Softball Hits ESPN This Weekend

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 9/10 Oklahoma softball team (43-12,11-5) hopes to capitalize on momentum from a Bedlam sweep when No. 25 Nebraska (31-17, 7-7) comes to town for a two game, nationally televised series this weekend. First pitch for the Saturday opener is set for 11 a.m. on ESPN2, while the finale will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPNU.

The ESPN broadcast team for the series is Eric Collins on play-by-play and Dr. Dot Richardson on color commentary. Additionally both contests can be heard within the state of Oklahoma on KOKC (1520 AM) and on the internet through Yahoo! audio. Both games will also be webcast on the O-Zone.

The Huskers won the Big 12 Regular Season and Tournament Championship in 2004 but have struggled in their first season without Peaches James, who was the 2004 Big 12 Player of the Year. At 7-7 in conference, NU is alone in sixth place in the Big 12 and presumably battling for the Big 12's last spot in the postseason.

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The team is hitting .290 overall and just .218 in Big 12 play. The Husker bats really struggled during their recent series with Oklahoma State. OSU ace Marjorie Johnson no hit the Huskers on Sunday and limited NU to four hits on the weekend. NU had more walks, 13, than hits, 4, and runs, 2, combined.

Their bats woke up in an 11-5, extra inning win at Iowa State on Wednesday. ISU lead 5-1 after two innings but the Huskers posted 10 unanswered runs, including six in the decisive eighth inning.

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The leading hitter for Nebraska is slapper Anne Steffan, who might be the fastest player in the Big 12. She is hitting .420 on the season but she has fallen on hard times since the start of the Big 12 season. She is hitting only .208 in Big 12 games. In conference games the only player that is hitting above .300 is Jessica Yoachim. Yoachim is swinging at a .326 clip.

The ace of the Husker staff is Ashley DeBuhr, who has a 7-7 record in Big 12 play despite a strong ERA of 2.18.

Nebraska leads the all-time series with OU 35-25 and has won three straight. The most recent loss came in the 2004 Big 12 Tournament, when Peaches James tossed a perfect game to give OU its first loss of the tourney. The last time Nebraska played in Norman was 2000 when the squads split a two-game set.

After closing the Big 12 season against Nebraska, the Sooners will end the regular season with Senior Night against North Texas on Wednesday, May 4 at 7 p.m.. It will mark the final regular season home game for one of the best senior classes - Christina Enea, Jessica Leslie, Kami Keiter and Heather Scaglione - in OU history.

The first 250 fans in attendance on Saturday will receive free OU computer games, while the first 250 on Sunday will receive free OU pin wheels.

The Next Milestone
OU head coach Patty Gasso is just one win shy of the 700th win of her collegiate head coaching career, which includes her beginnings at Long Beach City College and her current position at the helm of Oklahoma.

Gasso won the 500th game of her OU coaching career on Feb. 18 in a 11-1 win over Lipscomb. Her OU career mark is 537-174-1 (.757). 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 LBCC) is 699-232-1 (.752).

Cowgirl Corraller
Senior Christina Enea is one of the clutchest players in OU history. Her Sooner legacy will be characterized by the way she has shined in the biggest games and against the best competition.

No team is more aware of her capabilities than Oklahoma State and she haunted the Pokes again on Wednesday night. She picked up her fourth game winning hit in eight career games against OSU to give the Sooners a 3-2 win in nine innings. The Woodland Hills, Calif., native accounted for all of the Sooners runs with three RBI, which included a two-run single in the third inning.

She has been a thorn in the Pokes side for three seasons. Enea is hitting .400 (10-for-25) against OSU with one home run, five runs, 11 RBI and four game-winning hits.

Enea has single-handedly won three other games against the Pokes. In 2002's first meeting, OU mounted a five-run seventh-inning rally that was sealed by an Enea RBI single for the 6-5 win. In the 2002 finale, a two-run single sealed the extra innings win for the Sooners. Last season, the senior from California hit a two-run homer to clinch a 2-1 win in Stillwater. She was forced to sit out the rematch in Norman due to a strained Achilles.

See how the Sooners stack up against OSU in the Bedlam Series presented by the Bank of Oklahoma and Your Oklahoma Ford Dealers!

Norman Transcript Will Take Fans' Best Shots
Oklahoma softball fans will have an opportunity to be photo-journalists during OU's series opening contest against Nebraska Saturday at the OU Softball Complex.

The Norman Transcript and OU's athletics department are coming together for a promotion encouraging fans to bring their cameras to the game. Fans may take action shots of the game, interesting shots of the crowd or whatever else they might find on the grounds of the OU Softball Complex. Many of the photographs will be published in the Transcript at a later date.

