Sooners Unanimous No. 1 in USA Softball Preseason Top 25

NORMAN — For the second straight season, the Oklahoma softball team enters the season as the unanimous No. 1 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25. USA Softball announced the preseason poll Tuesday.

The Sooners received 625 points and all 25 first-place votes to hold the top spot coming off the program's second consecutive and sixth overall national title in 2022.

UCLA was voted second with 596 points, while Oklahoma State was third at 559 points. Florida State (497) and Florida (481) round out the top five. The full top 25 can be seen here.

The Sooners meet nine of the preseason top 25 throughout the regular season, including No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 OSU and No. 4 Florida State and three ranked opponents on opening weekend in No. 14 Stanford, No. 16 Washington and No. 19 Duke.

This marks the fourth time in program history that the Sooners enter the season as the top-ranked team, joining the 2017, '18 and '22 squads.

Additionally, it is the 16th straight season and 19th in the 21-year history of the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll that Oklahoma is ranked in the preseason top 10. The 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.

The Sooners were recently selected as the Big 12 preseason favorite, marking the 11th straight year and 14th in the last 15 seasons that OU has topped the conference's preseason poll.

The 2022-23 team returns five All-Americans in Jordy Bahl, Jayda Coleman, Kinzie Hansen, Tiare Jennings and Grace Lyons. The Sooners are coming off a dominant 2022 campaign that saw the team finish 59-3 and claim their 10th straight Big 12 regular season title and second straight national championship.

OU opens the 2023 season Feb. 9 in Irvine, Calif., at the second annual Mark Campbell Invitational. OU will meet four postseason teams from a season ago at the opening-weekend tournament, starting with the opener vs. Duke on Feb. 9. The home slate begins at Marita Hynes Field on March 3 vs. UIC and Kentucky. The 2023 schedule features 14 home games, including three Big 12 series in Norman.

A limited quantity of single-game tickets for home games will go on sale in the coming weeks. Tickets for the Omni Hall of Fame Classic at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City go on sale to the public Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 10 a.m. CT. Both can be purchased via SoonerSports.com/tickets.

For any questions about 2023 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.