Softball Targets Gasso's 500th Win

NORMAN, Okla. -- Mother nature sided with Oklahoma softball fans last weekend in Houston, when the Sooners final contest was cancelled due to rain. OU head coach Patty Gasso needs one more win to claim the 500th victory of her Sooner career.

Now, local fans can be on hand as the No. 13/14 Sooners go after the milestone in their home opener against Lipscomb on Friday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m.

The contest is part of the OU/Nike Classic, in which the Sooners will play five weekend contests. The Friday game against Lipscomb will be followed by a 3:15 p.m. meeting with Creighton. On Saturday, OU plays Creighton for a second time at 2:30 p.m. OU closes Classic action on Sunday by playing Lipscomb at 12:15 p.m. and North Texas at 4:45 p.m.

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The 500 Club
This weekend's OU/Nike Classic is setting up to be one of the biggest softball weekends of the year. Head coach Patty Gasso's OU career record is 499-166-1 (.749), which leaves her one shy of her 500th victory. She distanced herself from the previous Sooner coaches a long time ago. In fact, the next closest in career wins is OU administratior Marita Hynes, who went 256-189 from 1977-84.

Gasso claimed the 650th victory of her head coaching career (Long Beach City College and OU) with a defeat of No. 25 Tulsa on May 11, 2004. Her current career record is 661-224-1 (.746). Gasso picked up the 450th win of her Sooner career when OU knocked off Illinois 7-0 in the season opener at the 2004 LSU Tiger Classic.

Scouting Lipscomb
The Lipscomb Bisons began their season 4-3 extra innings defeat of Austin Peay. Lipscomb was picked to finish seventh (coaches) and 10th (media) in the Atlantic Sun Conference preseason polls. The Bison return nine letterwinners and five starters from a team that went 18-34 in 2004. As a team they hit .209 last season while the pitching staff record a 2.29 ERA. Junior Sara Meek returns as the ace after going 9-18 with a 1.87 ERA in her sophomore campaign. This weekend will mark the first meeting between OU and Lipscomb.

Scouting Creighton
Creighton will open their season as OU's second opponent of the Friday doubleheader. The Bluejays were picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference behind Southern Illinois. Three Creighton players were named to the preseason all-conference team. Headlining that trio is Melanie Nielsen, a 2004 Easton All-American, who is also the returning MVC Pitcher of the Year. The two-time MVC Tournament MVP set single-season CU records in strikeouts (334), wins (28), starts (35) and complete games (32) as a junior last year. The Bluejays return 14 letterwinners and eight starters from a team that went 44-17-1 in 2004. OU leads the all-time series with Creighton 13-11 and has won in 12 straight meetings.

Scouting North Texas
North Texas is off to a 1-5 start. The Mean Green went 22-57 in 2004, which was the inaugural season for the program. UNT lost to both ends of doubleheader with OU last season. The Sunday meeting is the first of three between the institutions this season. OU will travel to Denton on March 30, with UNT returning the favor on Senior Night, May 4. The Mean Green is hitting .167 this season and scored its first two runs of the season in a 2-1 win at Texas State on Tuesday night. The pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.59, although Many Hacker, who has thrown the most innings, has been impressive with a 1.40 ERA.

Four Reliable Arms
Through two weekends of competition, the OU pitching staff has already shown why it may be the deepest of the Patty Gasso era. After carrying the team in the opening weekend, the staff took it to another level in Houston. As a group they had a combined ERA of 0.84 and only allowed four (three earned) runs in four tourney games. Freshman Stacey Braddock (2-2, 0.37) has worked 19 innings and allowed one earned run. She began her collegiate career by going 12.2 innings before allowing an earned run. Senior Kami Keiter worked 10 innings of scoreless ball at the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational to extend her scoreless innings steak to 12. Junior Nicole Denes (1-0, 1.91 ERA) and freshman Jadyn Smith (0-1, 1.75 ERA) have been overshadowed but solid.

