Rivals Come Calling As Softball Faces Crucial Stretch

The No. 13 Oklahoma softball team faces a crucial seven day stretch that begins with longtime rival Texas (April 3 & 4) at the OU Softball Complex this weekend and ends with a home doubleheader against Missouri (April 10) next weekend. Bunched in between the conference sets are regional showdowns at Tulsa (April 5) and Oklahoma State (April 8).

The Red River rivalry hits Marita Hynes Field Saturday at 2 p.m., with the back end of the two-game set beginning Sunday at 1 p.m. The Sooners visit Tulsa for a 7 p.m., Monday game under the lights at the Hardesty Sports Complex. OU will head north again to renew the Bedlam Series, presented by Bank of Oklahoma and your Oklahoma Ford Dealers, from Cowgirl Stadium on Thursday night at 7. The busy week concludes with a Saturday, April 10, doubleheader against Missouri. First pitch for the conference twin bill is set for Noon.

Texas (18-12), like OU, comes into the rivalry showdown slumping. The Longhorns lost both ends of its Big 12 home opener to Missouri last weekend. The Longhorns rebounded with a midweek doubleheader sweep over Oklahoma Christian. Like all Red River meetings, the softball rivalry is fierce despite its short eight year history. Texas has won four straight in the series (all in 2003) that is tied at 13-13. The Longhorns are without the services of 2003 USA Softball Player of the Year Cat Osterman (Olympic Team) and have been without current ace Amy Bradford for six weeks due to an undisclosed knee injury. Christina Gwyn (5-7, 3.66) and Lizi Sowers (4-3, 2.79) have anchored the staff in the absence of the aforementioned duo. Leading UT and the Big 12 in batting average is Amber Hall who is hitting at a .432 clip.

The OU and Tulsa all-time series is swung dramatically in the Sooners favor, who have won 24 of 25 meetings, but Tulsa got the last laugh with an upset on OU's Senior Night last year. The Golden Hurricane come in with an impressive 28-12 record, which includes wins over Texas Tech (twice) and Oklahoma State (twice). TU's squad is anchored by its pitching staff that has combined ERA of 1.23. The ace of the staff is Maren Genow (12-3, 1.35), although three other Hurricane hurlers have lower ERA. The Hurricanes are hitting .289 as a team with Sophomore Katie Torres (.298, 8 HR, 25 RBI) as the main catalyst.

Bedlam hits the diamond for the first time in 2004 with the Thursday meeting in Stillwater. OU took two of three meetings from Oklahoma State in 2003, but both squads have changed dramatically since then. Oklahoma State (20-18, 0-2) has struggled to replace 2003 Big 12 Player of the Year Lauren Bay. Bay led OSU offensively and in the circle last season. In her absence the Pokes are hitting just .239 as team, while there staff has a 2.56 ERA. Freshman slapper Shanel Scott (.379, 18 SB) is the top OSU hitter, while Jessica Hoppock (15-12, 2.34) leads the rotation. Oklahoma State has conference series at Missouri before facing the Sooners.

OU ends the busy week with a pre-Easter twin bill against Missouri. Missouri jumped out to a 2-0 conference start with a sweep at Texas last weekend. The Tigers (15-19) struggled during the non-conference season but appear to be hitting their stride behind ace Erin Kalka (11-11, 1.74). Mizzou's struggles can be directly correlated to their offensive problems. As a team the Tigers are hitting .219 and do not have a batter currently hitting above .300.

The next four OU games will be broadcast statewide on KREF (1400 AM) with Brian Brinkley on play-by-play.

Eleven of OU's final 16 regular season games will be broadcast on the O-Zone, which includes both road games at Nebraska. The O-Zone broadcasts for the next four games will incorporate live video, radio and stats, giving the viewer a complete ballpark experience through their personal computer. The matchups with Missouri, at Tulsa and at Iowa State are not currently scheduled to be broadcast. As usual live stats can be accessed through SoonerSports.com at no charge to the user. Links to the all the services are provided below.

Free OU softball posters will be given out to the first 300 fans in attendance at Saturday's game against Texas. There will also be a free post-game autograph session. Finally, as part of the "Can Texas" promotion, any fan that brings in a canned food item will receive a ticket redeemable for discounted admission at the Texas Tech game (April 21)

UPCOMING
Saturday, April 3
Texas at Oklahoma - 2 p.m.

Sunday, April 4
Texas at Oklahoma - 1 p.m.

Monday, April 5
Oklahoma at Tulsa - 7 p.m.

Thursday, April 8
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State - 7 p.m.

Saturday, April 10
Missouri at Oklahoma - Noon

VITAL STATS
Record - 26-13-1
Streaks - Lost five
USA Today/NFCA Ranking - No. 13
ESPN.com/USA Softball Ranking - No. 14
Big 12 Record - 0-4
Home Record - 12-3-1
Road Record - 4-5
Neutral Site Record - 10-4-1

OU Weekly Release | O-Zone Broadcast | Live Stats

RECENT HISTORY
The start to Big 12 play was a disaster for the Sooners who went winless during their opening weekend in Texas. Oklahoma's 0-4 start is the worst of the Patty Gasso era and the worst conference start since 1993, when the Sooners began 0-6 in Big Eight play. OU has also lost five straight - another first under Gasso - which is the longest losing streak since the aforementioned start to Big Eight play in 1993.

Texas A&M took advantage of a seventh inning error by shortstop Norrelle Dickson to load the bases against OU ace Kami Keiter in the seventh inning of the Big 12 opener for both teams (3/27). The miscue cost the Sooners as a single by Jana James gave A&M the dramatic 1-0 victory.

