Game Notes: Softball vs. ISU

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 7 Oklahoma softball team (31-6) opens the Big 12 season with a Friday doubleheader against Iowa State (9-13). The Sooners and Cyclones were scheduled to play one game Friday and Saturday, but due to expected inclement weather the games were rescheduled for a twin bill on Friday at 4 p.m.

Admission to the doubleheader is $5 for adults and $3 for children. The first 250 fans in attendance will receive a free OU Easter eggs and OU trucker hats. The games will be webcast on the O-Zone, which is the pay portion of SoonerSports.com.

The Sooners need to rebound from a pair of consecutive losses. OU has won 29 of its last 31 games, but in the last two outings the offense has struggled.

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Despite the two-game slide, the Sooners are still hitting .352 as a team and no hitter has been hotter than junior Kristin Vesely. Vesely improved her batting average to .537. She has already topped her 2004 season totals in hits (66), doubles (15), RBI (24), home runs (1), runs (41) and stolen bases (20). All of the mentioned season marks are career highs except home runs.

Senior Kami Keiter has not been herself over the last two outings (Tulsa, Arizona). Keiter has allowed five first inning runs in those outings and a total of eight combined (seven earned). The two-start slump comes on the heels of OU's ace allowing just three runs in the previous 83 innings. The Arvada, Colo., native is still off to the best start of her career with a 16-3 record.

Senior sluggers Jessica Leslie and Heather Scaglione are cleaning the table that Vesely and leadoff hitter Norrelle Dickson are setting. Leslie, who had a two run home run against TU, is leading the Sooners with 40 RBI. She is hitting .377 and has already outdone 2004 totals in doubles (16), home runs (5) and RBI (40).

Scaglione is her usual self, which means a .400 batting average with five home runs and 34 RBI. She will be hard pressed with the sluggers in this year's lineup to top her 2004 season, but with her average hovering around .400, anything is possible.

Scouting Iowa State
Iowa State has been the least active of the Big 12 teams during the non-conference season. Iowa State has played 22 games this season and lost 13, while the Sooners have won 31 of 36 contests. The Cyclones rank at the bottom of the Big 12 in batting average and ERA. Offensively, Katie Reichling is the only regular hitting above .300. Reichling is at .333 with four RBI and a .467 on-base percentage. Iowa State's offense is yet to be explosive this season. They have hit just four home runs and scored 55 runs (2.5 per game).

The pitching staff is anchored by Reichling as well. She is 4-4 with a 1.87 ERA. The sophomore hurler did not face OU last season, that duty went to Alysson Ransom, who went 1-1 against the Sooners. ISU upset the Sooners last season, marking just the second time they have prevailed over OU since 1997. Ransom defeated the Sooners with a complete game, five hit, one run performance. To the right is a comparison of ISU and OU team stats.

OU leads the all-time series with ISU 47-24, but the squads have split four meetings the last two years.

Tulsa Leftovers
Tulsa and the Donna J. Hardest Sports Complex have not been kind to the OU softball team the last two seasons. OU was upset for the second consecutive season by the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday night by a score of 4-2. Senior Kami Keiter was credited with the loss. She had a three-base error that allowed one run. She also plunked a batter with the bases loaded and gave up a two-run, third inning homer on an 0-2 pitch.

Junior Kristin Vesely tied a career high with a 4-for-4 performance, that rallied her batting average to .537. She was stranded on base in all four at bats. The Sooners only scores came on the first two pitches of the second inning. Heather Scaglione lined the first pitch from starter Maren Genow for a single and Jessica Leslie put the next offering over the left field fence for her fifth home run of the season.

Balancing Act
Balance is a magic word for any coach. The early success of the Sooners this season is largely due to the balance throughout their offensive lineup and pitching staff. Eight regulars in OU head coach Patty Gasso's current lineup are hitting above .300, with junior Kristin Vesely (No. 2 hitter) leading the pack with a .537 batting average. Eight batters - Vesely, Christina Enea, Heather Scaglione, Jessica Leslie, Kami Keiter, Jamie Fox, Nicole Denes and Tayl'r Hollis - have at least 13 RBI, with Leslie heading the group at 40. The Sooners are one of two teams (Tennessee) in the top 25 (ESPN.com, 3/22) that can claim eight batters with 10 or more RBI.

