Top 10 Softball Action Hits Norman

NORMAN, Okla. -- The top two offenses in Division I softball will showcase their skills in a battle for first place in the Big 12 at the OU Softball Complex this weekend. The No. 5/6 Oklahoma softball team (40-7, 8-1) begins a two-game series against No. 7/5 Texas A&M (38-3, 9-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. and closes it on Sunday at Noon.

There will be no rest for the Sooners, who have a home Monday doubleheader against No. 8 Baylor (37-7, 5-4), which is set to begin at 5 p.m. OU will have its hands full with the Baylor Bears who are ranked sixth in NCAA in batting average (.328) and lead the nation in stolen bases (118).

Both games against Baylor will be carried by Sooners Sports Properties. The first game will be broadcast solely on the internet, through Yahoo! audio. The nightcap will be available on KOKC (1520 AM), in addition to Yahoo! audio. Free live audio broadcast of the A&M series are available on the AggieAthletics.com.

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Adult fans with ticket stubs from Saturday's Red/White Spring Football Game will be admitted at a discounted rate of $3 to the opener with A&M. The first 250 in attendance on Saturday will receive softball trading cards and can get them signed during a post-game autograph session. On Sunday, the first 250 fans will receive free foam “O & U” letters. Monday is $.50 Hot Dog and Coke Night. As usual, general admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children.

OU will put its 30-game home wining streak on the line against the pair of top-10 teams. The Sooners last loss at the OU Softall Complex was on March 13, 2004, against McNeese State.

The Aggies and Sooners split votes in the two collegiate softball polls. OU is No. 5 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll and No. 6 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll. A&M is No. 7 in NFCA Poll and No. 5 in the ESPN.com poll.

Game Notes PDF | Big 12 Notes

Scouting No. 7 Texas A&M
No. 7 Texas A&M (38-3, 9-1) regained a half-game lead on OU (40-7, 8-1) in the Big 12 standings with a doubleheader sweep (2-1, 7-2) of Oklahoma State on Wednesday. The Sooners and Aggies have exchanged the lead four times in the last two weeks. Now they will battle at the OU Softball Complex for the exclusive rights to first place.

The Sooners and Aggies are very similar squads. Offensively, they lead the Big 12 and country. OU ranks No. 1 in Division I softball with a .346 batting average, the Aggies are four points back at No. 2. The catalyst for the Aggie offense is leadoff hitter Sharonda McDonald. McDonald, who is a traditional lefty slappper, is hitting .368 and reaching base at a .430 clip. She may cause more havoc when she reaches base. She has stolen 41 bases this season and 88 in her career, which is already an A&M career record. She is yet to be caught stealing this season.

The power in the A&M lineup is provided by a pair of A&M freshmen. Megan Gibson leads the Big 12 with 14 home runs and ranks fifth in RBI with 45. Amanda Scarborough has nine bombs and ranks eighth with 38 RBI. The duo is currently hitting in the four and five spots, respectively, and are usually preceded by junior Jana James (.341, 3 HR, 30 RBI).

Scarborough is a dual threat, that may be more dangerous in the pitching circle. The Magnolia, Texas, native is 22-1 in her rookie season with a diminutive ERA of 0.43. She has impressive wins over Baylor, Nebraska and Washington. Based on recent conference series, the Sooners can expect to see Scarborough in both games of the series.

A&M handed OU two of its ugliest losses in 2004. The Sooners traveled to College Station and were defeated 1-0 and 5-4, in route to beginning league play with a 0-4 record. All-time OU leads the series 30-21. OU is 17-5 against the Aggies since current head coach Jo Evans took over in 1997.

Kami Keiter work 9.1 innings and allowed six runs (five earned) against A&M last season. She is 3-2 in her career against A&M. Keiter hit an extra innings grand slam to defeat A&M in the 2003 Big 12 Tournament. Senior Heather Scaglione was 1-for-4 with two RBI and home run against the Aggies last season.

Scouting No. 8 Baylor
Since going 32-3 during the nonconference season, the Baylor Bears have gone 5-4 in Big 12 play and fallen into a tie for fourth place with No. 17 Missouri. The Bears have split with Nebraska and Oklahoma State, while also dropping single games to Texas and Texas A&M.

At .324, Baylor ranks sixth in the Division in batting average. The Bears, who reached the NCAA postseason for the first time in 2004, have dramatically improved their power numbers this season. BU only hit 20 home runs in 2004, this season they have 35 and are led by Chelsi Lake, who has 13 jacks. Lake has 50 RBI and is among the national leaders in the category, along with OU's Jessica Leslie. Lake only hit one home run as a freshman last season.

The Bears lead the country in stolen bases. They have five players with at least 10 stolen bases. Three of those players - Harmony Schwethelm (25 SB), Kim Wilmoth (21), Kelly Osburn (22) - have already topped 20 stolen bases.

The staff is led by sophomore Lisa Ferguson, who is 14-2 with a 1.35 ERA. Ferguson allowed one run and was defeated by Cat Osteman and Texas on Wednesday. Senior Cristin Vitek's ERA is up (2.06) but she has the experience of defeating and recording a save against OU last season.

OU had won 21 straight against BU until Vitek and the Bears swept (3-1, 4-1) the Sooners in Waco last season. OU had the last laugh with a win over the Baylor in the Big 12 tournament and still owns the all-time series with a 29-5 advantage. Scaglione went 5-10 with one HR and one RBI against the Bears last season. Norrelle Dickson also had two RBI in last year's meetings.

Texas Leftovers
After losing the opener, 4-2, OU earned a split with a dominant 4-0 outing in the finale ... The Sooners touched up all-world Cat Osterman for two runs and six hits in the opener, which ranks as one of her worst outings of the season ... Three Sooner errors led to four unearned Texas runs and helped squander the 2-0 lead OU gained in the first inning ... Jessica Leslie roped a one run double off Osterman in the opener for her 18th two-bagger of the season ... Texas threw rookie Meagan Denny in the finale and the Sooner offense chased her after 3.1 innings ... OU posted four runs on five hits off Denny ... The biggest blow was two-run monster homer by Scaglione .... Leslie also had an RBI double ... After being the hard-luck loser in the opener, Kami Keiter dealed a three hit shutout to improve to 21-4 on the season.

Texas Tech Leftovers
After splitting with Texas, the Oklahoma softball team posted 17 runs in a doubleheader sweep (8-5, 9-2) at Texas Tech last Monday ... Heather Scaglione had four RBI in both contests ... In the first game she had two-RBI double and two-RBI HR ... In the second game Scaglione had two singles and a double, all drove in runs ... She increased her season RBI total to 46, which is three shy of her 2004 total that led the Big 12 ... Her 46 RBI ranked third in the Big 12 at the beginning of the week ... Scaglione improved to No. 7 in career doubles (35) ... Jessica Leslie had two RBI in the twin bill to push her season total to a Big 12 leading 52 ... Kami Keiter improved to 22-4 in the opener and extended her streak of innings without allowing an earned run to 30.1 ... Kristin Vesely moved to No. 9 on the single-season charts in hits (79) and No. 6 in runs (50) ... In 47 contests this season (6.46 per game), OU has scored a Big 12-high 304 runs, which is equal to the run total of 2004 team ... It took the 2004 team 68 games to reach 304 (4.47 per game).

Three Sooners Up For Player of the Year
Oklahoma softball players Jessica Leslie, Heather Scaglione and Kristin Vesely were announced as three of the final 25 candidates for USA Softball Player of the Year on April 6. It marks the second consecutive year that Scaglione has made the list of 25, while it is the first such honor for Vesely and Leslie.

“This is a tremendous honor for the players and I know the team is very excited for them, but we never talk about individual accolades. This group is focused on the team's goals,” said OU head coach Patty Gasso. “I know that if you asked these three players, they would give all the credit to their teammates, first and foremost. We are lucky to have a very unselfish team and that attitude is a major reason we have been so competitive this season.”

Oklahoma is one of only four teams with three members on the 25-player list. Scaglione was on the Preseason Watch List that was comprised of 40 players. She was joined by fellow Sooners Norrelle Dickson and Kami Keiter.

Player of the Year Profile - Jessica Leslie
Jessica Leslie got off to a quick start in 2004. She has followed the same recipe in 2005, but this season she carried the streak over the course of the season. Leslie, an All-America candidate and USA Softball Player of the Year finalist, is hitting .377 with 20 doubles, seven home runs and an NCAA best 52 RBI.

Her doubles total is tied with Ashli Barrett (2000) as the second best single season mark in OU history. She is just four shy of Becky Burroughs record of 24 from 1994. The Raytown, Mo., native has catapulted up the career doubles chart where she ranks No. 5 with 37 two-baggers. She is also moving up the single season charts in RBI, where her current mark is three shy of the top 10.

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. She has not relinquished the coveted third spot over the last four weeks (21 games) when she has hit .394 with 26 hits, 25 RBI and 14 extra base hits. She leads the Big 12 in RBI and doubles, while ranking in the top 10 of four other categories.

Her defense has also been exceptional for the last three seasons. She recently (4/9 at Texas) committed her first error in a span of 119 games, dating back to her sophomore seasons.

Player of the Year Profile - Heather Scaglione
Perhaps the forgotten force in the OU lineup, Heather Scaglione needs to just step in the batter's box to understand the type of respect she has garnered. She has become the most feared hitter in the Big 12 after leading the league in 12 offensive categories (overall and Big 12 only) last season.

If it weren't for her Big 12 leading 27 base on balls, Scaglione might be again dominating the conference offensive races. Regardless, her numbers are ahead of pace in several categoires (BA, 2B, RBI) and on pace with last seaon in every category except home run.

In the Big 12 ranks, Scaglione ranks No. 3 in RBI and comes in no lower than eighth in walks, hits, home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, doubles and total bases.

Her work behind the plate has been unrivaled the last two seasons. This year only 13 opponents have attempted to steal off the OU signal caller, an average of 0.27 per game. The average number of attempted stolen bases on the other nine Big 12 teams is 37.

Player of the Year Profile - Krisin Vesely
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 40 of 47 games this season, including 38 of the last 40, during which time she has hit .547. The Phoenix, Ariz., native has already set career single season highs in runs (51), hits (79), doubles (16), RBI (28), total bases (102) and stolen bases (25).

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. The smooth center fielder, who gets as good of a jump on flyballs as anyone in the country, has also been nearly flawless in the field. She recently had a 46-game errorless streak snapped (4/11) but is still leading the Sooners with just one error.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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