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The Oklahoma Sooners accomplished what no college softball team has done in over three decades by winning their third straight Women's College World Series.
The Sooners defeated the Florida State Seminoles on Thursday evening by a final score of 3-1, capping off their incredible 61-1 season. The team won 53 games in a row, the longest winning streak in college softball history.
𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐓 🏆🏆🏆#ChampionshipMindset pic.twitter.com/4AMu6guKUs
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) June 9, 2023
The UCLA Bruins were the only other team to accomplish the feat, with victories in 1988-1990. But those seasons were nowhere near as dominant as the Sooners run, having just eight losses in three years.
6 Championships over the last 10 years.
3 in a row.
Most winningest softball team in history.
The Big Bad Oklahoma Sooners.
— Jen Schroeder (@jen_schro) June 9, 2023
The Sooners have not lost a game since Feb. 19 and have now won six of the last 10 championships. It is an unbelievably dominant run that is hardly matched in any other sport. The Connecticut women's basketball team won 111 games in a row from 2014-2017, but it is difficult to conflate the two sports.
The most comparable record to what the Sooners have accomplished is looking at the longest streak in men's baseball, which lands almost 20 below at 34 games in a row. In a sport so dependent on the pitcher for dominance, it is nearly impossible to win night in and night out, but the women from Norman did that on the greatest stage.
When asked how they continued to win despite adversity, star relief pitcher Jordy Bahl put it into perspective.
“We stick together,” Bahl told ESPN after the victory. “It’s not just one person that feels it, we all feel it.”
Over the past three years, they put on one of the most impressive displays of teamwork and cohesion. A lot of the credit belongs to head coach Patty Gasso, who has now won her NCAA record seventh national title and has presided over this record streak. Amidst all of the celebration, there will be the pressure to restock and vie for the never-been-done fourth straight in 2024.