Softball Caps Regular Season With Dramatic Win Over Tulsa

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma softball team finished the 2004 regular season with a dramatic 4-3 win over Tulsa on Tuesday night at the OU Softball Complex.

The win gives the Sooners momentum as they enter the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday morning. OU heads to the postseason with a 38-17-1 record while Tulsa drops to 44-18 on the season.

The Sooners put a two-spot on the board in the third inning. After leading off with singles, April Valdez and Norrelle Dickson were sacrificed over by Kristin Vesely. Golden Hurricane head coach James Pinkerton chose to intentionally walk Heather Scaglione with first base open. Junior Jessica Leslie made TU pay as she laced a double to right field and plated two OU runs.

Box Score

TU's strategy against Scaglione didn't work in the fifth inning either. Hurricane reliever Jule Fellen worked a 1-2 count on the Sooner signal caller. Then she left a rise ball up in the zone and Scaglione crushed it over the wall in right field. The blast was her 16th of the season.

The walk to Scaglione was her 39th of the season, which is the second-best single-season mark in OU history. Her 16th home run moves her into a tie with Ashlie Barrett for the fourth-best single-season total. The OU record for home runs in a season is 20 held by Lisa Carey (2000) and Lynnette Velasquez (1999. Scaglione is also one shy of No. 5 Jennifer Stump with 30 career home runs.

Tulsa wasted a couple of golden opportunities to score on the Sooners in the first four innings. In the first inning
Stacey Walkingstick appeared to score on an error by Sooner shortstop Katie Overton. Walkinstick easily beat the throw to home but failed to slide and did not step on the plate. Scaglione chased her down and tagged her for the final out of the first frame.

In the fourth inning Stephanie Sliepen tried to score from third on a ground out to second baseman Stacia Aleman. Aleman gunned it home where Heather Scaglione stole walled the sliding Sliepen.

Tulsa caught a break in the fifth inning when Kami Keiter plunked Kelly Miller to load the bases. Then she walked Sliepen to give TU its' first run.

In the sixth inning Tulsa nearly ran itself out of a rally. After a leadoff walk to Lindsay Galloway, Ami Day laced a double to right field. Both runners ended up on third base and the Sooners had an easy out, instead of two TU runners in scoring position. Day would eventually score from third and cut the Sooners lead to 3-2.

Tulsa's leadoff runner got on in each of the final five frames and it paid off in the seventh inning. A leadoff double by Katie Torres led to a game-tying sacrifice fly by Julie Shafer. After six and a half innings, the game was tied 3-3.

The Sooners responded in the seventh inning and pulled out the dramatic win. Freshman Norrelle Dickson took one for the team and moved into scoring position on a single by Kristin Vesely. An intentional base on balls to Leslie loaded the bases for pinch-hitter Christina Enea. Enea, who has been sidelined for three games with a sprained ankle, grounded into a fielder's choice at third. Dickson slid into home knocking TU's catcher off her feet and springing the ball loose to seal the 4-3 win.

The win is the 650th of Gasso's head coaching career, which also included a stay at Long Beach City College. Gasso has a career record of 650-215-1 (.750)

The No. 21 Oklahoma softball team will open the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4-seed Baylor at 10 a.m. on Thursday at the Don E. Porter ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

2004 Big 12 Softball Tournament Central

Play begins in the conference tourney on Wednesday with the survivor's of the elimination games facing the top two seeds, Nebraska (1) and Texas A&M (2).