Softball Team Starts Week By Hosting Oklahoma State

April 19, 2000

Oklahoma State at Oklahoma
Wednesday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m.

Oklahoma at Baylor
Friday, April 21 at 4 p.m. (Waco, Texas)
Saturday, April 22 at Noon (Waco, Texas)

Scouting Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is coming off a weekend split with Nebraska in Stillwater. The Cowgirls took the first game, 4-2, on Saturday in Stillwater, but the Huskers bounced back to win the Sunday contest, 12-1. OSU is currently ranked No. 22 with a 32-16 record on the season and a 7-6 mark in the Big 12 Conference. The Cowgirls are led by designated player Kirsty Jennings who sports a .377 batting average and 42 RBI. Third baseman Jenny Kipp is hitting .364. Freshman Lauren Bay is OSU's top pitcher and owns a 1.78 ERA on the season with a 14-9 record.

In the First Meeting
The first Bedlam game took place in Stillwater on April 5. It was OSU's first game in the newly renovated Cowgirl Softball Stadium. The sixth-ranked Sooners won the battle, 4-2. Junior Lisa Carey went 3-for-4 in the contest, with one RBI and one run scored, and Mandy Fulton knocked her fifth homer of the season from her designated player spot. Sophomore hurler Jennifer Stewart notched the win for the OU, while senior Lana Moran picked up her first save of the season. Freshman Lauren Bay took the loss for the No. 22 Cowgirls.

OU Splits With Huskers, Sweeps Texas Tech
Oklahoma split with Big 12 Conference opponent Nebraska on Friday night. The Sooners dropped the first game, 1-0, in 11 innings before rallying to mercy-rule the Huskers, 13-0, in the second game at the OU Softball Complex.

The Sooners managed three hits and committed three errors in the opening game. Nebraska began the inning with Alice Brewer on second base due to the international tie-breaker rule. The Huskers bunted and advanced Brewer to third. With one out, rightfielder Kim Ogee squeeze bunted to drive in Brewer for the game's only run, which was unearned.

Nebraska's Jenny Voss entered the game in the eighth and was credited with the win, while Sooner senior Lana Moran took her first loss of the season. Moran struck out five batters as she pitched a career-high 11 innings.

The Sooners struck back in second game, tallying 13 runs on 12 hits and three Husker errors. OU scored in every inning in the mercy-rule victory. The team added three home runs to its ever-growing season total. Junior catcher Ashli Barret nailed a three-run shot in the second inning and, in the next at-bat, designated player Mandy Fulton smacked her sixth long ball of the season. Freshman Jennifer Stump drilled a shot over the fence in the fourth, her third of the year. Sophomore hurler Jennifer Stewart improved her season record to 23-5 with the victory.

OU racked up two more wins on Saturday and Sunday against Texas Tech. The Sooners shut out the Red Raiders on Saturday, 5-0. Oklahoma scored five runs on eight hits, while allowing Texas Tech only three hits in seven innings. Second baseman LaKisha Washington led the offensive attack with a triple and a home run, her first of the season. Sophomore hurler Jennifer Stewart, now 24-5, struck out five and walked none in her second shutout in as many days.

On Sunday, OU completed the weekend sweep of Texas Tech with a 7-1 win. Sooner catcher Ashli Barrett went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Sooners. Senior Lana Moran moved to 18-1 on the season with the victory. She struck out four batters and walked one in seven innings.

Oklahoma Stands in First-Place in the Big 12
Sixth-ranked Oklahoma, 48-6 overall, currently holds a two-game lead in the Big 12 Conference race. Going into last weekend, OU and Nebraska were both undefeated in league competition and split a doubleheader Friday night. On Saturday, the Huskers faced Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The Cowgirls came away with a 4-2 victory, leaving Nebraska with two losses. NU rebounded to save the weekend sweep on Sunday by run-ruling OSU, 12-1. With their win over Iowa State Tuesday, the Huskers are 9-2 in conference play.

Making the Switch
Junior Lisa Carey earned third-team All-America honors last season from her shortstop position. Carey underwent shoulder surgery in October and is not throwing quite at 100 percent. For the first half of the season she was in the offensive starting line-up as OU's designated player. Now Carey has made the switch to first base for the Sooners. The Topeka, Kan., native, saw her first action at shortstop this season in OU's last game versus Texas Tech.

Preseason Picks
The Sooners were the Big 12 coaches' pick to win the league after receiving every possible first-place vote in the preseason conference poll. OU also appeared at No. 8 in the Preseason NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Tournament Champions
Oklahoma has won two tournament championships this season. The Sooners opened the year by seizing the Texas-Arlington Isuzu Motors Invitational on Feb. 13. The team posted a 7-0 record. On Feb. 27, OU won its own adidas Classic by winning six straight games at the OU Softball Complex.

Fabulous Freshmen
The freshman portion of the Sooners' 1999 recruiting class has wasted no time making its mark this season. Kelli Braitsch is starting at shortstop and hitting .335 with five home runs on the year. Leah Gulla began the year starting at shortstop, but has recently made the move to third base. Gulla has hit 10 doubles to rank fifth in the Big 12 Conference and three homers this season. Jennifer Stump has started 16 games at first base and is hitting .280 on the season with three homers.

2000 Sooners Shatter Season Home Run Record
On April 2, with a shot over the right field fence, junior Andrea Davis recorded OU's 44th home run of the season, breaking the old team season record of 43 set by the 1997 squad. Currently, the Sooners have hit 57 long balls in 54 games. The team has seven regular season games and the postseason left to build on the record.

