Oklahoma Advances To WCWS With 8-1 Win Over Texas A&M

May 19, 2002

All-Tournament Team

NORMAN, Okla. - The 13th-ranked Oklahoma softball team advanced to their third straight Women's College World Series with an 8-1 victory over No. 23 Texas A&M Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Region 5 Softball Tournament at the OU Softball Complex. A day after top-seeded Texas was eliminated from the tournament, the second-seeded Sooners and the third-seeded Aggies matched up for the second time in the regional as A&M was once again unable to stop OU's offensive attack as they recorded the eight runs on 13 hits. Oklahoma senior hurler Jennifer Stewart (22-6) captured tournament MVP honors following the game after starting and pitching the Sooners to their fourth win of the tournament. OU also placed junior third baseman Leah Gulla, freshman catcher Heather Scaglione, junior shortstop Kelli Braitsch and senior leftfielder Christy Ring, who led the tournament in hitting with a .733 average, on the all-tournament team.

The Sooners have locked up the fifth seed in the upcoming Women's College World Series and will play fourth seeded California at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. The game will be televised live by ESPN. All games will either be televised live by ESPN or ESPN2. The series starts on Thursday and ends with the championship game on Monday, May 27, at the A.S.A./Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

The Sooners struck for three early runs in the first frame and never looked back. Oklahoma's contagious hitting during the tournament continued into today's game as three of the first four batters reached on base hits. Freshman first baseman Christina Enea's (1-for-4) single drove in Ring (3-for-4), who had led off the inning with the Sooners' first hit, for the initial run of the game. A single by Gulla (1-for-4) and a walk by Scaglione (2-for-3) loaded the bases for junior centerfielder Erin Evans (0-for-2). Evans and freshman designated player Jessica Leslie (0-for-1) patiently worked A&M starting pitcher Jessica Slataper (20-9) for two more walks to push two more runs across the plate and give the Sooners a 3-0 lead.

Texas A&M came back in the top of the second inning and answered with a run on three hits of their own. Designated player/relief pitcher Lindsay Wilhelmson (1-for-2) helped her own cause by singling home pinch runner Jana James from third base to close the gap to 3-1. Scaglione made what turned out to be a crucial defensive stop on the play before as she threw out pinch runner Taryn Williams at second base as Wilhelmson's single might have been able to produce two runs if Williams had safely reached second.

With the Aggies again threatening with runners on first and second in the third inning and only one out, Gulla made a heads up defensive play as she snagged a bouncer to third base, alertly stepped on the bag and threw on to first to get the inning ending double play.

The Sooners regained their three run advantage in the third inning when OU took advantage of two A&M errors. Junior rightfielder Jennifer Stump (2-for-4) reached base to leadoff the inning on an error by the Aggies shortstop. A stolen base and a single by Scaglione put Stump at third base with one out. Stump then scored on a throwing error by A&M catcher Selena Collins (0-for-3) to give OU a 4-1 lead.

Oklahoma opened up the lead in the fifth inning as the Sooners sent all nine batters to the plate for the second time in the game and game away with three runs on six hits. Pinch hitters Katie Overton (0-for-1) and Kami Keiter (1-for-1) also got in on the scoring act for the Sooners as Overton drove in the first run of the frame on a groundout to the shortstop to drive in Stump and Keiter drove in Scaglione with a single. Three base hits later, Keiter crossed home plate on a RBI-single by Braitsch (2-for-3).

Stump then put the finishing touches on the Sooners' 12th straight NCAA Regional Tournament win with a solo homer, her 10th of the year, to give OU the final margin of victory.

Stewart completed her third game of the tournament and 16th of the season as she scattered eight hits and gave up only her second run in 27 innings pitched in the regional.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Advances To WCWS With 8-1 Win Over Texas A&M

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