Sooners No. 4 in Preseason Polls

NORMAN — The Oklahoma softball team enters the 2021 season ranked fourth in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25, both of which were released Tuesday.

Oklahoma's No. 4 spot in the NFCA poll marks the 11th straight year the Sooners have started in the NFCA's top 10, good for the nation's longest active streak. OU has been ranked in the top five eight of the past nine years, the most over that stretch.

Overall, the Sooners rank third with 21 top-10 appearances in the NFCA preseason poll, trailing only Arizona (23) and UCLA (22).

Oklahoma, Michigan, UCLA and Washington are the only programs to be ranked in every NFCA preseason poll, which dates back to 1995. OU also extended its streak of being ranked every week in the 27-year existence of the NFCA's poll.

In the 2021 NFCA Preseason Poll, OU received 708 total points to rank No. 4 behind unanimous No. 1 UCLA (800), Washington (748) and Arizona (717).

LSU (644) rounds out the top five, while Big 12 foe Texas (611) holds the No. 6 spot. Two other Big 12 schools make top 25 appearances with Oklahoma State (No. 11) and Baylor (No. 22).

In the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, the Sooners received 420 points to hold the No. 4 spot.

UCLA took first at 492 with 19 of the 20 possible first-place votes, while Washington was second at 466 with the other first-place nod. Arizona (440) holds third and LSU (412) rounds out the top five.

This marks the 14th straight season and 17th in the 19-year history of the ESPN.com/USA Today poll that Oklahoma is ranked in the preseason top 10. The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll is voted on by coaching representatives of 11 Division I Conferences in the 10 USA Softball regions and by media members who consistently cover Division I softball across the country.

Oklahoma returns a wealth of talent for 2021, including All-Americans Giselle Juarez and Jocelyn Alo, along with two-time WCWS All-Tournament selection Nicole Mendes and 2019 All-Big 12 honoree Shannon Saile.

The Sooners were recently selected as the Big 12 preseason favorite, marking the ninth straight year and 12th in the last 13 seasons that OU has topped the conference's preseason poll.

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