Softball Takes on Missouri in Mid-week Doubleheader

March 26, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - #6 Oklahoma (27-5, 2-0 Big 12) vs. Missouri (18-17, 0-2 Big 12)

GAME INFO...
DATES: Mar. 27
FIELD: OU Softball Complex (Norman, Okla.)
TIMES: 5/7 p.m.
WEATHER: hi - 51, lo - 37, showers

OU TAKES ON MISSOURI IN DOUBLEHEADER
After a solid performance to open Big 12 action, Oklahoma (27-5, 2-0 Big 12) will try to carry the momentum against Missouri (18-17, 0-2) when the two teams meet on Tuesday for a doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. and the second game will start at approximately 7 p.m. Both games will be played at the OU Softball Complex.

Both teams feature heavy hitters. The Sooners (.330 ) and Tigers (.305) rank first and third in the Big 12, respectively, with batting averages over the .300 clip and combine for five of the top 10 hitters in the league. However, one of the big differences could be on the field where the Sooners have committed only 19 errors and field at the .979 mark to lead the Big 12. At the opposite end, the Tigers have 52 errors on the year and are fielding at a league-low .954.

All the action can be heard on KREF 1400 AM or by logging onto www.SoonerSports.com. Mick Cornett wll handle the play-by-play wth Chris Kalinski on color.

The promotions continue when the first 500 fans through the gates will receive a "Sooners of Swat" commemorative lapel pin. Fans can also purchase hot dogs and cokes for just $0.50 each.

SCOUTING MISSOURI
Coached by Jay Miller, the Tigers are 18-17 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12 Conference... They are coming off a weekend where they dropped both games to Nebraska (4-1, 5-1)... MU is hitting .305, which ranks third in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma and Texas A&M... Six batters hit above the .300 clip, including senior Karen Williams, who leads Mizzou and the Big 12 with a .454 average... The pitching staff has a 2.17 ERA and has struck out 167 batters, but walked 90... Senior Stephanie Falk is 13-11 with a 1.30 ERA to lead the pitching staff... Former Sooner Mindy Johnson is in her third year as an assistant coach.

THE MISSOURI SERIES
Dating back to 1977, OU and MU have met a total of 61 times... The Sooners hold a 32-29 advantage and have won the last six meetings, including an 8-3 win in the 2000 Big 12 Tournament... Missouri's last win came in the 1997 Big 12 tournament where it won 6-4... Under head coach Patty Gasso, the Sooners are 14-3 versus the Tigers.

SOONERS LOOK PRIMED FOR THREE-PEAT IN BIG 12 OPENER
It's what head coach Patty Gasso has been waiting to see all year--the Sooners coming out and dominating an opponent. OU wasted no time jumping out on the Aggies, posting a 5-1 win on Friday and run-ruling A&M in six innings on Saturday.

The Sooner offense collected 10 hits in each of the outings and scored 13 runs in the two games. Junior Jennifer Stewart picked up the wins in both games where she gave up just 10 hits and one run in the two complete games. She also struck out 10 batters over the two days.

vs. Texas A&M (W, 5-1): It took just two innings for OU to take charge of the game. Senior Ashli Barrett led off with a solo homer to put the first run on the board and a perfectly executed double-steal by Kaycee Clark and Erin Evans made the score 2-0. Another three runs on three hits put the finishing touches as A&M was never really a threat to score. The Aggies had runners in scoring position only four times during the game, including a bases loaded fourth with one out that resulted in no runs.

vs. Texas A&M (W, 8-0): OU led off the second with four straight singles and scored four runs on five hits to take the early advantage. An Erin Evans RBI double to left scored two runs and the Sooners completed the run-rule when Lisa Carey doubled to left to score the final run.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
There have been a few changes made since the 2001 schedule was announced. A Texas game in Norman and the game at Tulsa were the ones affected by recent changes.

The OU-Texas game on April 7 has been moved up to 1 p.m. for FOX television, who will show the game on a tape-delay basis.

The OU-Tulsa game that was originally scheduled for Tuesday, Apr. 24 has been pushed back one day. To help out the Golden Hurricane, the Sooners agreed to move the game to Wednesday, Apr. 25 at 5 p.m. It will be played at the Donna J. Hardesty Sports Complex on the Tulsa University campus.

GUNNING OUT OF THE GATES
OU wasted no time breaking out of its hitting slump that dragged its numbers down during its recent trip to California. In the opening weekend of Big 12 action, the Sooners hit .377 against Texas A&M while scoring 13 runs.

Senior Ashli Barrett and Lisa Carey dominated at the plate. While Barrett was hitting .667 (4-for-6) with two homers, two runs and three RBIs, Carey went 3-for-6 (.500) with a run, double and RBI.

The pitching did its part, too, as junior Jennifer Stewart went 2-0 with a 0.54 ERA against the Aggies. She struck out one batter (10) for every hit allowed and gave up no extra-base hits.

The Sooners were also 6-of-7 on stolen bases and fielded a perfect 1.000 in 54 chances.

BARRETT DOMINATING BIG 12
It's still early in the Big 12 season, but Ashli Barrett has risen above the rest. The senior hit nearly everything thrown at her in the Texas A&M series, with a pair of 2-for-3 performances that included two runs and three RBIs.

Barrett also knocked out two home runs in game one of the series, which was just the 15th time in school history that a Sooner has hit two homers in a game.

With all that in mind, it's no surprise that Barrett leads the Big 12 in league games with 10 total bases, a 1.667 slugging percentage and two home runs.

