Louisiana ends Oklahoma softball’s record 71-game win streak

The Oklahoma Sooners' NCAA-record 71-game winning streak came to an end Sunday in an eight-inning, 7-5 loss to Louisiana in Norman, Okla.

The No. 1 Sooners (18-1) went more than a calendar year without a loss, last losing at Baylor 4-3 on Feb. 19, 2023.

It had been much longer, four years, since the Sooners last lost at home, a 4-3 decision to North Texas on Feb. 29, 2020.

Louisiana nearly managed the upset in front of 4,450 fans without extra innings, as the Ragin' Cajuns held a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh with one on and two outs, but a fielding error allowed Oklahoma's Maya Bland to reach home.

Just two days after Oklahoma celebrated a grand opening of the new $12 million Love's Field, the Sooners saw the game slip away in the eighth as Louisiana regained the advantage on a Samantha Graeter single that scored Denali Loecker, then Sam Roe tacked on two more runs with her own single.

The 71-game streak stands as an impressive feat for the three-time defending national champions. The next-longest winning streak in NCAA history was 47 games, achieved by Arizona in 1996-97.