NFCA Leadoff Classic Preview

NORMAN, Okla. -- For the ninth consecutive year the No. 13 Oklahoma softball team (11-4) will enter the NFCA Leadoff Classic hosted at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, Ga. Twenty-four of the nation's top collegiate teams will convene in Columbus from Feb. 25-27. The field is highlighted by 2004 WCWS participants Florida State, LSU, Michigan and OU. Twenty of the squads qualified for regional play in 2004.

OU begins pool play against Michigan State on Friday at 4 p.m. (CST). The Sooners will turn around and immediately play Lehigh at 6:30 p.m. After the late contest with Lehigh, OU will have to get up early to face No. 15 Florida State at 11, Saturday morning. Championship play follows the round-robin pool portion of the tournament. The top team from each pool advances to the Gold Championship, along with the top-two at large teams.

In 2004, OU won the Gold Championship Consolation by avenging an earlier loss to Central Michigan. OU has a 29-17 record in nine Leadoff Classic appearances with its best result coming in 2004.

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Scouting Michigan State
After winning its season opener over No. 16 Florida, Michigan State lost three straight games to Southern Illinois, Cal and UNLV. The 1-3 Spartans are led offensively by Elizabeth Peterson who is hitting .375 with one home run and three RBI. As a team, MSU is hitting .202. The staff is being carried by Rachel Turney who is 1-2 with a 2.57 ERA. As a group, the pitching staff has a combined ERA of 6.53. OU is 2-3 all time against MSU.

Scouting Lehigh
Lehigh will open the season at the Leadoff Classic. After going 40-17-2 in 2004, the Mountain Hawks were tabbed to repeat as Patriot League Champions by the conference's coaches. Junior Mary Wieder is the top returning player for Lehigh. Wieder hit .359 with two home runs and 34 RBI in 2004. Lehigh only hit five home runs in 2004. The Hawks weren't too deadly on the base paths either, where they stole 32 bases on 43 attempts. Lehigh was able to average 3.8 runs per game and still win 47 in 2004 because of a dominant staff that tallied a 1.38 ERA. The headlining returner is junior Kate Arico, who went 13-2 with a 1.38 ERA last season. OU defeated Lehigh 9-2 in the 2001 Norman Regionals, which is the only time the programs have met.

Scouting No. 21 Florida State
2004 WCWS participant Florida State is off to a 7-5 start, which includes a pair of home losses to Missouri. Staff ace Casey Hunter is 3-4 with a 1.11 ERA after earning All-America honors in 2004. Freshman hurler TIffany McDonald has impressed with a 4-0 record and 0.59 ERA. FSU's offense is yet to hit high gear. As a team they are hitting .259 with no home runs and 45 runs scored in 12 contests. The leading Seminole hitter is Natasha Jacob with a .361 batting average and four RBI.

The 500 Club
Head coach Patty Gasso won the 500th game of her OU coaching career on Feb. 18 in a 11-1 win over Lipscomb. Her career mark is 504-166-1 (.751). She distanced herself from the previous Sooner coaches a long time ago. In fact, the next closest in career wins is OU administrator Marita Hynes, who went 256-189 from 1977-84.

Her current career record (OU and Long Beach City College) is 666-224-1 (.746).

Four Reliable Arms
Through three 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 has taken it to a new level during the current winning streak. As a group they have a combined ERA of 1.17 and have only allowed nine runs in that last nine wins. Freshman Stacey Braddock (4-2, 0.97) has worked 29 innings and allowed four earned runs. She began her collegiate career by going 12.2 innings before allowing an earned run. Senior Kami Keiter (4-1, 0.70) has worked 23 innings of scoreless ball since the season-opening Clearwater Invitational. Junior Nicole Denes (3-0, 1.52) and freshman Jadyn Smith (0-1, 2.80 ERA) have been overshadowed but solid.

Horne Returns To Softball Program
Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso and the OU compliance office announced Feb. 18 that Alison Horne had passed a pair of NCAA wavers and was cleared to begin collegiate competition for the softball team.

Horne originally sided a National Letter of Intent in the fall of 2002 and joined the program at the beginning of the 2003-04 school year. She was stricken with a breathing disorder that kept her from competing. Horne chose to return home to her native Fayetteville, Ga., and seek medical attention while residing with her parents.

