OU Softball Plays For 4th Straight WCWS Title At 7 p.m.

The three-time defending NCAA champion Oklahoma softball team is one win away from claiming its fourth consecutive national title as it squares off with top-seeded Texas Thursday in game two of the Women's College World Series Championship Series.

OU is making its makes its fifth straight and ninth overall WCWS Championship Series appearance as well as its eight straight and 17th overall WCWS appearance.

Oklahoma is vying to become the first softball program to win four straight NCAA titles. The Sooners and the 1988-90 UCLA Bruins are the lone two programs to have won three consecutive national championships. An OU title would be the program's sixth in the last eight seasons and its eighth all-time.

The No. 2-seeded Sooners face No. 1-ranked Texas Thursday at Devon Park in Oklahoma City in game two of the best-of-three WCWS Championship Series, scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN with Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza and Michele Smith on the call. Holly Rowe will serve as the field reporter.

All games can be heard via 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma or nationwide on The Varsity Network with Chris Plank and alumna DJ Sanchez on the call.

2024 marks OU's 12th trip in the last 13 competed postseasons to OKC. No other program in the country has made as many trips to the WCWS as OU since the 2011 season.

RED RIVER RENEWED

The Red River Rivalry embarks on a final Big 12 chapter in the 2024 WCWS Championship Series as Oklahoma and Texas square off for the NCAA title. OU has split the season series thus far with the Longhorns, dropping two-of-three in Austin before claiming the Big 12 tournament title with a 5-1 win at Devon Park.

Oklahoma hasn't lost to Texas in five prior WCWS matchups, twice sending their rivals to the elimination round in the second game of the 2013 and 2022 tournaments. The 2024 edition of the WCWS Red River Rivalry is a rematch of the 2022 championship series that saw OU outscore Texas 26-6 across the two games to claim its sixth national championship.

OU has won the NCAA Championship in both prior WCWS that have featured a showdown against Texas. The Sooners are 7-1 all-time against Big 12 opponents at the WCWS, going 5-0 against Texas, 1-0 vs. both Oklahoma State and Baylor with their lone loss at the hands of future SEC counterpart Missouri in 2011.

POSTSEASON: SOONER SEASON

Oklahoma has made the NCAA Tournament 30 straight seasons and every year of head coach Patty Gasso's tenure since 1995 (tournament was not played in 2020). The Sooners are tied with Washington for the longest active postseason run.

OU has been a national seed for each of the past 16 seasons. The 2024 season marks the 17th WCWS appearance for the Sooners, who have won five of the past seven WCWS crowns.

With seven national titles (2000, '13, '16, '17, '21, '22, '23) Oklahoma trails only UCLA (12) and Arizona (8) for most in NCAA history. No other team has more than two national championships.

Oklahoma owns a 12-6 record across its nine championship series appearances. The Sooners have won six of their eight title series berths since the best-of-three set was established in 2005, falling only to Alabama (2012, 1-2) and UCLA (2019, 0-2).