The OU softball team is 42-1 this year. They started the season 38-0 and steamrolled every team that they played. Since suffering their first loss of the season to the Texas Longhorns, the Sooners have won their last four games by a combined score of 34-4. They have all the makings of being must-see TV, an all star line-up from top to bottom, out of this world pitching, and the best coach in all of softball, but yet they haven’t had one single nationally televised game all season.

The closest the Sooners have come to being nationally televised is on ESPNs’ streaming service, ESPN+. The Sooners have had eight total ESPN+ games with three more on deck with their upcoming series at Kansas. The Sooners also spent three games on the Longhorn Network and nine games on a streaming service known as “Flosoftball.”

Outside of that, it is all regional TV or radio coverage for the number one ranked nationally Oklahoma Sooners. Which is an absolute travesty for the Sooners and also for the sport of softball. Because this lack of national TV time doesn’t just apply for the Sooners. It applies for all college softball teams.

College softball is highly entertaining to watch. Anyone who says it isn’t has never actually sat down and watched an entire softball game. It’s much more entertaining than baseball I can assure you of that. College softball as a whole deserves way more air time than what it gets. It deserves more time in the spotlight than just simply during post season play.

I get during April it is hard for ESPN to balance TV schedules. But ESPN needs to stop pushing the big market narratives. I would much rather watch a college softball game than watch LeBron and the Lakers lose yet another game, ESPN.

For example, on February 12, the Sooners played the UCLA Bruins at 6 P.M. central time on a Saturday evening. At the time, this game was the number one team in the country against the number three team. And surprise, surprise, it wasn’t on TV. It was on an extremely limited streaming service. Why can’t ESPN pick that game up? I bet people outside of Norman, Oklahoma and Los Angeles, California would’ve watched that game.

For that claim, the proof is in the numbers. For the 2021 Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, 1.2 million people tuned in to watch the games. Conversely, for the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, only 775,000 people tuned in to watch those games. That is a 60 percent spread for those of you keeping track at home. Any other questions?

Put softball on national TV. It’s that simple. The game of softball isn’t just the WCWS at the end of the year. There are amazing games and series that are played throughout the entire season, and they deserve their moment in the spotlight. Softball belongs on TV. ESPN needs to step up to the plate.