No NCAA women's softball team has ever completed a perfect season and, despite a 38-0 start, the 2022 Oklahoma Sooners will not become the first team to do so. Texas salvaged the final game of its three-game series with OU in Austin, winning 4-2 and taking the Sooners to 38-1. Texas led 4-0 as Oklahoma came up for its final at-bats in the top of the seventh. The Sooners have shown some late-inning magic this season, so a Longhorn win was not automatic. Indeed, OU got a one-out two-run homer, before a pop-up and a foul-out ended the game Which teams historically have won the Women's College World Series with the fewest losses in a season? The 1992 UCLA squad finished with a record of 54-2 , whereas in 1994, Arizona was 64-3 . Two Oklahoma teams had four-loss seasons (2013, 57-4 , and 2021, 56-4 ). 

ESPN.com has a nice profile article on Oklahoma pitcher Jordy Bahl. In only her first year as a collegian, Bahl has been dominant in the circle. The article talks about how, after some initial difficulties in a game at Kentucky earlier this season, Bahl turned things around on a dime and finished with 12 strikeouts and no walks allowed .  In the Sooners' opener of a three-game series at Texas last night -- a bit of which I caught on the Longhorn Network -- Bahl did a similar thing. With OU leading 3-0 as UT batted in the bottom of the sixth, a single and a double gave the Horns runners at second and third with no outs. Bahl then roared back and struck out the next three batters. The pitch sequences for the three strikeouts (according to the play-by-play sheet ) were as follows: Foul/foul/ ball /swinging strike Swinging strike/swinging strike/swinging strike Looking strike/swinging strike/swinging strike Nine strikes, one ball, and nothing put in play. Bahl went the distance, endin...

Following a February 20 extra-inning loss to Florida State, UCLA held a 7-3 record. The Bruins than ran off 25 straight wins, including three-game sweeps of leading conference rivals Arizona (without allowing a run all weekend) and Washington, and a series-opening win this past Friday at Stanford . This winning streak vaulted UCLA up to No. 2 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. Stanford bounced bounced back on Saturday , however, defeating UCLA 1-0 on a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh and ending the Bruins' win streak at 25. Showing it was no fluke, the Cardinal shut out UCLA again on Sunday by a 1-0 score (the run coming in the bottom of the third). As this article from the Stanford athletics website noted, "UCLA (32-5, 10-2 Pac-12) entered this weekend having not been shut out once all season but suffered back-to-back shutouts at the hands of the Cardinal (26-10, 5-4 Pac-12)." With the two losses, UCLA dropped from No. 2 to No. 5 in the ESPN.com/USA Softbal...

No. 1 Oklahoma extended its record to 29-0 with a three-game sweep over Baylor. The first two games of the series were run-rule routs, but the Sooners nearly lost on Sunday, before prevailing 3-1 with a two-out rally. As described in this article from the OU athletics website:  In clutch fashion, the Oklahoma offense responded in the seventh. Down to their last out, pinch hitter Kinzie Hansen laced a single to right field before a single to left from Mackenzie Donihoo put two runners on base to set the stage for the top of the lineup. On a 3-1 count, [Tiare] Jennings blasted her 12th home run of the season on a three-run shot to center field to walk off the Bears and keep OU's record perfect. No. 2 Florida State suffered only its second loss of the season, dropping the middle game of a three-game set with Boston College. No. 3 UCLA swept Washington in Seattle to extend the Bruins' winning streak to 21 games.  *** It was announced over the weekend that Florida Atlantic ...

Traditional rivals UCLA and Arizona got together in Los Angeles to open up Pac 12 play in an unusual Saturday-Sunday-Monday format. The series wasn't even close, as the Wildcats failed to score a run all series (screenshot from UCLA athletics website).,, Megan Faraimo went the distance for the Bruins for the opener, Holly Azevedo did likewise for UCLA in Game 2, and then Faraimo (four innings) and Lauren Shaw (three innings) combined for the shutout in Game 3. The Bruins next travel up to Washington for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday series against the Huskies. * * * Nationally, No. 1 Oklahoma (25-0) will play at Kentucky tonight (SEC Network), before the Sooners return home to start Big 12 play Friday in a three-game series with Baylor.

Oklahoma's Jocelyn Alo hit her 96th career collegiate home run this past Friday night against the University of Hawai'i, breaking the NCAA record of 95 that was held by former Sooner Lauren Chamberlain (2012-2015).  Although Alo's college career will (barring injury) end up being longer than usual -- full seasons in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022, plus the partial 2020 season that was shortened due to COVID-19 -- her career home-run record is not simply a result of appearing in extra games compared to previous players. As the linked article at the beginning of this post says, Alo "hit her [record-tying] 95th home run in 215 games, five fewer than Chamberlain." Plus, if Alo slugs homers at her typical brisk pace for the rest of the present season, her career total will almost certainly exceed 95 even ignoring (for the sake of argument) her 8 homers from the "excess" 2020 season.

Several SEC teams are beginning conference play this weekend. Here are some comments from action I've caught on the SEC Network... Mississippi State off to an early 3-0 lead at No. 4 Florida ( online scoreboard )... Six-run fifth inning sparks Gators to 8-4 win... LSU is threatening to hand No. 2 Alabama (20-0) its first loss of the season. The Tigers, playing at home, lead the Tide 11-6 in the bottom of the fifth ( online scoreboard ). Three-run shot by LSU's Taylor Pleasants making it 10-6 in the fifth ( video via Twitter ) is the most recent big hit in this slugfest... Tigers continue their rally in the fifth, with an 11th run across and runners on second and third with two out... Walk loads the bases... Ground-out ends inning... Bama loads the bases in the top of the sixth with two out... K ends the threat... LSU expands lead on Georgia Clark's two-run shot in bottom of sixth ( video ), 13-6... It's a final... Bama starter Montana Fouts with a tough outing, lasting ...