Three Sooners Up For Player of the Year

NORMAN, Okla. 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 Wednesday afternoon. 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.”

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Vesely and Leslie have done a good job of overshadowing Scaglione this season. Vesely is hitting .522, which leads the Big 12. She also leads the conference in hits (72) and on-base percentage (.559), and ranks no lower than eighth in six other categories.

Leslie, who has hit in the No. 3 spot for the last month, is cleaning the table that Vesely and Norrelle Dickson are setting. She leads the Big 12 in RBI (45) and doubles (17), while ranking in the top 10 of four other categories. Her double total is the fourth best single-season mark in OU history. Both Leslie and Vesely have been named Big 12 Player of the Week on two occasions.

Scagione, who is regularly pitched around as the Sooners' cleanup hitter, is hitting .386 with six home runs and 36 RBI. She has been walked a 23 times, which ranks second in the Big 12. She also ranks in the top-10 of seven other categories.

Oklahoma is one of only four teams with three members on the 25-player list. The other schools are Arizona (Alicia Hollowell, Kristie Fox, Caitlin Lowe), Cal (Vicky Galindo, Lindsay James, Kelly Anderson) and Michigan (Tiffany Haas, Jessica Merchant, Jennie Ritter).

Scaglione was on the Preseason Watch List that was comprised of 40 players. She was joined by fellow Sooners Norrelle Dickson and Kami Keiter.

A list of 10 finalists will be named and released on May 10th. Players must be among the initial 25 to be eligible for the final 10. The group of 10 will be pared down to three finalists on May 31st. The winner of the 2005 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced at the 2005 NCAA Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

A replica of the award will be placed in a permanent display in the ASA National Softball Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, along with photos of the winner. An additional replica of the award will be presented to the player's academic institution.

Jessica Van der Linden of Florida State won the award in 2004, while Texas' Cat Osterman received the honor in 2003.

The No. 6 Oklahoma softball team (36-6, 4-0) begins the toughest two-week stretch of the regular season on Wednesday when Oklahoma State (27-11, 2-2) visits the OU Softball Complex. The opener of the Bedlam Series, presented by the Bank of Oklahoma and your Local Oklahoma Ford Dealers, is set to begin at 7 p.m.

The game will be broadcast within the state of Oklahoma by Cox (channel 7 in OKC/Metro area) with Brian Brinkley on play-by-play and Kenny Mossman on color. The game will also be carried on two radio stations. The OU radio broadcast will be aired on KOKC (1520 AM) with Tony Sellars on the one-man show. The OSU broadcast with Bill VanNess can be found on KSPI (93.7 FM).

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Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Fans that arrive early will receive free OU pom-pons and foam noodles.

After the Bedlam contest, the Sooners will travel to Austin to face No. 4 Texas on Saturday (Noon) and Sunday (1 p.m.). Both games will be carried nationally on CSTV with Kevin Eschenfelder on play-by-play and Ann Schatz on color.

OU will make a quick turn around and travel to Lubbock, Texas, after the Sunday contest for a doubleheader with Texas Tech on Monday. All four of the contests will be broadcast via radio (KOKC) or internet (Yahoo! audio) with Brian Brinkley covering the events.

The Sooners close the treacherous two week stretch with a four-game conference home stand against No. 7 Texas A&M (34-2, 5-0) and No. 8 Baylor (33-5, 4-2) from April 16-18.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Three Sooners Up For Player of the Year

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