She enrolled at the University of Georgia in the spring of 2004 before eventually returning to Norman during the summer of 2004 with her breathing ailments diagnosed. Horne has a vocal-cord disfunction and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, both of which she treats with medication.

Before Horne could play for Oklahoma, NCAA clearance was required due to her enrollment in Georgia.

“We all thought that her career was done because we couldn't figure out her breathing ailment,” said Gasso. “She returned to Norman on her own accord because she really loved our program. She had the courage to come back and ask me for a second chance with the team. She felt like we could make it work. That was a very big step in my eyes. Since that time we have done everything we could do to make it happen.”

“She will have an impact offensively for us. Defensively, she is a little rusty but she'll work her way into the lineup because she has a big stick.”

Streaks
Notable streaks entering the 2005 NFCA Leadoff Classic:
131 - Consecutive weeks since the inception of the NFCA Poll that OU has been ranked in the top-25.
132 - Consecutive games started by Kristin Vesely.
91 - Consecutive games without committing an error by Jessica Leslie.
82 - Consecutive games started by Norrelle Dickson.
23 - Length of Kami Keiter's current scoreless innings streak.
14 - Consecutive season openers won by the OU softball team, including 11 straight under Patty Gasso.
12.1 - Innings Stacy Braddock worked without allowing an earned to start her career.
11 - Consecutive trips to the NCAA postseason.
11 - Consecutive seasons of 40 or more wins, 10 under Gasso.
11 - Current hitting streak for Christina Enea, which began Feb. 6 vs. DePaul.
9 - Consecutive games OU has hit a double.
8 - Consecutive games that OU has scored at least five runs, which is a school record.
8 - Consecutive games OU has hit a home run.
8 - Current hitting streak for Kristin Vesely, which is a career best and began on Feb. 12 vs. Sam Houston State.
6 - Current hitting streak for Norrelle Dickson, which began on Feb. 12 against Houston.
6 - Current hitting streak for Jessica Leslie, which began on Feb. 18 vs. Lipscomb.
6 - Consecutive games in which OU has not committed an error.
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.

Offense, Pitching, Defense... Lets Roll
OU is in the midst of a nine-game winning streak and an all-around effort has been the catalyst.
Below are the details:

- OU has outscored its opponents 74-9 during the streak.
- The offense is hitting .388 with 13 home runs and 67 RBI.
- Eight regulars are hitting about .300 with four of those topping .400.
- Kristin Vesely is in the midst of the best stretch of her career. She is hitting .548 with 17 hits, six extra base hits, 11 RBI, six stolen bases and a .576 on base percentage.
- Jessica Leslie is also on a career run during OU's streak. She is hitting .462 with three HR, and a team-high 12 RBI.
- The pitching staff has a combined ERA of 1.17 and ace Kami Keiter is yet to allow an earned run during the streak.
- OU has scored five or more runs in eight consecutive contests, which is a school record. The previous best was seven, which was set five times. The most recent time was in 2002.
-OU has hit a home run in eight consecutive contests and a double in nine straight.
- OU has stolen a base in nine straight and not committed an error in six straight.
- OU needs one win for 10 straight, which would be the 17th streak of 10 or more games in program history. Twelve of the 16 aforementioned streaks have come under coach Gasso.

Locked In
OU junior center fielder Kristin Vesely has that look of a player locked into an elusive hitting zone. The numbers substantiate the look. Vesely leads OU with a .438 batting average, 14 runs, 21 hits and five doubles. She is second on the team in RBI despite hitting in the leadoff and No. 2 spots all season.

Kicking It Up A Notch
Jessica Leslie got off to a quick start in 2004. She has followed the same recipe in 2005, but kicked it up a few notches. Leslie, a preseason All-America candidate, is hitting .395 with eight extra base hits, a team-high three home runs and 13 RBI. The powerful righty has struck out just three times while hitting in the five spot all season. Her work in the field sets her apart from everyone else on the team. She is currently in the midst of a 91-game streak without committing an error. The streak stretches back to her sophomore campaign.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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