The Oklahoma Sooners softball team made it look easy on Sunday as they blasted Arkansas, 14-1 to secure their advancement to the Super Regional.

The Sooners swept the double-elimination regional bracket, which was being held in Norman.  They beat Marist 17-0, Arkansas 10-5 and then played Arky again for the Finals of the bracket. It is the sixth time in the past seven years the Sooners have made it past the regional round.

The Sooners took the game over with a run-rule (which is an 8-run lead after the fifth). The Razorbacks played in error-filled game (36-20);  only five of the Sooners 14 runs were earned. Yikes.

They will host former conference foe, Texas A&M for a best of three series for the Supers in Norman. The first game is scheduled for Thursday at 6:00 PM CST. As of right now, the game is slated to aired on ESPN.

The Oklahoma Sooners have been doing work this baseball season as the newest polls have them ranked in top ten. Not just one poll, but three.

After winning a series against the Texas Longhorns for the first time in 15 years, the Sooners moved themselves up in the polls – eighth in the Collegiate Baseball poll, ninth in Baseball America and are in as a tie for tenth in USA Today/ESPN coaches poll.

The Sooners are 27-6 on the season so far and 7-2 in Big 12 play. For the last several years the Sooners have one time or another been ranked in Baseball America’s top ten but this is the first time since 2011 they have made the cut in all three at one time.

They currently are in first place in the Big 12 and will take on the Baylor Bears for a three-game series this weekend in Waco.

As for the Lady Sooners, the softball team is still sitting at No. 1 in the country and is set to take on Texas Tech in Lubbock starting on the 12th. Their game for Wednesday against North Texas has been cancelled due to the weather.

As of right now, no reschedule has been announced.

The No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners softball team continues their winning ways with a big win on Thursday over No. 19 Arizona at the Mary Nutter Classic. Not only did they shut the Wildcats out, Jessica Shults set a school career home run record.

Jessica Shults

It was due to Shults’ solo homer during the bottom of the 5th inning that boosted the Sooners from a 1-0 lead,  and gave them the momentum to take over by five runs.

Shults’ home run was her third of the season so far and 57th of her career. She set a Big 12 school record for career home runs, breaking a previous tie with Texas’ Megan Gibson and former Sooner Amber Flores.

Keilani Ricketts also helped push the Sooners by hitting a solo home run right after Shults. It was Ricketts’ third home run on the season as well. It was also the second time in 2013 that these two have hit back-to-back homers in a game.

Jessica Vest hit her first career homer with Shelby Pendley on first to make it 5-0; all in the 5th inning.

With the win, they improved to 12-0 on the season. The Sooners have a double header on Friday, facing UC Santa Barbara first then taking on Nebraska.

Over the weekend, the Oklahoma Sooners baseball and softball teams continued their undefeated streaks. The baseball team, which is ranked No. 14 and picked to win the Big 12 this season, improved their record to 4-0, swept Hofstra this weekend.

The softball team, which is sitting at No. 1/2 depending on the poll, is already at a 10-0 record. They competed in the Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego over the weekend beating UC Riverside, San Diego State, Kentucky, Washington and Notre Dame. The Sooners rallied for the comeback win against the Irish in the ninth inning.

The girls will travel to Palm Springs next to play in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic starting on the 21st. There, they will take on Georgia, Arizona, UC Santa Barbara, Nebraska and Florida State.

The boys will host Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Norman on the 19th and 20th before taking off to play in the Kleberg Bank College Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Classic, which starts on the 22nd, will put the Sooners up against Iowa, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi and New Mexico.

Talk about a year already flying by; the Oklahoma Sooners softball team, who just had their media day will open the season on February 8th…. which is next weekend!

The Sooners are looking to continue from their World Series run from 2012. They return 13 players, including stud pitcher, Keilani Ricketts.

Head coach Patti Gasso on getting ready for the 2013 season:

It’s very exciting because they’re hungry, and it was pretty easy to watch them go through the fall, although there was quite a bit of teaching because I have seven freshmen, all from Oklahoma. They’re trying to learn the system, so there was a lot of teaching going on, but my upperclassmen helped with that because they know freshmen are very important to the success of this program. But they’re hungry and they went after it hard this fall. We still feel like we have some things to take care of before we hit the road, but they are just very anxious about getting started again.

The Sooners will kick off the season at the Kajikawa Classic in Phoenix, Arizona. They take on Stanford, then Oregon State on Day 1. Day 2 consists of Oregon then New Mexico. The final day they will face Northwestern.

The Ametuer Softball Association chose the final members of the USA Women’s National Team and they went with an Oklahoma pitcher/catcher combo. Oklahoma catcher Jessica Shults was named to the team on Wednesday and will join Keilani Ricketts, who was selected in January.

Team USA will make several stops this Summer and will compete in six different events in the US and Canada. The will be featured at the Title IX 40th Anniversary Celebration against Canada on June 23 and then the  Canadian Open Fast Pitch International Championship in Surrey, B.C., Canada.

