Patrick Murphy says SEC will be 'a lot' for Oklahoma softball

The days of 48-game win streaks and sheer conference dominance may be coming to an end for Oklahoma Softball once they migrate to the SEC — the premier league in both softball and baseball. Of course, that’s not to say the Sooners won’t still rack up trophies left and right, just that it’ll be a bumpier path to get there in the Southeastern Conference.

Ahead of this week’s Women’s College World Series, one SEC coach, Alabama’s Patrick Murphy, was asked how he thinks the Sooner program will do the next few years as they blend into the SEC. And he didn’t mince words when discussing how brutal the league schedule is on a yearly basis.

“I think it’s the grind of the SEC, these ladies can say every weekend is like a World Series matchup. You play three games. It is tiring. It is mentally exhausting. It’s like…Oh my God, I got to play Florida, Georgia, I got LSU and Auburn. Everybody is good. Everybody is good. We lost to the last-place team in the league. Anybody can beat you at any time. If you don’t bring it, you’re going to get your butt beat. I think that’s what they’re going to face.”

However, Murphy does believe the addition of Oklahoma, who is undoubtedly the top current softball program in the country by leaps and bounds, will give the SEC a jolt on the diamond. He says that the Crimson Tide’s home games against Oklahoma in 2025 will sell out the minute they’re on sale and he expects massive scalping figures by the time the actual series happens.

“I think we have 3200 season ticket holders, we average almost 3800 a game. When they play them at home, I think it’s in 2025, already decided, those three games will be sold out in February. There will not be a ticket. There will be scalpers. Online it will be $220 per ticket for sure. On top of that, with their tradition, what they’ve been doing, it’s going to be double in terms of the fans, the opposing teams, the willingness to compete, it will go through the roof for both schools.”

Lastly, Patrick Murphy compared their additions to fellow former Big 12 powers Texas A&M and Missouri, who he considers to be softball schools over everything else.

“Also for the SEC, when we had Texas A&M and Missouri come in, you guys know this, the two biggest sports at those two schools was softball. The two best sports for Oklahoma and Texas to me are softball.”

Murphy then added he could see all 15 SEC teams getting in the NCAA Tournament someday after 13 out of 14 did this year (note: Vanderbilt does not have a softball team).

“Our league is strong right now. We got 12 out of 13. Shoot, I wouldn’t doubt if we get 15 out of 15 because it’s going to be that strong.”

The already-amazing SEC will only grow stronger with the new additions, at least on the softball field, according to Patrick Murphy.