OU came out blazing in the second game of the weekend set. Home runs by Heather Scaglione (10) and Jamie Fox (6) put OU ahead 3-0 early. The Aggies responded with three round trippers of their own to take a 5-3 advantage and chase Keiter. The All-American worked 2.2 innings and gave up five earned runs, which is easily the worst outing of her career. OU scored one run and threatened a couple times before falling 5-4. It marked the first time in school history that OU has started Big 12 play 0-2.

Baylor late inning heroics did in the Sooners in a 3-1, 10 inning loss to the Bears on Monday, March 29. Over a span of 11 days, Keiter took the loss in four games that were decided in the opponents final at bat. Three of those were due to defensive lapses on OU's part. April Valdez, who has just four errors on the season, booted a grounder in the 3-4 hole that allowed Baylor to tie the game at 1-1 in the seventh inning of first game of the doubleheader. A walk-off two-run home run by Kelly Osburn clinched it for Baylor in the 10th inning. Offensively, the lone Sooner bright spots were Scaglione (3-for-3) who hit her 11th home run and Kristin Vesely (2-for-4).

The Sooners couldn't salvage a win in the night cap of the twin bill against Baylor. OU's offense could only muster one run as the Bears took the sweep with a 4-1 win. The lone Sooner run was courtesy of April Valdez (1-for-3, 1 RBI). Valdez (2-1) took the loss after allowing all four Baylor runs in her first career Big 12 start.

BEDLAM UPDATE
The first Bedlam softball game will have an impact on more than just the Big 12 standings. The Bedlam series, presented by Bank of Oklahoma and your Oklahoma Ford Dealers, is tied up at 5-5. The winner of the April 8 game will its University a one point lead. CLICK HERE to view the complete Bedlam Series standings.

MARCHING FORWARD
Spring is here and more importantly for OU, the month of March is over. OU went 10-9 during the month, its worst 19 game stretch under head coach Patty Gasso and its worst month under the OU all-time wins leader. The only other time that OU has lost more games in a single month was in March, 1995, when OU went 15-10. The rough month in 1995 was during Gasso's first year at the helm of the program.

STOPPING CRIME
In 40 games this season only 15 runners have attempted to steal a base against junior catcher Heather Scaglione and she's gunned down nine of them (60 percent). Last year 38 runners tried to the steal on the Sooner signal caller and she tossed out 14 (38 percent). Scaglione had a streak of 34 straight games without allowing a stolen base snapped against Arizona (3/19). Coach Gasso has taken to calling her the best catcher in the country and it's clear that Scaglione's reputation is preceding her.

PROMOTING THEFT
Baseball statisticians say individuals need to successfully steal 80 percent of the time to help their team. How about if your team completes the theft at an 85 percent rate? The Sooners have swiped 68 bases on 80 attempts (85 percent) this season. Twelve Sooners have recorded a stolen base with Norrelle Dickson at the top of the pack with 19.

The Sooners work on the base paths is an added dimension from last season. In 2003 OU stole 56 bases on 88 attempts (64 percent). A safe estimate is that OU will play 21 more games, including the Big 12 Tournament, for a regular season total of 61. At their current rate OU is projected to steal 104 bases, which is eight shy of the school record of 112.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY
Junior Kami Keiter has lost four games in the final at bat this season, which has a lot to do with her 4-6 record. It marks the first time in her All-American career that the lefty's record has dipped below .500. The closest she came to the mark before this season was in 2002, when she was 5-4 before finishing with a 13-7 mark.

Like Keiter, the Sooners poor start to the Big 12 leaves them in uncharted territory among the conference ranks. OU is last place for the first time in Big 12 history. Prior to this season, OU's worst four game start to the Big 12 season was 2-2 in 2001. OU has not been in last place in conference - Big 12 or Big Eight - since starting 0-6 in during Big Eight play in 1993.

RARE DISPLAY OF POWER
Remarkably Norrelle Dickson's first 33 hits of the season were all singles. Dickson broke out of her single routine with an extremely rare sight, an inside the park home run to lead off the back end of a doubleheader against New Mexico (3/12). Of her 54 hits this season, Dickson has just two extra base hits, the other being a double.

OF NOTE.....
OU was 8-1 in Big 12 openers under coach Gasso before dropping the opener at Texas A&M (3/27) this season ... Jessica Leslie (left field) is the only remaining regular who has not committed an error this season ... On March 20, April Valdez's batting average dropped below .300 for the first time this season. She is currently hitting .285 ... Norrelle Dickson has recorded multiple hits in 18 games this year, while Heather Scaglione has done it 13 times ... OU's batting average has dropped 29 points since the start of the Kia Klassic (.326 to .297) ... OU's offense has hit a wall, scoring only nine runs over the last eight games ... OU is 3-8 against ranked team's this season and 2-3 against teams currently in the top-10 ... Dickson, No. 5 in the Big 12 in batting average at .403, leads all freshman in batting average (.403), stolen bases (19) and on base percentage (.471) ... Heather Scaglione moved into a tie for 10th place on the OU single season list for home runs with 11 ... OU is hitting just .196 (10-for-51) with the base loaded this season, although they are hitting a robust .326 with runners on base ... Leadoff hitters are getting on at a .342 clip with Christina Enea (.464), April Valdez (.476) and Norrelle Dickson (.435) all hitting well above .400 when they start innings ... With runners at third base and less than two outs, OU is hitting .472 as a team, although with two outs OU is hitting just .297.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Rivals Come Calling As Softball Faces Crucial Stretch

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