Sooners Big 12 Preseason Favorites

NORMAN — The nine-time defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma softball team has been voted by the league's head coaches as the 2022 preseason favorite. The conference announced the Big 12 Preseason Poll Wednesday.

2022 Big 12 Softball Preseason Poll
Rank	Team	Points
1.	Oklahoma (6)	36
2.	Oklahoma State (1)	31
3.	Texas	26
4.	Baylor	19
5.	Iowa State	18
6.	Texas Tech	10
7.	Kansas	7

The Sooners received 36 points in this year's poll and were followed by Oklahoma State with 31 and Texas with 26. OU received six of the seven first-place votes with OSU garnering the other. This marks the 10th straight year and 13th in the last 14 seasons that OU has topped the conference's preseason poll.

Baylor was selected fourth (19 points) and Iowa State fifth (18 points). Rounding out the poll was Texas Tech (10 points) and Kansas (7 points).

The Sooners finished the Big 12 regular season 16-1 in 2021 en route to their ninth consecutive conference regular season crown. The team completed title sweep for the fourth straight season in Oklahoma City at the Big 12 Softball Championship.

Oklahoma holds a combined Big 12 record of 144-14 the past nine seasons and has not lost a conference series since 2011.

Overall, the program has won 20 Big 12 titles (13 regular season titles and seven Big 12 tournament championships) all under head coach Patty Gasso.

Oklahoma returns nine all-conference selections from a season ago including the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year (Jocelyn Alo), Freshman of the Year (Tiare Jennings) and Defensive Player of the Year (Grace Lyons).

The Sooners open the 2022 season Feb. 10 in Santa Barbara, Calif., vs. UC-Santa Barbara. The home slate begins at Marita Hynes Field on March 7 vs. Minnesota. The 2022 schedule features 14 home games, including three Big 12 series in Norman, highlighted by Bedlam for the regular season finale.

Season ticket renewals for the 2022 season are available now at SoonerSports.com. A limited quantity of single-game tickets for home games will go on sale Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. CT.

For any additional questions about 2022 OU softball tickets, please contact the OU Athletics Ticket Office during normal business hours – Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 800-456-4668 or via email at OUTickets@ou.edu.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma softball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Softball) and like Oklahoma Softball on Facebook.