Five SEC teams made the 2015 Women’s College World Series. Patty Gasso’s Sooners did not. OU, the Big 12 champion, was seeded 11th nationally, despite a 45-7 record.
The Sooners ended up in a super regional in Tuscaloosa and lost a rousing three-game series to Alabama.
In those days of conference uncertainty and Big 12 instability, no one could blame Gasso if she questioned her school’s long-term future in the league. No other coach, any school, any sport, could be less enamored of the Big 12.
That was then. Now, Oklahoma is the nation’s best softball brand and the Big 12 has helped.