Oklahoma's NCAA record 71-game winning streak snapped by Louisiana

The longest winning streak in NCAA softball history by a country mile has finally come to an end, with Oklahoma falling to Louisiana on Sunday afternoon by a 7-5 score.

The Sooners fell behind early in the second inning and could never retake the lead in the contest. Eventually, they just ran out of outs, but not before producing some serious drama.

The loss snapped a remarkable 71-game winning streak by the Sooners, one dating back to 2023. It was the longest winning streak in NCAA history by a massive margin, topping the previous mark of 47 straight games by Arizona in 1996-97.

And the Sooners refused to go away quietly into the night.

Trailing 4-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, Oklahoma got its leadoff batter aboard and went to work from there. After a Jayda Coleman popout, third baseman Alyssa Brito very nearly tied the game up at 4-4 with a single swing of the bat.

She smoked a pitch toward the right field wall, but right fielder Kayla Falterman managed to snag it on the warning track, just a couple feet shy of a game-tying home run.

That was the second out in the bottom of the seventh inning, with Oklahoma still needing two runs to tie it.

It got the first on a single to right center field from Tiare Jennings, which cut the deficit to 4-3. Improbably, it would get the tying run moments later after the Sooners pinch-ran for Jennings.

It required some help from Louisiana.

Riley Ludlam singled just over the second baseman’s head, with Alexa Langleliers unable to make the play, ball bouncing off her glove. Oklahoma actually held the runner at third base, but a throw home skittered by the catcher and allowed pinch-runner Maya Bland to score, tying it up at 4-4 and sending it to extra innings.

But the Sooners couldn’t plate another run to end it in regulation.

Louisiana immediately loaded up the bases with no outs in the top of the eighth inning. The Ragin Cajuns pushed the go-ahead run in with an infield single to shortstop, making it 5-4.

A two-RBI single to left field from Sam Roe made it 7-4 and heaped all the pressure on Oklahoma to score three in the bottom of the eighth to keep the winning streak alive.

Cydney Sanders hit a one-out home run to left center field to cut the deficit to 7-5, but the Sooners couldn’t manage anything more than that, falling for the first time in 72 games.