Stage Set for Alabama Softball to Host Oklahoma as SEC Foe for First Time: 'This is Gonna Be Fun'

The Crimson Tide and Sooners have played in some epic postseason clashes, but the two will meet in Rhoads Stadium this weekend as conference opponents.

Mar 14, 2025; Tuscaloosa AL, USA; Alabama opened the SEC season on the wrong end of a 9-1 score against Mississippi State at Rhoads Stadium. Kali Heivilin (22) slaps a hit to right field. / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Folks around Tuscaloosa are very familiar with dynasties. Nick Saban built one during his time as the Alabama football head coach, and Alabama's opponent at Rhoads Staadium this weekend is in the midst of a college softball dynasty.

The Oklahoma Sooners have won four straight national championships and six of the last eight Women's College World Series titles under head coach Patty Gasso. She has eight national titles overall at OU.

Alabama and Oklahoma haven't played in the regular season very often, but the two programs have clashed for some epic postseason games. Famously, the Crimson Tide won its first and only national title over the Sooners in a three-game championship series in 2012.

Now, the No. 2 Sooners (35-3, 9-3 SEC) will be traveling to Rhoads Stadium this weekend for the first time as an SEC member. The two teams haven't met since the 2019 WCWS semifinals and haven't played in Tuscaloosa since Marisa Runyon's sixth-inning grand slam completed the comeback for the Crimson Tide over the Sooners in the 2015 Super Regionals.

Alabama (28-15, 5-7 SEC) head coach Patrick Murphy has been spreading the word about this series for over a year, and the weekend is finally here.

"It’s really cool to have them in the SEC," Murphy said Wednesday. "We have tremendous respect for Coach Gasso and her entire staff and program. Obviously, right now, they are the best of the best in college softball, and everybody is chasing the Sooners. What a cool opportunity for us to get them here first— we go there in 2027— but just a great opportunity for our program to showcase our facility, our fans. 

“I think it’s a mutual respect between the two teams. It’s not a contentious rivalry. I think it’s a classy rivalry. We’ve played them in the postseason forever— the World Series, super regionals here obviously. But this is gonna be fun.”

The eyes of the college softball world will be on Tuscaloosa this weekend as all three games will be on national TV as the highlighted SEC series of the weekend with the games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday starting on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Alabama has 15 losses this season and just one SEC series win in the first four tries. That's not what the team wants, and Murphy and any of the players would tell you that. But the Crimson Tide's strength of schedule, solid wins and ability to avoid getting swept still have the team in the running to host for regionals.

Even with 15 losses, Alabama is still ranked in the top-25 and No. 19 in the latest RPI. A lot of that is because of wins over highly-ranked teams like Texas A&M, LSU, Virginia Tech and Mississippi State.

Oklahoma has been nearly unbeatable for the majority of the last four seasons. The Sooners are still an elite team, but they do already have a conference series loss this season at home to Tennessee and a loss to Missouri, who is below Alabama in the SEC standings with just two conference wins on the year.

A win or two this weekend over Oklahoma would go a long way for Alabama's postseason positioning and the overall perception of this team. Alabama has struggled to close out games this season, but it has proven over and over again that it can compete with and beat the best teams in the country.

Murphy and the team have a lot of respect for Gasso and what the Sooners have accomplished, but the Crimson Tide certainly won't be intimidated by Oklahoma coming to Rhoads this weekend.

"I think it’s one of the things we’re really good at," Murphy said. "We’ve had the chance to win so many series, too. You don’t want to rehash the “what ifs” and just take advantage of this opportunity because No. 1, we’re at home. It’s tough as hell to win on the road in the SEC.”

Saturday's matchup is already sold out, and there are expected to be well over 3,000 fans in attendance for each game this weekend. Until Oklahoma opened Love's Field last season, Rhoads Stadium was the largest on-campus softball stadium in the country, and is known as one of the toughest environments to play in when it's rocking at full capacity.

Alabama sophomore outfielder Lauren Johnson is excited about the "craziness" the fans are going to bring to the Rhoads House this weekend. Johnson's older sister Jenna played for the Crimson Tide from 2020-2024 and did not face the Sooners during her time at Alabama.

"Now I have the chance to," Lauren said. "They’re such a big program, but we are too. We have standard here, and we’re going to hold strength through that.

"I know they are a strong hitting team. They have great athletes. I just think we have to bring our A game. We can’t go down easily. They know we’re clutch, and hopefully we bring that clutchness into this weekend. And we will. I’m super excited to play such a strong program and show what we can do.”

Alabama's lone SEC series win so far this season came at home against Georgia, but even in that series the Crimson Tide had to rally on Friday after losing the first two games.

The Tide has lost the first game of all four conference series it has played in, getting run-ruled in two of those four losses. But Alabama has managed to avoid getting swept each time, rallying for a win in Game 2 or Game 3 and has done a good job of making adjustments against opposing pitchers as the weekend goes along.

Murphy doesn't want another slow start this weekend, and a big key will be limiting free passes on walks and errors in the early innings.

"I think that sense of urgency needs to be there Friday night, or now Saturday afternoon," Murphy said. "Hopefully you’ll see it because it definitely needs to be there— defensively and offensively. We can’t let a pitcher run through us for four or five innings. We have to be the aggressor Saturday.”

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