WCWS Game Notes: Cal vs. Oklahoma

WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

GAME NOTES
No. 21 Oklahoma (45-20-1)
vs.
No. 2 Cal (51-11)

* Cal leads the all-time series with Oklahoma 9-3, which includes a 5-2 elimination win over the Sooners in the 2003 WCWS. The last time OU defeated Cal was in their 2000 WCWS opener by a score of 2-1.

* OU head coach Patty Gasso will look to improve on her 61-30 (.670) postseason record when the Bears and Sooners square off at 6 p.m. on Friday night.

* OU has an all-time record of 1-1 in the second game of winner's bracket play at the WCWS. OU's win came in 2000 over Southern Mississippi. After defeating Michigan 2-0 in its opener in 2001, OU fell to Arizona 5-4.

2004 WCWS Central | Live Audio | Live Stats

* The OU program has taken its lumps against Pac 10 opponents, which is evidenced by it all-time record of 35-54 against the conference. OU, which has won two straight (Arizona, Washington) against the conference, has not won back-to-back games against the Pac 10's annual elite (Arizona, UCLA, Cal, Washington) since the 2000 season when they knocked off UCLA, Cal and Arizona in route to its first national championship.

* Junior catcher Heather Scaglione sat at 40 walks for eight games this postseason. The eight game drought without a free pass was the longest of the season for her. Her 41st walk of the year came in the sixth inning against Washington and ties her for OU single-season record. She is tied with Casey Dickson who had the same number of free passes in 1997.

* In its last five victories OU has defeated pitchers who came into the games with a combined record of 151-34 for a winning percentage of .816. The pitchers OU has defeated: USA Softball Player of the Year finalist Alicia Hollowell of Arizona, First Team All-American Brooke Mitchell of Louisiana Lafayette, Ashley Boek of Washington, Rachel Villescas of Temple and Eileen Canney of Northwestern. OU faces another dominant pitcher on Friday night in Second Team All-American Kristina Thorson who has a 28-3 record and 0.81 ERA during her sophomore season.

* The Sooners had some success against likely-Cal starting pitcher Kristina Thorson. The Sooners had two hits and scored one run before chasing Thorson, who only recorded one first-inning out in last year's WCWS meeting. Cal reliever and current No. 2 Kelly Anderson allowed the same number of hits and runs (two and one) to the Sooner bats over the final 6.2 innings.

* Christina Enea continues to lead OU's hot hitting offense in the 2004 postseason. Enea is hitting .600 (12-for-20) since the start of regionals with six RBI and a .636 on-base percentage. As team OU is hitting .352 with a .415 on-base percentage. Of OU's nine regular hitters only April Valdez (.250) and Heather Scaglione (.273) are not hitting above .300 since the start of NCAA postseason play.

* The Sooners leading run producers since the start of regionals has been a surprising duo. Kami Keiter, who is hitting .197 on the season, and No. 7 hitter Mariee Mena have a team-best eight RBI each. Valdez and Scaglione who are at the bottom of the heap in terms of batting average have four and three RBI, respectively.

* Junior Kami Keiter tossed 92 percent of OU's postseason innings in 2003. She is ahead of that pace as the Sooners' main option in 2004. She has thrown 93 percent (66.2 of 71.2 innings) of the postseason innings this season.

* Keiter has driven in eight runs, scored two runs and was responsible for another via a pinch runner. Those 11 scores account for 27 percent of OU's offensive output since the start of regionals.

* OU has outscored opponents 41-16 since the start of regionals. That includes a 22-4 advantage in the first four innings of their last three wins (Arizona, Lafayette and Washington).

* Christina Enea is in the midst of a seven game hitting streak, which is a season-high.

* Norrelle Dickson's error in the fourth inning of the game against Washington was her first since Coach Gasso shifted her to third base 18 games ago. She has a .982 fielding percentage with 15 putouts and 41 assists since the change. Dickson started the first 48 games of the season at shortstop.

* Washington had never lost a WCWS opener until Thursday when OU knocked off Ashley Boek and the Huskies 6-2.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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