The Oklahoma Sooners softball team (59-7) finished making history by four-peating as national champions, and Patty Gasso’s team got the ball rolling well in Game 1 lastWednesday night as the Sooners corralled the archrival Texas Longhorns 8-3, then completed the sweep with an 8-4 win Thursday night.
OU’s four-peat is about the only true positive thing that happened on the diamond this spring in college softball.
The Oklahoma State Cowgirls once again got to Oklahoma City, but were ousted in two straight games, while the Arkansas Razorbacks were eliminated on their own field in its NCAA Fayetteville Regional Tournament.
It was even sadder on the college baseball field as all four teams — OU, OSU, Arkansas and Oral Roberts University — failed to get out of their own regional. Of course, we knew when OU and ORU were put in the same Norman Regional that one of them was not going to make it out, since only one team does that honor. However, it still seems strange that we had no “local” NCAA baseball teams playing in Super Regionals this past weekend.
••• Two of the major four professional sports championship series began last week. The National Basketball Association Finals started Thursday night in Boston as the Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks squared off for the NBA crown, with the Celtics winning both games at home — taking Game 1 by the score of 10789, then taking Game 2 Sunday night by the final score of 105-98. Games 3 and 4 will be at American Airlines Center in Dallas at 7:30 p.m. tonight and Friday night.
The last time the Celtics won the NBA Finals came in 2008, but the team has won a total of 17 crowns.
The Mavericks haven’t been to the NBA Finals since they and Dirk Nowitzki won it in 2011, beating Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and the Miami Heat — which beat Dallas in its other NBA Finals appearance in 2006 when Miami was led by not only Wade but Shaquille O’Neal, a.k.a. “Shaq.”
The Stanley Cup Finals to determine the National Hockey League champion got underway Saturday night as the Florida Panthers, making their second straight Stanley Cup Finals, are meeting the Edmonton Oilers, who haven’t been in the Stanley Cup Finals since 2006. While the Panthers have been in three Stanley Cup Finals, they are 0-2 — losing last year to the (Las) Vegas Golden Knights and falling to the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.
On the other hand, the Oilers are making their eighth Stanley Cup Finals appearance, but star player Connor Mc-David will be playing in his first-ever Cup Finals in his nine-year career. Overall, the Oilers have won five Stanley Cup Finals, doing so in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990 — with the first four of those led by Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and all five Stanley Cup Finals championship teams for the Oilers having Hall of Famers Mark Messier and Jari Kurri.
The Panthers took Game 1 by a score of 3-0 on Saturday night. Game 2 was slated for Monday night, then the series will shift to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4 at 7 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
One thing is for certain. Both the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals will see new champions crowned, since last year’s two champions, the Denver Nuggets and the Vegas Golden Knights, did not make their respective finals to have a chance to defend their respective crowns.
••• The final jewel of the 2024 Triple Crown took place Saturday with the 156th running of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course near New York City, since Belmont Race Track is being renovated.
We will not have a Triple Crown winner this year as Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Derby and Seize the Grey took the win at the Preakness.
We ended up having a repeat of 2023 in which all three Triple Crown horse races were won by a different horse as Dornoch stunned the field to win Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
••• Another week, another sports legend passing as we lost Hall of Fame offensive lineman Larry Allen on June 2 at age 52 while vacationing in Mexico after we lost Hall of Fame basketball player Bill Walton the following week.
Allen spent most of his playing career with the Dallas Cowboys (1994-2005), being a part of the Cowboys’ Super Bowl win in 1995. He spent his final two seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the San Francisco 49ers.
“He was a HOF offensive lineman that dominated opponents regardless of the position played,” Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman said. “Off the field, he was a gentle giant that loved his family.”
R.I.P., Larry Allen.
••• If there are any sports camps taking place this summer, please let me know.
We will run the briefs about them in our editions, then I will come out for action shots for later publications.
Also, this is just a reminder to you coaches about letting me know if any of your senior athletes will be signing letters of intent in the near future.
I would prefer to have two-day notice, but oneday notice is sufficient, to let me know where and when the signing will take place because if I’m notified, I will be there to catch the moment.
My contact information is at the end of this column.
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Seeley is the sports editor of The Eastern Times-Register. He can be reached by telephone at (918) 775-4433, Ext. 139 or by e-mail at davids@ cookson.news.
