Weeks two and three of NCAA softball were full of nothing but excitement. Many collegiate teams have been participating in some of the most competitive tournaments to earn themselves a spot in the national rankings. During these tournaments, the rankings have been altered many times, so let’s take a look at who has truly earned a spot. 

As I have talked about before, Oklahoma is a powerhouse of a team. With all of its strength, speed, and pitching, I was fully expecting the team to go undefeated this season. Unfortunately for the Sooners, that reality is not possible anymore. On Sunday, February 19, the Sooners took on the Baylor Bears, and the results were unexpected. Going into the game, the Sooners were ranked number one in the nation while the Bears were not even in the top twenty-five. Both teams played an incredible game with solid defense, but it was not enough for the Sooners to take the win. Baylor only scored during the third inning, where they had four runs after a huge home run hit by sophomore Shaylon Govan. Later, Oklahoma came back to gain another two runs in the sixth inning, but it was not enough to catch up to the Bears, ending the game with a final score of 4-3. This major loss moved Oklahoma to the number two spot in the rankings while Baylor soared into the number nineteen spot along with earning some much-needed recognition.

The following week, the Sooners traveled to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in California to take on UCLA where the players used their previous loss as motivation to bring back the aggressiveness they had been lacking. UCLA had stolen the number one spot after Oklahoma’s loss the previous week, and this was the biggest matchup the collegiate world had seen so far this season. After seeing the Sooners’ hard loss and watching the Bruins dominate all of their other competition, I was expecting a pretty close game with some exciting plays. While it was still an exciting game, it was a complete blowout and Oklahoma proved exactly why it should still be number one. The Sooners had their new addition, Alex Storako, in the circle who pitched a close-to-perfect game and only allowed three total hits. Unlike Storako, UCLA’s well-known pitcher, Megan Faraimo, could not take the Sooners. She allowed twenty total hits, six of which were home runs. She was pitching the Sooners inside close to their hands, up and out of the zone, and everywhere in between, but Oklahoma players used their strong hitting skills to get the job done. The second inning was jam-packed with hits, and juniors Alyssa Brito, Jayda Coleman, and Tiare Jennings, along with redshirt senior, Haley Lee, all hit back-to-back homeruns. The game ended with a run rule and a final score of 14-0, leaving the UCLA team looking like nothing special.

As NCAA softball continues to play in some more big-name tournaments in the upcoming weeks, we will get the chance to experience some more jaw dropping disappointment and climbing in the rankings of all of these talented teams.