money With Oklahoma making softball history, can No. 18 Texas get the best of its Big 12 rival?
It has been said that to be the best, you must beat the best.
The Texas softball program knows this. All-time, the Longhorns have played the No. 1 team in the country 26 times. Texas is 5-21 in those matchups, though one of those wins was recorded just two years ago against UCLA in Los Angeles.
This weekend, Texas has another top-ranked team on its schedule. This one, though, may be the No. 1 No. 1 team.
No. 1 Oklahoma (36-0, 6-0 Big 12) will be Texas' guest at McCombs Field for a three-game series. The Sooners are the defending national champions, the best team in the country according to the national poll — and are the first Division I team to ever open a season with 36 straight wins.
That makes this weekend a great opportunity at home for Texas (30-10-1, 6-0).
"It's an amazing chance for us to take down No. 1," Longhorns second baseman Janae Jefferson said.
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So far this season, Oklahoma has outscored opponents by a score of 354-27. Thirty of OU's wins have been run-ruled.
Offensively, OU leads the country in batting average (.392) and scoring (9.83 runs per game). Senior Jocelyn Alo is pacing the nation in home runs and batting average while also standing seven RBIs shy of the national lead in that category, too. Grace Lyons and Tiare Jennings have hit the nation's third- and seventh-most homers.
Oklahoma's offensive production has been a luxury but not a necessity. The Sooners also boast the nation's best team ERA.
No pitcher has a better ERA than the 0.12 posted by Hope Trautwein, a graduate transfer from North Texas who attended Hendrickson High School. Freshman Jordy Bahl (15-0, 0.73) is a three-time winner of the Big 12's pitcher of the week award, which was given this week to Sooners sophomore Nicole May (11-0, 0.82 ERA).
"They're playing well right now," Texas coach Mike White said.
Playing well, coach?
"They're probably about as good a team as we've seen in college softball, without a doubt," White added.
White surmised that Texas must not "try and beat Oklahoma as a team, but try to attack them individually and then score runs off them. It's a tall order, but funny things can happen in this game." Texas is No. 18 in the NFCA poll.
Tested throughout this spring by a schedule that featured 12 ranked opponents, UT has lost once in its last 21 games. The Longhorns are 6-0 in Big 12 play. Two of those conference conquests were both walk-offs and comebacks against Iowa State.
"We're playing together as a unit, and I think that's huge for us," pitcher Hailey Dolcini said. "As long as we continue to play Texas softball like we know how, I think it should be a great weekend."
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Texas is led by Dolcini, a Fresno State transfer who's 13-4 with a 2.43 ERA. A fifth-year infielder, Jefferson needs just seven hits to claim a share of the Big 12's all-time hits record. Shortstop McKenzie Parker and utility players Mary Iakopo and Katie Cimusz have each been named the Big 12 player of the week over the past six weeks.
In order to beat Oklahoma, Texas needs all hands on deck. Oklahoma's 21-game winning streak in the Red River Rivalry dates back to 2014. The only players on the roster who have beaten Oklahoma — Iakopo and outfielder Lauren Burke — were playing at Oregon when they experienced that thrill of victory in 2018.
"I've been thinking about it a lot since I came into this week and everything, just knowing that since I have been here, we haven't took them down yet," Jefferson said. "I know that this is my chance to go out there and lead the team to taking them down, and I'm really excited about it and I know that we can do it."
Oklahoma at Texas
6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday, McCombs Field, LHN, 105.3
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas hosts top-ranked Oklahoma in Big 12 softball series in Austin