Photographs can be e-mailed to fanfotos@normantranscript.com or dropped off at the Transcript building (Attention: Fan Fotos) at 213 E. Comanche in downtown Norman. Entry deadline is May 3. The promotion will be repeated at OU's May 3 baseball game against Wichita State at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The entry deadline for that promotion is May 6.

Bedlam Leftovers
OU swept Oklahoma State in the regular season Bedlam Series for the second consecutive year and the eighth time in the history of the Big 12 ... The Bedlam Bell, which is in its fifth year being sponsored by Bank of Oklahoma and your local Ford Dealers, has never left Norman, while the Sooners have done no worse than split with OSU since OU head coach Patty Gasso came to Norman 11 years ago ... The win was big for the Sooners in terms of momentum - it snapped a four game losing streak - and in terms of the Big 12 race ... Texas lost to Texas A&M, 3-2, on Wednesday night and fell into fourth place in the conference ... Second place OU (11-5) is a half game ahead of Baylor (10-5) in the conference standings, although the teams share the same number of league losses ... If the teams were tied at the end of the conference season, OU would own the tie breaker for Big 12 Tournament seedings, based on run differential ... Christina Enea picked up her fourth game winning hit of her career against OSU with a three RBI effort ... The senior went 2-for-5 and accounted for all of OU's runs in the 3-2 nine inning win ... Freshman Stacy Braddock got the start and impressed for 5.1 innings ... She allowed one earned run on a wild pitch and just five hits, in what is her best Big 12 start of the season ... Kami Keiter reliever Braddock and earned the win to improve to 25-5 ... Keiter was able to shake off a shaky bottom of the seventh inning, when she allowed the game tying run ... Kristin Vesely was the only other Sooner with two hits (2-for-3) ... She also had a career high three stolen bases ... The Sooners, who left 11 runners on base, were patient against OSU ace Marjorie Johnson, who struck out 11 batters, but was unable to recover from a career-worst seven walks she allowed.

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 .333 with 20 doubles, seven home runs and 52 RBI, which ranks second in the Big 12.

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 hit .356 with 31 hits, 25 RBI and 14 extra base hits in that role. She ranks second in the Big 12 in RBI and leads the league 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 categories (BA, 2B, RBI) and on pace with last season in every category except home runs.

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 - Kristin 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 44 of 5 games this season, including 42 of the last 48. The Phoenix, Ariz., native has already set career single season highs in runs (54), hits (86), doubles (17), RBI (30), total bases (113) and stolen bases (28).

Vesely leads the Big 12 in batting average, hits and runs while ranking second in total bases, on base percentage and third in doubles. She is ranked in the top-10 of every Big 12 offensive category except home runs, in which she has tied a career single season high with two blasts.

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 fly balls as anyone in the country, has also been nearly flawless in the field. She recently had a 46-game errorless streak snapped (4/11).

Streaks
Notable streaks entering the Nebraska series:
172 - Consecutive games started by Kristin Vesely.
139 - Consecutive weeks since the inception of the NFCA Poll that OU has been ranked in the top-25.
119 - Consecutive game errorless streak for Jessica Leslie that was snapped against Texas (4/9).
79 - Length of Kami Keiter's career best streak of innings without allowing an earned run.
31- Length of home winning streak that was snapped by Texas A&M on April 16.
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.
12 - Consecutive seasons of 40 or more wins, 11 under Gasso, which OU clinced with DH sweep of Texas Tech on April 11.
11 - Consecutive trips to the NCAA postseason.
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.
6 - Consecutive wins for OU in the Bedlam Series.
5 - Consecutive Regional Championships.
5 - Consecutive Women's College World Series appearances.

Class Rank
The 2005 senior class (Christina Enea, Heather Scaglione, Kami Keiter and Jessica Leslie) will play its final Big 12 series this weekend and its final regular season home game next Wednesday against North Texas. The class may go out as the best in school history.

In fact, based on career accomplishments, the 2005 class' only competition is the 2001 six pack (LaKisha Washington, Lisa Carey, Jamie White, Ashli Barrett, Andrea Davis and Mandy Fulton). The 2001 group appeared on the OU career record lists 25 times going into their final season. The 2004 version appeared 21 times. The 2001 crew only improved their marks in their final season and currently appears 32 times on the career lists. As of April 28, the 2005 class appears on the career lists 26 times, which is significant considering they have two less players than 2001.

The 2005 senior class does hold a couple distinctions over 2001. The quartet is the first in OU history to have three different graduating-players with All-America honors. It also is more well rounded than their counterparts. The 2001 version did not have a pitcher on any lists. The 2005 team has Kami Keiter, who ranks in the top six of all nine career pitching categories.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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