Will Oklahoma softball repeat as Women’s College World Series champs?

Heading into the 2022 college softball season, it certainly seems plausible that Patty Gasso and the Oklahoma softball program will be able to repeat as champs.

After making a run in 2021 and winning yet another Women’s College World Series, what are reasonable expectations for Patty Gasso and the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners during the 2022 college softball season? Can Oklahoma softball fans expect to see Gasso and the Sooners bring home another trophy from Oklahoma City this year?

With the sort of talent that Oklahoma has returning for this year, it seems very, very likely that this team will be in Oklahoma City once more.

Oklahoma does have to replace the void left by a couple of star pitchers that have graduated out of the program, but with the talent the Sooners have stockpiled and an absurdly dangerous lineup, Oklahoma should be the favorite to win the championship this season.

Will they actually live up to their potential though?

Oklahoma softball: Will Oklahoma Sooners repeat, win the Women’s College World Series in 2022?

It seems very plausible that they will.

While college baseball is often defined by parity and the wealth of power being spread out nationally, there are a few different tiers of teams that are a bit more clearly defined in college softball. The hierarchy in this sport can be a little more noticeable. In fact, there are a handful of different dynasties that tend to happen all simultaneously.

Because of that, it’s not really uncommon to see a team win championships in consecutive seasons. In total, since the start of the NCAA Women’s College World Series in 1982, the same team has won at least two championships in a row on eight different occasions.

It’s not really rare.

Teams have accomplished this feat as recently as 2016 and 2017, when the Sooners won back-to-back titles. Florida managed to win two titles in 2014 and 2015. Prior to that the Arizona Wildcats went back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.

In 1984 and 1985, the UCLA Bruins won back-to-back championships, giving the NCAA the first example here in this space. They went out and won championships in 1988, 1989, and 1990, becoming the first team to win the NCAA’s Women’s College World Series in consecutive seasons and the second team to win NCAA titles in consecutive seasons.

However, because of the existence of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships (and it’s predecessor organization, the Division for Girls’ and Women’s Sports), there was actually, at one point, a different Women’s College World Series that was not organized and run by the NCAA.

And because there’s a bit of history there, the first example here actually isn’t UCLA but rather John F. Kennedy College, who won in 1969, 1970, and 1971.

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