loyal... I miss being around him a lot... to be very honest. But, it's really cool to be able to showcase his team and our team on this stage," Coach Gajewski said.

OU Softball plays Duke at 1:30 p.m. while OSU plays Florida at 8:30 p.m.