In the circle OU's pitching staff has an above average ERA of 1.3. Three pitchers - Kami Keiter (16-3), Nicole Denes (7-0), Stacy Braddock (6-2) - have at least six wins. Only two other teams (Baylor and Alabama) in the top-25 can claim a staff with that much well-rounded success.

The Sooners are the only team in the top-25 that has eight batters with 10 or more RBI and three pitchers with six or more wins (as of 3/9).

Four Reliable Arms
On the cusp of the Big 12 season, 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 OU's recent hot steak. As a group they have a combined ERA of 1.30. Senior Kami Keiter (16-3, 0.86) worked 79 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run during OU's winning streak. Freshman Stacey Braddock (6-2, 1.12) has worked 45.2 innings and allowed six earned runs. Junior Nicole Denes (7-0, 2.20) has struck out 75 batters in 60.1 innings of work. Even No. 4 starter Jadyn Smith (2-1, 1.12 ERA) has impressed and is becoming a very reliable relief pitcher.

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, an All-America candidate, is hitting .377 with 16 doubles, five home runs and 40 RBI. The powerful righty has struck out just nine times (12.7 AB per K) while hitting in the five spot for the majority of the season. Recently, she filled Christina Enea's No. 3 spot and hit .500 with 14 RBI to claim national and Big 12 Player of the Week honors. Her work in the field sets her apart from everyone else on the team. She is currently in the midst of a 113-game streak without committing an error. The streak stretches back to her sophomore campaign.

Streaks
Notable streaks entering the Big 12 Opener:
154 - Consecutive games started by Kristin Vesely.
134 - Consecutive weeks since the inception of the NFCA Poll that OU has been ranked in the top-25.
113 - Consecutive games without committing an error by Jessica Leslie.
79 - Length of Kami Keiter's recent streak of innings without allowing an earned run.
29 - School record winning streak set this season from Feb. 11 to March 19.
23 - Game hitting streak by Kristin Vesely, which set the OU record before being broken against UTEP on March 14.
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 run to start her career.
11 - Consecutive trips to the NCAA postseason.
11 - Consecutive seasons of 40 or more wins, 10 under Gasso.
10 - Consecutive games that OU scored five or more runs. The record streak was snapped vs. FSU (2/26).
12 - Career high hitting streak for Norrelle Dickson, that was snapped against UNLV (3/6). It is just the second of at least 12 games since 2001. Vesely's record streak is the other.
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.

Locked In
OU junior center fielder Kristin Vesely is locked into a hitting zone that no other player in OU history has touched. She has hit safely in 31 of 37 games this season, including 29 of the last 30, and is hitting . She also set the OU record with 23-game hitting streak during which time she hit .638 and improved her season average to .556. During the streak Vesely accumulated 32 runs, 51 hits, 11 doubles, two triples, one home run, 23 RBI, 69 total bases, .863 slugging percentage, .659 on-base percentage and 15 stolen bases. Perhaps the most impressive part of the streak was the varied ways she assaulted opposing pitchers. To the right is a list of her work at the plate during the record streak:

Long Arm
She is just a freshman, but shortstop Savannah Long may have the strongest arm on the Oklahoma team. The rocket-armed rookie is the product of tremendous genes. Her uncles, Cale and Mike Gundy, are two of the most famous collegiate football quarterbacks in Oklahoma state history. Cale, who currently serves as OU's running back coach, was the Sooners QB from 1990-93 and ended his career with nearly every OU passing record. Mike, who is currently the head coach of Oklahoma State, was the Cowboy signal caller from 1986-89 and is the all-time leading passer in OSU history. Long's father, Jim, was a pitcher in the Anaheim Angels organization after a collegiate career at Duke.

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