MAGIC NUMBER IS STILL TWO
Some tremendous pitching has gone through Oklahoma, especially during Patty Gasso's reign as head coach. So it may come as a surprise that Jennifer Stewart needs only three more wins to break the school's all-time career record. Stewart recorded 22 wins as a freshman, 34 as a sophomore and already has 18 this year. She has 74 career wins in her first 2 1/2 years and trails only Jill Most, who recorded 76 victories from 1994-97.

WINNING THE CLOSE ONE
If there's one thing OU has done well this year, it's been winning the close games. The Sooners currently have a 6-2 record in games decided by one run and are a pefect 5-0 when it comes down to two runs. The only setbacks have come at the hands of Southern Mississippi (2-1) and DePaul (3-2).

A BIT OF A SLUMP
If there's one freshman that was needed immediately, it was Adrianne Ratliff. The Claremore, Okla., native joined junior Jennifer Stewart as the only pitchers on the roster. She knew she would be sharing pitching duties with Stewart throughout the season and she showed she was up for the challenge. In her first 12 appearances, Ratliff tossed 52 innings and had a 1.88 earned run average to go with her 7-2 record.

But in her last five appearances, it's been a struggle in the circle. In those 17 1/3 innings, Ratliff has been the pitcher of record in three of those contests (2-1) and has a 4.85 ERA. The most damage has been in the first inning of the last two outings where she was limited in the starts against New Mexico State (0.2 IP) and San Diego State (3.1 IP). Opponents have scored seven unanswered runs and forced the Sooners to try to come from behind.

MERCY ME!
Through the first 25 games this year, nine of OU's wins have been shortened to less than seven innings due to the mercy rule (eight-run lead after five innings). The victims so far include Kentucky, Tulsa, Wichita State, Indiana State, Creighton, Western Michigan, North Carolina, Utah State and No. 20 Texas A&M.

HOT BATS, COLD BATS
Last year the Sooners were quick to come out and dominate their opponents, putting up a lot of runs quickly. But this year, the bats have been slow to warm and the scoring coming in spurts.

In the first inning, OU has scored 25 runs, but has allowed opponents to score 16 for a +9 differential. The second has been better where the Sooners have put 38 runs on the scoreboard while holding opponents to just five (+33).

The same inconsistencies are echoed in the third and fourth innings, where OU has outscored opponents just 19-13 in the third (+6), but hold a 34-run advantage in the fourth (39-5).

Overall, the Sooners have outscored their opponents by more than 100 runs (184 to 64) on the year.

OU WRAPS UP TOURNEY ACTION
OU competed in six tournaments this season where it posted a 22-4 record. The Sooners claimed a share of the UTA/Isuzu Classic title before winning the OU/adidas Classic and OU Worth Invitational championships.

A loss to South Carolina in pool play dropped OU to the Silver bracket of the rain-shortened NFCA Leadoff Classic where no winner was declared. In the Hillenbrand Invitational, Oklahoma finished second to No. 2 Arizona. The Sooners were eliminated in the quarterfinals from the KIA Klassic by No. 11 DePaul.

ROUND-TRIP INDICATOR
The long ball has always been a powerful weapon for the Sooners. After all, the 2000 team broke the school record with 85 home runs last year.

So far in 2001, the round-tripper hasn't been so much an indicator of a Sooner win as much as if they will lose. In games where OU has hit at least one homer, the team has a 15-1 record. But in games where no Sooners go yard, they have suffered four of their five losses and are 13-4.

GET BACK ON BASE!
With seniors Ashli Barrett and Andrea Davis sharing the catching duties, opponents are having a hard time stealing bases. The duo has completely shut down the running game. If they even attempt to run, opponents been thrown out 52.6 percent of the time. With just 19 attempts, only nine thefts have been successful. Davis has thrown out six runners on nine attempts, while Barrett has thrown out another four on six attempts.

MOTHER NATURE WREAKS HAVOC ON OU'S SCHEDULE
For the fifth and sixth times this year, OU had softball games cancelled because of inclimate weather. Only one game of Sunday's schedule in the OU Worth Invitational was able to be completed.

Other cancelled games include the semi-finals of the UTA/Isuzu Classic and two games of the OU/adidas Classic. The Sooners' game against Southern Miss in the Silver bracket of the NFCA Leadoff Classic was cut short just as OU had scored its first run and momentum was possibly shifting.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Sooners return to the OU Softball Complex where it is 8-0 on the year. Over its four years of existence, the home field has been very good for the Sooners where they have posted an .857 winning percentage.

YearRecordPct.
199819-5.792
199912-3.800
200027-3.900
20018-01.000
Total66-11.857

STREAKIN'
Five Sooners currently carry multiple-game hitting streaks into the Missouri doubleheader. Senior Ashli Barrett currently leads the team with a four-game streak that dates back to the DePaul loss. Senior Lisa Carey is right behind with a three-game mark, while Kelli Braitsch, Andrea Davis and Erin Evans all got hits in each of the Texas A&M games.

OUT IN LEFT FIELD
The Sooners have led the Big 12 all year and currently has a league-high .330 batting average... With a 1.80 team ERA, the Sooners are fifth in the conference... Among the Big 12's leading hitters are OU's Kelli Braitsch (third), Lisa Carey (fourth) and Ashli Barrett (eighth)... Other offensive categories the Sooners lead the Big 12 in include runs (184), RBIs (158), triples (10) and home runs (25)... Junior Jennifer Stewart is averaging 5.58 strikeouts per seven innings.

ON DECK
The Sooners will continue their conference schedule on the road this weekend when they take on Nebraska and Iowa State. OU and the Huskers will play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 5 p.m. and approximately 7 p.m. The Sooners will then head over to Ames and face the Cyclones at 3 p.m. on Saturday and at noon on Sunday.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Softball Takes on Missouri in Mid-week Doubleheader

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