Just three years ago it was announced Oklahoma and Texas would depart for a new conference that is seen as a tougher slate in nearly all sports, especially football. But amongst all of the drama and talking points of the football teams, the Sooners softball program earned a nod from Sankey.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey didn’t hold back his thoughts on what Oklahoma brings to the Southeastern Conference.It’s been a long awaited transition from the Big 12 to the SEC for the Sooners. Just three years ago it was announced Oklahoma and Texas would depart for a new conference that is seen as a tougher slate in nearly all sports, especially football. But amongst all of the drama and talking points of the football teams, the Sooners softball program earned a nod from Sankey.
“If you look at facilities as you drive around,” Sankey said, “you see the softball stadium that’s been built. I think that sets a new standard in some ways.”
Sankey sat alongside OU President Joseph Harroz Jr., and OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione to answer a few questions during Monday’s festivities of introducing the Sooners to the SEC. It served as an exciting day for OU fans and an informative day to the other 15 fan bases across the conference, reassuring that Oklahoma is a special program deserving of any hype.
“We have great facilities across our league,” Sankey said. “I’ve heard plans for other activities. I know Joe has been looking at our league facilities and wondering and imagining—Joe Castiglione, and then he has to go to Joe Harroz for that conversation. But they bring an elevation of expectation and a new set of challenges. They bring a new community, and the people here have an opportunity to visit new communities.”
The Sooners no doubt left their mark on the Big 12 Conference. Each of the Sooners’ eight National Championships were won as members of the Big 12 conference. The Sooners won the first-ever Big 12 Championship in 1996 and this past season they ended their run in the conference with another as they took down No. 1 Texas 5-1 in the Big 12 Championship for their ninth Big 12 tournament Championship.
The Oklahoma softball team didn’t lose a three-game conference series in the Big 12 until this past season. And yet, they were able to capture a historic feat in becoming the first NCAA softball program to win four consecutive National Championships and eighth overall as they swept their new conference counterpart, Texas.
It’s a softball program that’s been so fruitful with trophies that Gasso and her staff didn’t have enough places to put them, resulting in them sitting in odd places throughout Marita Hynes, before the Sooners built Love’s stadium.
Now they’ll have a new challenge as they battle through the SEC, which is a conference that’s won three of four softball national titles from 2012-15–with the other won by OU. As Sankey put it, the Sooners set a new standard in the conference.
“What we bring to help the SEC be stronger,” OU AD Joe Castiglione said. “what their strength brings to help us be stronger in the long run, this is a natural fit.”
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