As the Women’s College World Series begins this Thursday, June 1st, The Wire looks back at a historic, inspiring run from the Oklahoma Sooners’ softball team. Heading into the opener against Stanford, the Sooners will carry a 48-game win streak with them.

48 games…

Their sole loss of the season came in February in a 4-3 nailbiter. It’s hard to wrap the mind around this level of dominance. The Sooners broke a tie with the University of Arizona whose ‘97 team previously held the record for the longest win streak. 

When they arrived at the NCAA Tournament, prepared to compete against teams who were supposedly “on their level,” all they did was beat their five opponents by a combined score of 47-5. 

Due to their dominance, the Sooners will advance to their 7th Women’s College World Series in a row, and their 11th in the last 12 years. 

Clemson, one of the Sooners’ opponents in the Super Regionals, forced Oklahoma to commit two errors in an inning during their recent series. This allowed Clemson to close within two runs of the juggernaut Sooners. 

How did they follow up this adversity? 

Five straight hits:

1. Bunt Single by Rylie Boone
2. Line-Drive Single by Jayda Coleman
3. Infield Single by Tiare Jennings
4. Grand Slam by Haley Lee
5. Solo Homer by Alyssa Brito

Five runs on five hits. And just like that, it was 9-2. It can’t feel good to be matched up against a team that can stack runs with such ease. 

“It’s a testament to feeling adversity and answering that call,” said Patty Gasso, head coach of the Sooners. “You can feel it (momentum) building. When it gets consecutive like that, they just go crazy. It’s like a wave that’s ready to break.

In a season where adversity has been hard to come by, the Sooners were well-equipped to handle it. Three Sooners, including Jennings, Coleman, and Jordy Bahl, were finalists for the USA Collegiate Softball Player of the Year award. Their leadership keeps the team levelheaded in trying times. 

This is what great teams do when they face adversity. We would be remiss not to watch them complete one of the most historic seasons in any sport. 

“It’s definitely a challenge (facing the Sooners),” Clemson fourth-year head coach John Rittman said afterward. “There’s not an easy out in that lineup. There’s a reason they’re ranked No. 1 in the country.”

The UCLA Bruins won three titles from 1988 to 1990. In more than 30 years since, seven different teams have won back-to-back titles, but fallen short of the third. Oklahoma is the favorite to win yet again – rightfully so. 

The Women’s College World Series features eight teams and will begin in a double elimination format. The final two teams will compete in a best-of-three series for the title. 

In addition to Oklahoma’s matchup with Stanford, it will be No. 4 Tennessee (49-8) vs. No. 5 Alabama (45-20) in a matchup of Southeastern Conference rivals, No. 3 Florida State (55-9) against No. 6 Oklahoma State (46-14) and No. 7 Washington vs. No. 15 Utah in a Pac-12 matchup.

The Women’s College World Series will be airing on ESPN and Signing Day Sports encourages our readers to tune in to watch these athletes perform at the highest level. High school athletes should aim to follow in their footsteps. Watching athletes of this caliber is a great way to pick up on the little things that make teams like Oklahoma so successful. 

Don’t miss your chance to witness one of the most dominant collegiate athletic teams in history try to complete their three-peat for the first time in more than 30 years. We’ll be watching.

(Photo: Courtesy of Joshua R. Gateley / Oklahoma Athletics)