Coaches Make it Unanimous: Oklahoma No. 1

Softball coaches from around the country say the two-time defending national champion Sooners are unanimously the favorite to three-peat.

John E. Hoover | Jan 31, 2023

By OU Media Relations

Oklahoma was chosen as the unanimous No. 1 in the 2023 USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll, the NFCA announced the poll Tuesday.

Oklahoma's No. 1 spot in the NFCA poll marks the fourth time the Sooners enter a season in the top spot (2017, '18, ’22, ’23) and the third time OU has been the unanimous choice in the coaches poll, joining the 2017 and 2022 squads. The Sooners have been the top-ranked team for 30 consecutive polls dating back to March 2, 2021.

OU received 800 total points and all 32 first-place votes to lead No. 2 UCLA (747) and No. 3 Oklahoma State (723). Florida and Florida State rounded out the top five.

The full NFCA poll can be seen here.

Additionally, it's the 12th 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 10 of the past 11 years, the most over that stretch.

Overall, the Sooners are tied with Arizona for second with 23 top-10 appearances in the NFCA preseason poll, trailing only UCLA’s 24.

Oklahoma, 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 the only program ranked every week in the 28-year existence of the NFCA's poll, 407 straight polls.

The Sooners, also the preseason unanimous No. 1 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25, 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, CA, 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. No. 16 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.

Published Jan 31, 2023

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.