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OU softball not worried about No. 1 overall seed, just focused on championships

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo05/06/26BPrzybylo

Although OU softball is ranked No. 1 across the board, there is that one metric that doesn’t favor the Sooners.

The RPI is not kind to what this 2026 season has been. OU continues to teeter around the No. 7, No. 6 area. And so though the eye test tells you the Sooners are among the best, if not the best, the RPI could make Sunday interesting.

However, that is of zero concern for head coach Patty Gasso. Absolutely zero concern as the Sooners, the outright SEC regular season champions, get ready for the SEC Tournament.

Cannot be worried about a No. 1 overall seed. Just control what you can control.

“Don’t care. I can’t control it,” Gasso said. “I can’t fight for it. There’s nothing we can do. How they’re going to pull this together, I don’t know. I would hope we are in the top three. But as long as we’re home for the next two weekends once we get back, then we’re OK.

“Whoever is meant to come here. And sometimes they line them up (how) I think, sometimes the way (they do it) they don’t. But there’s a lot of coincidences, so we’ll see how this goes. But whatever comes our way, we gotta be ready for it.”

And OU has been ready for just about anything since arriving in the SEC. The Sooners won the 2025 SEC regular season championship by a half game because Texas A&M had one canceled contest.

This time it came down to the final day of the season. But a doubleheader sweep in College Station for OU gave the crown to the Sooners. OU went 20-4 and never lost a conference series, adding four sweeps of its own in the eight three-game sets.

So maybe the No. 1 overall seed isn’t registering. But Gasso and the team will gladly celebrate earning the first of what they’re hoping are many championships in the next month.

“We’re used to this,” Gasso said. “We just go out and we have that championship mindset where we’re just throwing it down, going after it and finding ways to win through all different ways. And it’s quite an honor that we did this the first year and second year in a row is, there’s some great, great teams out there.

“Don’t get me wrong, we faced a lot of them and they made us better.  This conference makes you better. Whether you win or lose, you’re still getting better because you’re playing elite competition. So I’m really proud of this group. I really am. And I thought, we don’t have a lot of vocal leaders, but people stepped up when they needed to. Abby Dayton is the fireball behind a lot of this and very, very excited. It’s animated, but it’s very real. Kendall Wells, fist pumping and all of that is very, very real. Their emotions are very real. They really have a lot of fun playing in these big environments and finding ways to get through it.”

OU begins its path in Lexington as the No. 1 seed. The Sooners will take on either Georgia or LSU at 7 p.m. (approximately) Thursday.

OU swept UGA in Norman two weeks ago and took two of three in Baton Rouge earlier this season.

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