What are Oklahoma fans doing at a Women's College World Series without Oklahoma? - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY — After Oklahoma's decade-long run of reaching the Women's College World Series ended last weekend, Betty Frederick was so upset that she told her husband, Gene, they were selling their season tickets.

Laura Glardon, a Texas fan from Houston who has been sitting next to the Fredericks for years at the WCWS, worried that Betty might skip this tournament without the Sooners playing.

Glardon texted to make sure she was still making the trip. Betty replied yes, followed by a scowling emoji.

OU might not be at this year's WCWS, but many Sooner fans still showed up at Devon Park, including the Fredericks, who drove from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, with a suitcase packed with Betty's favorite crimson-and-cream shirts.

«I've never been here without the Sooners,» Betty said. «But softball is softball.»

Under coach Patty Gasso, OU helped build college softball into a national phenomenon. Since 2000, the Sooners have won eight national championships, becoming the sport's defining dynasty. Yet, with OU absent from the WCWS for the first time since 2015, many of its fans still returned to Devon Park — drawn not only by the games, but by traditions, friendships and a sense of community that has grown alongside the sport.

«I couldn't believe how many people were here,» Robert Barron of Midwest City, Oklahoma, said of the opening night session, which set a WCWS single-session attendance record of 12,605. «The Sooners losing was heartbreaking. But it's fantastic for this many people to show up.»

Barron has been coming to the WCWS since 2000, when OU won its first national championship. That's when Barron met Alberto Castro, an Arizona fan from Scottsdale who became one of his closest friends. The two sit next to each other every