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

The four-time defending national champions didn't lock down the top spot in Softball America's preseason poll on Monday.
Oklahoma's Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering
Oklahoma's Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering / Sarah Phipps/The Oklahoman / USA TODAY NETWORK

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. 

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. 


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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is managing editor at Sooners On SI and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK.