Softball Anxious for Tulsa Rematch

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 5/6 Oklahoma softball team (42-9, 10-3) concludes a five-game home stand on Wednesday night, when it looks to avenge an earlier loss to Tulsa (21-27).

First pitch between the Sooners and Golden Hurricane is set for 7 p.m. OU returns to Big 12 action over the weekend when it travels to Lawrence for a two game set with Kansas (19-18, 2-7). The series begins on Saturday at 2 p.m. and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Tulsa contest will carried on KOKC (1520 AM) with play-by-play man Brian Brinkley pulling the one-man show. It will also be webcast on the O-Zone and as usual, free live stats are available through SoonerSports.com. The only service that will be available for the Kansas series is live stats.

The first 250 fans in attendance at the Tulsa contest will receive free OU pom-pons. Wednesday is also the ever-popular $.50 hot dog and Coke night.

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Despite the fact that Tulsa has only been ranked once in its history and has never reached the NCAA postseason, the Golden Hurricane have given the Sooners all they could handle the last three seasons. In fact, the Golden Hurricane have won three of the last four in the series. Prior to that stretch OU won the first 24 meetings in the series and maintains a 25-3 all-time advantage.

TU is 21-27 in 2005, after going 45-18 and finishing second behind Fresno State in the WAC standings last season. The Golden Hurricane enter the regional showdown having lost six straight games, during which time they have only manage to score six runs.

OU will likely face junior Maren Genow, who is 2-1 against OU in the last two seasons. Genow held the Sooners to two runs on nine hits in the TU's 4-2 win on March 23. On the season Genow is 6-6 with a 2.53 ERA.

Junior first baseman Katie Torres leads the TU offense with a .287 BA and 14 RBI. In the first meeting Torres went 1-for-3. Last season she hit a solo home run that helped the Golden Hurricane knock off OU 2-0.

As for the Sooners, Kristin Vesely went 4-for-4 in the first meeting, while Jessica Leslie accounted for all of OU's offense with a two-run homer during a 2-for-3 outing. Heather Scaglione also went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Keiter took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits.

Ace In The Circle, Ace In The Hole
Senior Kami Keiter has been the ace of the OU pitching staff for three seasons and that has not changed this season. What has changed for Keiter is her production at the plate. The senior leads the Big 12 during league games with six home runs. Five of those blasts have come in the last five games, including a pair of two-HR games. She has hit .462 with five blasts and 10 RBI during the last five outings.

With eight home runs this season, she has already doubled her output from the previous three seasons. She is also already out done her single season highs in every offensive category except triples.

Scags Snags Seventh Big 12 Player of the Week Award
Oklahoma senior Heather Scaglione was announced Tuesday afternoon as the Big 12 Player of the Week for the games of April 10-17.

Scaglione powered the fifth-ranked Sooners to a 3-1 record, including a split with Big 12 leading Texas A&M, last week by hitting .583 with three home runs and 11 RBI. The Sooner signal caller had seven hits in 12 at bats, scored five runs, recorded two doubles, a slugging percentage of 1.500 and an on-base percentage of .688.

She began the week with a four RBI in both ends of doubleheader at Texas Tech. Then on Saturday, the San Diego native led the Sooners to a run-rule defeat of Texas A&M (15-7, six innings) by slugging two home runs and driving in three runs. She became the 24th player in OU history to tie the school record with two HR in a single game. Scaglione set a Big 12 record by earning five POW honors last season. She also owns the career mark for Player of the Week honors with seven.

Scouting Kansas
After going 15-9 before the start of the conference season, the Kanas Jayhawks have gone 2-7 against Big 12 competition. KU is 19-18 on the season and will play three midweek games (Nebraska, Creighton -DH) before it gets a shot at the Sooners this weekend.

KU is hitting .266 as a team, which ranks seventh in the Big 12. The top hitter on the KU squad is Broken Arrow, Okla., native Destiny Frankenstein. Frankenstein is hitting .359 (20th in Big 12) with eight HR and 19 RBI. Ashley Frazer is the only other Jayhawk that is hitting above .300 and she at .326 with just two extra base hits and one RBI.

The KU staff has a combined ERA of 2.92 (ninth in Big 12) and is headed by three pitchers - Christina Ross, Serena Settlemeier and Kassie Humphreys. Ross has the most starts and is 8-6 on the season with a 1.74 ERA (11th in Big 12). OU eliminated Kansas from the 2004 Big 12 Tournament when Kami Keiter singled in the games only run in a bottom of the seventh. Humphreys limited the Sooners to four hits and one run in the contest.

OU has the opportunity to the take its first lead in the all-time series since 1980 this weekend. KU owns a 36-35 advantage but has lost 17 of the last 18 to the Sooners. Last season's regular season series was one of the most unusual in the rivalry. OU won 10-1 and 2-1 in both games in Norman, but none of the Sooners 11 runs were earned because of six KU errors.

No. 8/11 Baylor Leftovers
OU missed an opportunity to take a one-half game lead in the Big 12 standings by splitting with the Bears ... Instead the loss dropped one half game behind Texas A&M ... Kami Keiter tossed a three hit complete game for her 10th shutout of the season in a 2-0 win in the opener ... OU dropped the finale 6-5 despite the heroics of Keiter ... Keiter had two out of the complex home runs and five RBI to account for all of OU's scoring ... Despite her work at the plate, a three-run homer she gave up in relief was the deciding factory in defeat .... Jamie Fox's RBI double in the sixth inning gave OU its final advantage of 2-0 in the opener ... Fox has 10 doubles and 32 RBI in 51 games this season, which is equal to her freshman output in 68 games last season ... Keiter took over the Big 12 lead in conference only HR with six.

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 .360 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 31 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.

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 42 of 51 games this season, including 40 of the last 44. The Phoenix, Ariz., native has already set career single season highs in runs (53), hits (82), doubles (17), RBI (30), total bases (109) and stolen bases (25).

Vesely leads the Big 12 in batting average, hits and runs while ranking second in total bases, on base percentage and doubles. She is ranked in the top-10 of every Big 12 offensive category.

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.

Down The Homestretch
The top three teams in the Big 12 - Texas A&M, OU and Texas - are within one loss of each other in the race for the Big 12 Regular Season Championship. Below are the remaining schedules for each of the top three, as well as the combined records and winning percentages of their remaining opponents:

First Place Texas A&M (39-4, 10-2)
4/23 - vs. Texas Tech (22-17, 2-8)
4/24 vs. Texas Tech
4/27 vs. No. 4/4 Texas (ESPN2)
4/30 at No. 15/18 Missouri (32-8, 6-5)
5/1 at No. 15/18 Missouri
5/4 vs. No. 8/11 Baylor (40-8, 8-5)

Second Place Oklahoma (42-9, 10-3)
4/23 at Kansas (19-18, 2-7)
4/24 at Kansas
4/27 at Oklahoma State (29-16, 4-7)
4/30 vs. Nebraska (ESPN2) (27-15, 5-5)
5/1 vs. Nebraska (ESPNU)

Third Place Texas (32-7, 7-3)
4/23 vs. Iowa State (13-25, 1-10)
4/24 vs. Iowa State (ESPN2)
4/26 vs. Texas Tech (DH)
4/27 at No. 7/5 Texas A&M (ESPN2)
4/30 at Okahoma State
5/1 at Oklahoma State

Combined Records and Winning
Percentages For Remaining Opponents:
Texas A&M 126-40 (.759)
Texas 103-63 (.620)
Oklahoma 75-49 (.605)

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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