Three Sooners Taken In NPF Senior Draft
Three Oklahoma softball players were taken in the 2005 National Pro Fastpitch Senior Draft, which took place on Feb. 7 in Denver, Colo. All-American Heather Scaglione was the fist catcher taken with the No. 4 pick by the 2004 NPF Champion NY/NJ Juggernauts. Lefty hurler Kami Keiter was selected in the second round with the 11th overall selection by the Akron Racers, while first baseman Christina Enea went as the first pick of the third round (13th overall) to the Chicago Bandits.

Oklahoma led all programs with three players selected among the 24 draftees. Texas A&M and Cal, who had two draftees each, were the only other program's with multiple selections. Aside from A&M, the only other Big 12 school to have a player drafted was Nebraska (Anne Steffan - 4th round/19th pick).

“These players have earned this honor and their efforts over three-plus seasons have shined a very positive light on this program,” said Gasso, when asked about the significance of leading all programs in draftees. “I think it illustrates that this senior class is one of, if not the best in the country. They are a determined group that has major goals before they begin their professional careers.”

Framing It
A comparison with all the major conferences, puts a frame on OU's accomplishment of reaching five straight Women's College World Series. Only the Pac 10 with 20 appearances by six teams has outdone OU. No other conference can total its WCWS appearances over the last five years and match the Sooners. Below is the list:

Pac 10	OU	SEC	Big 10	Rest of Big 12	ACC	C-USA	Southland
20	5	4	4	2	2	2	2

Streaks
Notable streaks entering the 2005 Houston Hilton Classic:
130 - Consecutive weeks since the inception of the NFCA Poll that OU has been ranked in the top-25.
126 - Consecutive games started by Kristin Vesely.
108 - Consecutive games started by Heather Scaglione.
85 - Consecutive games without committing an error by Jessica Leslie.
77 - Consecutive gam es started by Norrelle Dickson.
14 - Consecutive season openers won by the OU softball team, including 11 straight under Patty Gasso.
11 - Consecutive trips to the NCAA postseason.
11 - Consecutive seasons of 40 or more wins, 10 under Gasso.
12.1 - Innings Stacy Braddock worked without allowing an earned to start her career.
12 - Length of Kami Keiter's current scoreless innings streak.
5 - Consecutive Regional Championships.
5 - Consecutive Women's College World Series appearances.
2 - Consecutive seasons that head coach Patty Gasso has started a freshman at shortstop.

Class Rank
The 2005 senior class (Christina Enea, Heather Scaglione, Kami Keiter and Jessica Leslie) is one of the best in OU history. In fact, based on career accomplishments to date, it ranks second in OU history. The 2001 group (LaKisha Washington, Lisa Carey, Jamie White, Ashli Barrett, Andrea Davis and Mandy Fulton) appeared on the OU career record lists 25 times going into their final season. The 2004 version appears 21 times. The 2001 crew only improved their marks in their final season and currently appears 32 times on the career lists.

The 2005 senior class does hold a couple distinctions over 2001. The quartet is the first in OU history to have three different graduating-players with All-America honors. It also is more well rounded than their counterparts. The 2001 version did not have a pitcher on any lists. The 2005 team has Kami Keiter, who ranks in the top six of all nine career pitching categories.

Comeback of the Year
Oklahoma starting pitcher Nicole Denes was sidelined for the last 30 games of her sophomore season (2004) with a heart arrhythmia (medically termed Superventricular Tachycardia). Denes had an irregular heart beat while OU was at Texas A&M (3/28) and was held out of competition from that point. The condition was diagnosed by OU athletics staff cardiologist Dr. Phil Adamson. Denes was on medication for three months before undergoing successful heart surgery on July 9, 2004. Two weeks later she was cleared for full physical activity and is once again be the No. 2 starter on the OU pitching staff. Denes finished her 2004 campaign with a 16-6 record and 1.82 ERA in 142.1 innings of work.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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