Softball Begins Six-Game Home Stand

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 9 Oklahoma softball team (21-4) and the nation's second longest winning streak return to Norman for a six-game home stand this week. The Sooners will put their 19-game winning streak on the line against Valparaiso (0-4) in a doubleheader that is set for Thursday at 4 p.m., at the OU Softball Complex.

On Saturday and Sunday (March 12-13) the Sooners will host the eighth annual OU/Worth Invitational. UTEP (9-12) and Nicholls State (4-9) join OU in the 2005 field. On Saturday OU will play Nicholls State at Noon and UTEP immediately after. The order of opponents is exactly the same for Sunday, but in this case the tourney doubleheader will begin at 1:15 p.m.

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Admission to all OU softball games is $5 for adults and $3 for children. The cost of admission is the same, one-time, cost during tournament play. The O-Zone will broadcast Sunday's games live on SoonerSports.com, while live stats will be available for all of this week's contests, including games that OU is not participating in.

Scouting Valparaiso
Valparaiso began their season last weekend in the Southern Illinois Classic. The Crusaders went 0-4 with losses to SIU, Kansas and Ball State (twice). Valpo was held scoreless in three of four contests. They were able to post three runs against Kansas, in a 4-3 defeat. The Crusader are hitting .105 as a team. The leading individual hitter is Tyalor Callahan at .250. The pitching staff has a 4.15 ERA. The ace of the staff to start the season is Brittany Atteberry, who went 0-1 with a 9.64 ERA in the Crusaders' opening weekend. The midweek doubleheader marks the first ever meeting between the two schools.

Scouting Nicholls State
The Nicholls State Lady Colonels are off to a 4-9 start. The highlight of their four wins was a 1-0 defeat of No. 5 Lousiana-Lafayette on Feb. 19. Offensively, the Lady Colonels are hitting .239 as a team. Their leading hitter is Lindsey Yelverton who is hitting .372 with two home runs and seven RBI. Leading the Lady Colonels pitching staff is Nichole Wagner, who is 4-3 on the season with a 2.16 ERA. OU leads the all-time series with Nicholls State, 3-1. The most recent meeting went to OU by a score of 16-1 in 2000.

Scouting UTEP
UTEP is 9-12 on the young season and has already surpassed its 2004 win total of eight. The Miners are hitting .299 as a team and have seven regulars hitting over .300. The top individual batter is Ashley Bennett, who is hitting at a .407 clip with three home runs and 18 RBI. The Miner pitching staff is anchored by Megan Barber, who is 5-5 with a 3.64 ERA. UTEP has won nine of its last 12 games and enters the OU/Worth Invitational with a three-game winning streak.

Vesely Named Big 12 Player of the Week
Oklahoma centerfielder Kristin Vesely was named Big 12 Conference Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week for the games of March 1-7, the league office announced.

Vesely hit .667 while extending her hitting streak to 18 in OU's six wins last week. The Phoenix, Ariz., native's streak is tied for the longest stretch in school history. On the week, Vesely recorded nine runs, 14 hits (14-for-21), seven RBI, four doubles, six stolen bases, and an .857 slugging percentage and a .696 on base percentage. Vesely's week was highlighted by going 3-for-3 with one RBI and three runs scored, including the game winner in the Sooners' 8-1 win over No. 13 Washington.

Overall, she posted two hits in five of the six contests, and three hits in three games. OU defeated Arkansas in a doubleheader and won the Las Vegas Classic behind Vesely's effort.

After last weekend's Las Vegas Classic, which OU won, head coach Patty Gasso assessed Vesely's play this season, ““She looks so confident and with every at bat you know she is going to do something. She's very focused and it is evident she is in complete control. Kristin is a very tough out for any pitcher right now.”

On the season Vesely is hitting .500 with 41 hits in 82 at bats. She also has 11 doubles, one triple, 25 runs scored, one home run and 20 RBI.

