The Oklahoma Sooners made history last week, becoming the first NCAA softball team to win four straight national titles. They did so with 8-3 and 8-4 wins in the two games. The title is the eighth national championship for head coach Patty Gasso. It was also the most-watched NCAA Women’s College World Series finals on record with an average of 2 million viewers on ESPN.
The 2 million figure is up 24% over last year and was up 34% among the female demographic. Game 2 itself averaged 2.2 million viewers and peaked at 2.5 million.
The previous high was in 2015 when Florida took down Michigan two games to one.
On the streaming side, the two games played in this series were the second and third most-viewed softball games ever on ESPN+.
Viewership for college softball has been on the rise. Most notably, in 2022, the women’s finals topped the men’s College World Series with 1.6 million viewers tuning in.