Barrett Breaks Home Run Record
Junior Ashli Barrett broke the OU career home run record on March 17 against UNLV in the Kia Klassic tournament in Fullerton, Calif. The long ball was her 13th of the season and the 28th of her career. Barrett is three-fourths of the way to the single-season home run record of 20, which was set last year by first-team All-American Lynette Velazquez. The Sooners' catcher, who currently leads the Big 12 in home runs with 15, has more than a season left to extend the mark.

Rounding the Bases
Five of the top six run scorers in the Big 12 Conference are Oklahoma Sooners. Here's a look at the numbers (as of April 17):

                               GRR/G

1. Christy Ring (OU)       5451.94

2. Lisa Carey (OU)       5445.83

3. Kelli Braitsch (OU)       5440.74

4. Kim Ogee (Nebraska)        5035.70

5. Ashli Barrett (OU)       5233.63

6. LaKisha Washington (OU)     5433.61

Mercy Me!
Fifteen of OU's 48 wins this season have been shortened to less than seven innings due to the mercy rule (an eight-run lead after five innings). Three of those run-rule victories have come over teams in the top 25 at the time. On Feb. 13 in the Texas-Arlington Invitational, OU beat No. 5 Southern Mississippi, 10-1. The Sooners rolled over ninth-ranked Stanford, 9-0, on March 4 in the NFCA Lead Off Classic and trounced No. 12 Oregon State on March 16 at the Kia Klassic in Fullerton, Calif.

Gasso the Great
In OU's opening game of the season, a 5-0 defeat of Kentucky, Coach Gasso landed her 400th win in 10 seasons as a head coach. In her five seasons at OU, she owns a 237-93 record. Gasso is listed at No. 9 on the active Division I coaches list for highest winning percentage. Coming into the season, Gasso had amassed a 399-152 career record for a .719 percentage.

The Need for Speed
The Sooners have proven to be exceptionally fast in 2000 in with several legitimate threats on the base paths. Leftfielder Christy Ring lleads the team and the conference with 26 stolen bases in 32 attempts. Centerfielder Erin Evans is second on the team with 20, while second baseman LaKisha Washington has 17. Freshman shortstop Kelli Braistch has swiped 10 bases. All but four of the 16 players on OU's roster have at least two stolen bases on the season. OU has stolen a total of 94 bases this year (the record is 98 by the 1997 squad).

2000 Season Big 12 Conference Honors
A Sooner player was recognized as pitcher or player of the week in the each of the first three weeks of the season. In week one, sophomore Jennifer Stewart was named pitcher of the week for her 6-0 performance at the Texas-Arlington Invitational. Junior third baseman Mandy Fulton garnered the player-of-the-week award in the second week. Fulton hit three homers, knocked in 12 runs and notched a stellar .571 batting average in the Wildcat Softball Classic in Tucson, Ariz. In week number three, junior catcher Ashli Barrett was named the Big 12 Player of the Week. Barrett hit a home run and four doubles on her way to a .444 batting average in seven games for the Sooners. On April 4, Stewart earned her second pitcher-of-the-week honor from the league. She added two shutout wins to her record while holding opponents to a .095 batting average. On April 12, centerfielder Erin Evans became the third Sooner to be honored as Big 12 Player of the Week. The redshirt freshman was 7-for-9 at the plate for a .778 batting average and scored three runs for the Sooners in three games.

Moran Off To A Great Start
Senior pitcher Lana Moran owns the highest winning percentage of any pitcher in the Big 12 Conference at 18-1. After earning All-America honors as a sophomore, Moran suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee the following summer. She posted a 10-8 record last season during her recovery, but is off to an amazing start in 2000. Moran excels on the field as well as in the classroom. The sociology major recently received the Athletic Council Achievement Award, which is given to an outstanding senior who has overcome difficult circumstances to achieve success in athletics at the University of Oklahoma.

Young Guns
Pitcher Lana Moran is the only senior on Oklahoma's roster this season. In a typical game, OU starts three freshmen, one sophomore and five juniors (excluding the pitcher).

Strength in the Circle
Although OU has been carried by its offense at times this season, the team is getting plenty of help from its pitching staff. Left-handers Jennifer Stewart (24-5) and Lana Moran (18-1) are the top two pitchers in the Big 12 in terms of both wins and season ERA. Stewart boasts a 1.30 ERA, while Moran is at 1.33. Moran is holding opponents to just a .194 batting average.

Sooner Scribbles
Five of Oklahoma's six losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top 25. Three of the six were to teams ranked in the top 10 at the time.

Currently, the Sooners' team fielding percentage rests at .975. OU led the nation during the 1999 season with a .979 percentage.

Sooner opponents are only hitting .212 against OU's pitching staff.

The Sooner pitching staff holds a combined 1.49 ERA. OU opponents, meanwhile, are allowing 6.40 earned runs per game.

The 2000 squad has easily surpassed last season's total number of runs batted in. In 1999, OU hitters knocked in 228 runs. Through 54 games this year, the number stands at 328.

Oklahoma is the only school in the Big 12 with a team batting average over .300 (hitting .334).

OU has outscored its Big 12 opponents 77-19.

OU's 57 home runs this year are the 10th most by a Division I team in a season.

In games through April 2, OU was second in the nation with a .340 batting average, recording 399 hits in 1,172 at-bats. The Sooners (now 48-6) also had the third-best record (behind Arizona and Washington). The team had the third-best fielding percentage at .978.

Offensive Statistical Comparison
Below is a an offensive comparison between OU and its opponents this year:

CategoryOU Opponent

Batting Avg..334.212

At Bats         14511301

Runs            35187

Hits            484276

Doubles         8525

Triples         144

Home Runs       5719

RBI             32875

Total Bases     768366

Slugging Pct.   .529.281

Base on Balls   18474

Strikeouts      244236

On-Base Pct.    .415.266

Stolen Bases    94-11614-30

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Softball Team Starts Week By Hosting Oklahoma State

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