Oklahoma opens Women's College World Series vs. Tennessee - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma could extend its record run of consecutive national titles to five at this year's Women's College World Series.

Patty Gasso's second-seeded Sooners will face No. 7 seed Tennessee in their WCWS opener. Oklahoma beat Alabama on Saturday to win the Norman Super Regional.

Action in the eight-team double-elimination bracket begins Thursday at Devon Park. The final two teams will play for the title in a best-of-three series starting June 4.

Gasso, who will coach the United States at the 2028 Summer Olympics, has led the Sooners to eight national titles, including six of the past eight and seven of 10. This was Oklahoma's first season as a member of the Southeastern Conference.

In other opening-day matchups, third-seeded Florida will play No. 6 seed Texas, No. 9 seed UCLA meets No. 16 seed Oregon and No. 12 seed Texas Tech will face unseeded Mississippi.

Oklahoma will face Tennessee star pitcher Karlyn Pickens, who broke her NCAA record by throwing a 79.4 mph pitch during Saturday's win over Nebraska. Pickens then shut out the Cornhuskers 1-0 on Sunday.

Nebraska's loss means Oklahoma won't be facing former Sooners pitcher Jordy Bahl, who transferred to her home-state Cornhuskers after being named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 World Series with Oklahoma.

Although No. 1 overall seed Texas A&M was knocked out in regional play, the SEC has five teams in the field — Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida, Texas and Ole Miss.

Florida beat Georgia in three games to advance. The Gators won national titles in 2014 and 2015 and lost to Oklahoma in the semifinals last year.

Texas has reached the best-of-three championship series in two of the past three seasons, with both losses coming to Oklahoma. The Longhorns