Oklahoma 5, Iowa State 1

May 3, 2002

Kelli Braitsch hit a solo homer and Leah Gulla drove in two runs while Angela Foster and Kami Keiter scattered seven hits as second-seeded Oklahoma eliminated eighth-seeded Iowa State from the Big 12 Softball Tournament on Friday, 5-1. Braitsch, who scored two runs, belted her eighth homer of the year in the bottom of the first to knot the score at 1-1 after the Cyclones' Lindsey Herrin drove in Julia Lindsey with a two-out single. The Sooners added two more runs in the second and Gulla's two-out, two-run single in the fifth completed the scoring. Foster gave up five hits and struck out four batters in 4.0 innings of work to move to 9-1 on the year. Keiter gave up two hits in 3.0 innings to pick up her second save. Martinez tossed a complete-game six-hitter and fell to 10-17 on the season. Iowa State ended its campaign with a 17-22 mark while OU improved to 43-13. The Sooners will face the loser of today's Nebraska-Kansas game at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Gasso
On the game:
"We felt much better about this game. We got some timely hitting which has been the story of our season. When we get those timely hits, we know we're coming out on top. Kelli Braitsch did a really good job of opening things up for us and getting us on the board and Leah Gulla came through and got us to five which was very important. Once we got to that point, I thought we had things pretty much under control."

On getting OU pitchers early experience in the tournament:
"(Angela) Foster hasn't had a chance to throw since her last no-hitter so I thought we had to get her back out on the mound and get her comfortable out here. We've really tried to show off three pitchers early and get them comfortable early in the tournament so that they are ready when get down to these more important games."

Iowa State Head Coach Ruth Crowe
On the game:
"Well, they got a couple of key hits when they needed them, and we stoped scoring so that didn't help us. However, I thought Erica (Martinez) pitched a good game. "

On Oklahoma:
"Obviously they are a good team year in and year out, it's just a matter of what they are able to put togather this weekend, and that is the key for everyone."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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