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 of the nine regulars in OU head coach Patty Gasso's current lineup are hitting above .305, with junior Kristin Vesely (No. 2 hitter) leading the six pack with a .500 batting average. Eight batters - Vesely, Christina Enea, Heather Scaglione, Jessica Leslie, Kami Keiter, Jamie Fox, Nicole Denes and Tayl'r Hollis - have at least 10 RBI, with Enea heading the group at 28. The Sooners are the only team in the top 25 (NFCA, 3/9) that can claim eight batters with 10 or more RBI.

In the circle OU's pitching staff has an above average ERA of 1.17. Three pitchers - Kami Keiter (11-1), Nicole Denes (5-0), Stacy Braddock (5-2) - have at least five wins. Only two 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 five or more wins.

Four Reliable Arms
Through five 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 19-game winning streak. As a group they have a combined ERA of 1.13 and have only allowed 19 runs in that last 19 wins. Senior Kami Keiter (1-1, 0.31) has worked 60 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. Freshman Stacey Braddock (5-2, 1.09) has worked 38.2 innings and allowed six earned runs. Junior Nicole Denes (5-0, 2.46) has struck out 48 batters in 37 innings of work. Even No. 4 starter Jadyn Smith (0-1, 2.05 ERA) is averaging over one strikeout per inning (14 in 13.2 inn.).

Locked In
OU junior center fielder Kristin Vesely has that look of a player locked into an elusive hitting zone and her current 18-game hitting streak certainly illustrates how hot her bat is. The streak is tied for the longest in OU history with Lisa Carey's streak in 2000. Her season numbers also substantiate the look. Vesely leads OU with a .500 batting average, 26 runs, 41 hits and 11 doubles. She is third on the team in RBI (20) despite hitting in the leadoff and No. 2 spots all season.

Streaks
Notable streaks entering the OU/Worth Invitational:
142 - Consecutive games started by Kristin Vesely.
133 - Consecutive weeks since the inception of the NFCA Poll that OU has been ranked in the top-25.
101 - Consecutive games without committing an error by Jessica Leslie.
60 - Length of Kami Keiter's current streak without alllowing an earned run.
19 - Current winning streak, the longest since a 20-game stretch in 2000-01.
18 - Current hitting streak by Kristin Vesely, which is the longest by an OU player since 2000.
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 current 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.

Winning Ways
OU is in the midst of a 19-game winning streak and an all-around effort has been the catalyst.
Below are the details:

* OU s streak is the second longest active streak in the NCAA, behind No. 7 Michigan's 21 gamer.
* The steak is the third longest in OU history. The record is a 23-gamer from 2000, while the second longest is a 20-game stretch that began during the 2000 postseason and carried into 2001.
* OU has outscored its opponents 153-24 during the streak.
* The offense is hitting .394 with 23 home runs, 142 RBI and 42 stolen bases.
* Eight regulars are hitting about .300 with four of those topping .400.
* OU has scored 10 or more runs six times during the streak. They have reached 10 or more hits 12 times and have run-ruled opponents (eight runs after five innings) nine times.
* The pitching staff has a combined ERA of 1.13 and ace Kami Keiter is yet to allow an earned run during the streak.
* No. 2 hitter Kristin Vesely is in the midst of the best stretch of her career. She has hit safely in the last 18 games, which is tied for with Lisa Carey (2000) as the longest hitting streak in OU history. She is hitting .569 with 37 hits, 12 extra base hits, 19 RBI, 13 stolen bases and a .600 on base percentage.
* Leadoff hitter Norrelle Dickson has also caught fire with a .469 batting average during the streak. The 1-2 duo of Dickson and Vesely have scored at least one run in 17 of the 19 games.
* OU scored five or more runs in 10 consecutive contests (Feb. 12-26), which is a school record. The previous best was seven, which was set five times. The most recent time was in 2002.
* The streak is the 17th of 10 or more games in OU history. Thirteen of those stretches have come under current head coach Patty Gasso.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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