NORMAN— No. 1/1 Oklahoma Softball celebrates the historic opening of Love's Field this weekend with five games over the course of three days in Norman.
The Sooners (14-0, 0-0 Big 12) open the inaugural season at their new home on Friday, March 1, against Miami (OH) at 2 p.m. CT and will follow with a contest against Liberty at 5 p.m. the same day. All tickets, including standing-room only areas, are sold out for opening day at Love's Field. OU will also face Louisiana (11 a.m.) and Liberty (1:45 p.m.) on Saturday, and Louisiana on Sunday (12:30 p.m.).
Liberty will play Tulsa at Marita Hynes Field at 12:30 p.m. on Friday followed by a 5 p.m. ULL vs. Miami (OH) matchup at Marita Hynes. Liberty and Louisiana will play neutral-site games at Love's Field on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m.
Each game of the OU Tournament featuring the Sooners will be streamed on ESPN+ ($). All five OU games will be broadcast on 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2 with all but Friday's first game also airing on 107.7 FM The Franchise.
To celebrate Love's Field's historic day on Friday, an Opening Day and Dedication Ceremony will take place outside the main stadium gate (Gate 1) at 11 a.m. Season ticket holders and the public are welcome to attend. The event will be standing room only on the south side of the stadium, off Imhoff Rd. Following the ceremony, stadium gates will open to fans who hold tickets to the 2 p.m. home opener.
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
The first 1,000 fans through the gates on opening day will receive a commemorative Love's Field softball. Saturday's games feature the celebration of Jayda Coleman's senior day while Sunday will include a special front-page poster giveaway.
THE NEW HOME OF SOONER SOFTBALL
Love's Field officially opens its gates this weekend.
The facility features a 10,669-square-foot indoor training center and several team spaces, including a training room, locker room and classroom.
Constructed at the northwest corner of South Jenkins Avenue and Imhoff Road, Love's Field is approximately one-half mile south of Marita Hynes Field and accommodates a capacity of 4,200.
The complex's overall square footage is 44,000, compared to 15,168 at Marita Hynes Field, OU's previous facility. The team areas grew from 2,598 square feet to 5,593 square feet and the indoor practice facility jumped from 4,744 square feet to 10,669 square feet.
ABOUT LAST WEEKEND
OU went 5-0 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic last weekend, extending its NCAA-record winning streak to 67 games. The Sooners outscored their five opponents 43-5 with three run-rule wins and closed the tournament with three straight shutouts.
Oklahoma's lineup batted .378 over the weekend, belting eight home runs and nine doubles on its way to producing a 1.095 OPS. Sooner baserunners were a perfect 7-for-7 while the club's defense committed just two errors to field a .984.
Freshman outfielder Kasidi Pickering batted .667 with a team-high eight hits, going 8-for-12 at the plate with five runs scored. Senior shortstop Tiare Jennings led OU with nine RBIs and four extra-base hits (3 2B, 1 HR) while batting .500 (7-for-14). Senior outfielder Rylie Boone collected a hit in all five games, going 7-for-12 (.583), and collected three doubles.
AN UNPRECEDENTED STREAK
Oklahoma's NCAA-record winning streak stands at 67 games entering the weekend. The historic streak has featured 46 wins over Power Five opponents, 38 shutouts, 28 wins over ranked teams, 30 run-rule wins and just three extra-innings victories. OU has defeated 40 different programs over the course of the win streak, the most wins coming against Texas and Iowa State with four each.
The Sooners have scored 538 runs while allowing just 62 during their winning streak, generating a whopping +476 run differential. OU averages 8.03 runs per game and has recorded a 0.89 ERA in the circle across the stretch.
Oklahoma is hitting .365 with a 1.114 OPS during the 67-game streak, blasting 129 home runs and 115 doubles. Opposing teams have hit just .164 off the Sooner staff with a meager .457 OPS over the streak.
The Sooners' 4-3 victory over Washington on Feb. 9 extended their winning streak to 56 games dating back to Feb. 24, 2023, establishing a new record for the longest winning streak in NCAA history. OU's 56th consecutive win broke the previous all-division record held by then-Division II program Western Kentucky.
A LEGACY AT MARITA HYNES FIELD
As Oklahoma begins its next chapter at Love's Field, the program fondly looks back at 26 seasons of success at Marita Hynes Field. OU went 548-62 (.856) from 1998 to 2023 at Marita Hynes, winning nine Super Regionals and 17 Regionals at the complex.
WHAT A RELIEF
Oklahoma's bullpen has been lights-out to open the 2024 campaign. The Sooner pen' has yet to allow a run in 29.2 innings this spring, limiting opponents to a .112 average (11-for-98) with a 28:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. All 11 hits allowed by the relievers have been singles, helping the group record a .321 OPS against and a 0.71 WHIP.
LEADERBOARDS
The Sooners enter March ranked top-three nationally in multiple categories. OU is second in shutouts (9) and fielding percentage (.989) and owns the third-best ERA in the country at 0.73. Oklahoma's 22 home runs tie the team for 10th across the NCAA. Graduate right-hander Karlie Keeney is the only pitcher in the nation to have not allowed a run in at least 15.0 innings pitched, leading the country with a 0.00 ERA. Four Sooners rank among the top eight in the Big 12 in ERA while Alyssa Brito and Tiare Jennings are top-five in the conference in OPS, slugging percentage and RBIs.
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