OU Softball: Oklahoma Debuts in Top 5 of Softball America's Preseason Poll

The four-time defending national champions will have to step over some competition to capture another crown this summer.
Oklahoma landed a No. 3 in Softball America’s preseason Top 25, trailing top-ranked Florida and No. 2 Texas.
The Sooners dispatched of both the Gators and the Longhorns in last year’s Women’s College World Series, defeating their SEC foes in the semifinals and championship series respectively.
OU lost a ton of production from last year’s team, but the strength of the foundation returning, a talented freshmen class and excellent work in the transfer portal meant that Patty Gasso’s group didn’t tumble far in the preseason rankings.
It’s time for season picks ⬇️
— Softball America (@SoftbalAmerica) January 13, 2025
There is a new No. 1 in town @GatorsSB 🐊
Full article 👉 https://t.co/pVDDAXSfTN#Top25 | #SoftballAmerica pic.twitter.com/rYP3hVgG1A
Key seniors in Tiare Jennings, Jayda Coleman, Kinzie Hansen, Rylie Boone and Nicole May, who all spent their entire collegiate careers at OU, graduated. As did massive parts of the program that transferred in at one point like Alyssa Brito, Alynah Torres, Kelly Maxwell, Karlie Keeney and Riley Ludlam.
Both Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering return for their sophomore seasons, and they both earned Preseason First Team All-American honors from Softball America, as well as senior first baseman Cydney Sanders, and juniors Kierston Deal, Hannah Coor and Paytn Monticelli.
Those returners were bolstered by five transfer portal additions this summer — Utah outfielder Abigale Dayton, Louisiana pitcher Sam Landry, Campbell pitcher Isabella Smith, North Carolina catcher Isabela Emerling and BYU infielder Ailana Agbayani.
Gasso also has one of the most talented freshmen classes in the country to work with.
She brought in eight freshmen initially, and the class grew to nine when Merchantville, NJ, pitcher Sophia Bordi reclassified to join the Sooners in 2025.
She joined fellow pitcher Audrey Lowry, outfielder Chaney Helton, utility player Tia Milloy, infielders Kadey Lee McKay, Gabbie Garcia and Sydney Barker and catcher and infielders Riley Zache and Corri Hicks.
Sophomore Maya Bland also returns from last year’s team, as well as redshirt freshman Nelly McEnroe-Marinas, who was excellent in this fall’s Battle Series but was unable to feature a year ago due to injury.
Oklahoma State and UCLA rounded out the top five, and fellow SEC schools Tennessee (6), Texas A&M (7), Alabama (11), LSU (12), Arkansas (13), Missouri (15) and Georgia (17) were also ranked by Softball America.
The Sooners will host the Longhorns in their penultimate SEC regular season series from April 25-27 before headed to Gainesville for the final weekend of the regular season on May 1-3.
OU will also host an SEC series against Tennessee as well as hosting South Carolina and Mississippi.
They’ll battle Arkansas, Missouri and Alabama on the road in conference play along with the matchup with the Gators.
Oklahoma also has three non-conference contests on the schedule against teams that appeared in Softball America’s top 25.
OU will take on No. 16 Baylor twice in Waco, once on Feb. 15 and once on Feb. 16, as well as the battle with the No. 4 Cowgirls on April 9 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
The 2025 season gets underway for the Sooners on Feb. 6 against CSUN in San Diego, CA.