Oklahoma Sooners Softball Opens 2026 Season Focused on Prayer

Published: February 16, 2026

By Mallory Mattingly

Oklahoma Softball returns for the 2026 season with more prayer.

The Sooners have picked up where they left off last season: winning. With a 3-1 schedule thus far this season, the Sooners are expected to be favored for a National Championship run.

But that’s not all the team has carried over from last season. With faith leading the charge, the Oklahoma Sooners and the opposing team come together after the game for a moment of prayer, CBN Sports shared in a video on social media.

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As the Sooners advanced to their ninth straight College World Series last year, the team constantly talked about their faith in Christ and how that had propelled them to the championship run.

“This team is so new, but yet it feels like we’ve all known each other for, like, our whole lives, which is really cool,” left-handed pitcher Kierston Deal said in a post-game press conference. “So just creating that culture and just trusting each other and trusting our coaching staff and trusting the Lord, honestly.”

Freshman Gabbie Garcia echoed that sentiment when she stepped up to the plate in a must-need hit situation.

“It was actually very emotional for me just because of the whole situation before that,” Garcia said as she joined Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast last year. “It was really emotional. I was praying before my at-bat. I was really just leaning into, ‘No matter what the result, God is with me. My teammates are with me. My family is with me. It does not matter what happens at the end of the day.’”

The Sooners look to Christ as their “fourth man in the fire,” a motto that has gotten them to nine straight World Series.

“It’s just a joyful feeling,” Garcia shared. “You’re freeing yourself of all of that burden, and you’re giving it to Him. It’s removing that fear of failure. As soon as you remove that outcome-based thinking, it’s so freeing.”

“It’s been a different year than I feel like a lot of people realize,” she continued. “Everyone keeps talking about how we’re a young team and everything, setting these boundaries on us. I feel like we’ve just gotten to that point where we’re here for ourselves, and we’re playing to serve. And we’re playing for each other.”

As the Oklahoma Sooners prepare to make their tenth straight Women’s College World Series appearance, they’re certain to keep Christ at the center of all they do.

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