Lauren Chamberlin and  Destinee Martinez were both part of the selection camp to play on Team USA, but will be playing for the USA Elite team.

It’s unfortunate that the Summer Olympics dropped both softball and baseball from the sports played. With all of the talented softball players out there, it is no-doubt that Team USA would  have dominated. Take a look at the 2012 roster:

The team is being coached by USF head coach, Ken Ken Eriksen.

After an almost three hour rain delay, the Sooners and the Crimson Tide battled it out to crown a winner in the final game of the Womens College World Series Final. The Crimson Tide ended up being the new National Champions, winning 5-4.

The difference in the game was the Alabama pitcher, Jackie Traina. Traina threw a five-hitter. Though she did give up three home-runs, 2 of those belonging to Lauren Chamberlin.

Oklahoma did lead the game after the third, but four runs in for Alabama in the 4th was the game changer. Alabama became the first team from the SEC to win a softball title and ended the season with a 60-8 record.

Before the series with Alabama, Oklahoma had been on a 12 game winning streak. They closed out 2012 with a 54-10 record. Player of the year, Keilani Ricketts ended the world series with  64 strikeouts, the third most in WCWS history.

Both Oklahoma and Baylor took home the Regional title on Monday, moving on to play in the CWS Super Regionals. Oklahoma played a double header Monday against Appalachian State to win the Charlottesville Regional. They won the first game 14-6, then moved on to win the second game 5-2. Baylor beat Dallas Baptist in their own Waco Regional, winning 8-2.

The Sooners will take on 2-time defending National Champions, South Carolina in Columbia. The last time the Gamecocks lost in post-season play was to the Sooners, back in 2010. You can find out more about the Yardcocks from our South Carolina writer, Katie and her site, Cocky Country.

The Bears will be hosting their Super Regional and are slated to play former conference foe, Arkansas. Future conference mate, TCU also advanced to the Super Regionals in College Station and will be taking on UCLA.

All Super Regional action will begin on Friday, June 8th. The Big XII has had 27 Super Regional appearances since the format was established in 1999. The Big XII is 34-31 in Super Regional games and they improved on that number to 176-131 in NCAA Regional play after this weekend’s games.

Also in Sooner bat sport action, the Lady Sooners started their run for the National Title Monday night in Oklahoma City. Game 1 of the National Championship resulted in a Sooner win over Alabama. Once again, Keilani Ricketts was solid, striking out 13. The Crimson Tide was up early in the game, 1-0 but after the 5th inning, it was all Sooner bats. The Sooners won 4-1 and will play again Tuesday night. If they win tonight, they are the new Champions.

The last time that the Oklahoma softball team won a National Championship was in 2000. The exact same year the football team won one. Just saying.

The Sooner softball is on a hot streak right now. Friday night at the Womens College World Series, the Sooners shut-out the No. 1 team in the country, the Cal Bears.

The difference maker was the No. 1 softball player in the country, Keilani Ricketts. Ricketts struck out 16, and has improved on her record of 39 innings of not allowing an earned run.

Coach Gasso on Ricketts heroics:

She has gone to another level. Just knows how to get locked in like never before, and I’ve seen her step up in clutch situations. She’s been doing that over and over. It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch.

The Sooners lead the Nation in home runs, with 97 and have four players to have 10+ homers. The Sooners are one win away from going to the Championship, and play again on Sunday. The opponent is still to be determined. LSU and USF are currently battling it out to see who will play Arizona State Saturday night, so the Sooners will take on the winner of Arizona State/LSU or USF.

Boomer.

The Sooner softball team had a very eventful opening WCWS game on Thursday, beating the USF Bulls 5-1 to move on. College Softball player of year, Keilani Ricketts, pitched 11 strikeouts, the most by an OU pitcher is WCWS history. Lauren Chamberlin also hit homer No. 28, pushing the Sooners out from being down 1-0.

The Sooners will take on their most difficult opponent to date, playing No. 1 ranked Cal Friday night at 6:00 PM. The other Sooner bat team is just beginning their college world series run…

Sooner baseball starts off their Road to Omaha run Friday at 1:00 PM CST to take on Appalachian State in Charlottesville, Virginia. In the Sooners bracket is: Virginia, Army and Appalachian State. If they win, they will play at 5:00 PM on Saturday, lose it will be a noon game.

The No. 3 seeded Mountaineers returned 22 letterwinners from the 2011 team that was 33-27 overall and sixth in the SoCon at 15-15. Pitchers projected for todays game are Oklahoma: LHP Jordan John (8-6, 2.30 ERA) vs. Appalachian State: RHP Ryan Arrowood (10-0, 4.03 ERA).

As always, you can catch the Sooners on Sooner Sports Radio KREF 1400 if you are in the area. Live audio and stats can be found on SoonerSports.com