WCWS Game Notes - Stanford vs. OU - University of Oklahoma

WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

GAME NOTES
No. 21 Oklahoma (45-21-1)

vs.

No. 8 Stanford (48-18)

* Saturday's meeting between Oklahoma and Stanford is just the second ever meeting between the two programs. OU won the only meeting in 2000 with a 8-0 drubbing in the NFCA Leadoff Classic.

* Only two teams have come out of the loser's bracket to win the WCWS. Last season UCLA dropped its first game of the WCWS and came back to win the title. Texas A&M also accomplished the feat in 1983 after dropping their opener.

* OU head coach Patty Gasso will look to improve on her 61-31 (.663) postseason record when the Sooners and Cardinal square off at 5:30 p.m. Saturday night.

2004 WCWS Central | Live Audio | Live Stats

* The only time OU has won its third game in the Women's College World was during its 2000 National Championship run. Last year OU fell to Cal by a score of 5-2. In 2001 OU fell to LSU in 15 innings by a score of 2-1. OU is 7-7 in five WCWS appearances.

* The OU program has taken its lumps against Pac 10 opponents, which is evidenced by its all-time record of 35-55 against the conference. OU is 2-3 against the Pac 10 this season, including Friday night's loss to Cal.

* The Sooners and Cardinal players have a couple connections. OU freshman Norrelle Dickson played on the Junior Olympic team with Laura Lappin during competition in Hermosillo, Mexico in 2003. Dickson also played with Cardinal leadoff hitter Jackie Rinehart on the USA Softball National Elite Team in Nanjing, China last fall. Oklahoma City natives Stacia Aleman (Mustang High School) and Jade Prather (Putnam City North) played against Stanford freshman Shoney Hixson (Westmoore) in high school and travel ball.

* Junior catcher Heather Scaglione is tied with Casey Dickson (1997) for the OU single season walk record with 41.

* Christina Enea continues to lead OU's hot hitting offense in the 2004 postseason. Enea is hitting .583 (14-for-24) since the start of regionals with six RBI and a .625 on-base percentage. As team OU is hitting .327 with a .394 on-base percentage. Enea is also hitting .625 against WCWS competition this season. She is a career .365 hitter during postseason play.

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

* The Sooners leading run producers since the start of regionals has been a surprising duo. Kami Keiter, who is hitting .203 on the season, and No. 7 hitter Mariee Mena have a team-best eight RBI each.

* 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 94 percent (74 of 79 innings) of the postseason innings this season. In the last two seasons, Keiter has thrown 156.2 innings during postseason play.

* Keiter has driven in eight runs, scored two runs and was responsible for another via a pinch runner. Those 11 scores account for 26 percent of OU's offensive output since the start of regionals.

* OU has outscored opponents 42-18 since the start of regionals. That includes a 22-5 advantage in the first four innings of their last three wins (Arizona, Lafayette and Washington).

* Norrelle Dickson had been flawless at third base in her first 17 games at the position. She has been charged with one error in each of OU's last two games. She has 18 errors on the season but 16 of those came while she was playing the first 48 games of the year at shortstop.

* Cal starter Kristina Thorson plunked more Sooners on Saturday than she had during the entire season leading up to the WCWS contest. Thorson came in with three hit batters and left the game with seven. For OU is was the second time in the last four games that they have had a season-high four hit batters. First Team All-American Brooke Mitchell hit four Sooners in the first game of the Region 1 Championships on May 23. OU has been hit 10 times in the last six games and nine times in the last four contests.

* OU has made conscience effort to crowd the plate since the start of regionals, which is directly related to the high number of hit batters lately. OU players have only been hit 21 times this year, with 10 of those coming since the start of regionals.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

WCWS Game Notes - Stanford vs. OU

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