Softball Takes Aim at Cat, No. 4 Texas

NORMAN, Okla. -- With momentum from a six-game winning streak and a decisive win in the Bedlam opener, the No. 6 Oklahoma softball team (37-6, 5-0) will travel to Austin to face No. 4 Texas (29-5, 4-1) in two weekend games. The first round of the softball Red River Rivalry is scheduled for Noon on Saturday, while the finale will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Both games will be carried nationally on CSTV with Kevin Eschenfelder on play-by-play and Ann Schatz on color. Additionally, local fans can also follow the action on KOKC (1520 AM) with play-by-play man Brian Brinkley. The first game at Texas and the second game of the Monday doubleheader at Texas Tech will be carried on KOKC. All four games on the road trip will be available through Yahoo! audio.

Live Statistics | Yahoo! Audio | Game Notes PDF

OU will make a quick turn around and travel to Lubbock, Texas, for a Monday doubleheader with Texas Tech (22-11, 2-2). The twin bill is schedule for a 5 p.m. start from Rocky Johnson Field.

The Sooners return to Norman for a four-game conference home stand against No. 7 Texas A&M (34-3, 5-1) and No. 8 Baylor (35-5, 4-2) next weekend (April 16-18).

Scouting No. 4 Texas
No. 4 Texas (29-5, 4-1) has regained its status as one of the nation's elite teams this season after missing the NCAA postseason in 2004.
When the rivalry hits the field this weekend it will be for first place in the Big 12. The Sooners are alone at the top at 5-0, while Texas is nipping at their heels with a 4-1 mark. A split guarantees the Sooners leave Austin with at least a share of the conference lead. Texas A&M is 5-1 and plays Iowa State this weekend.

No player has been more instrumental in Texas' turn-around than Cat Osterman. Osterman, who sat out last season while winning an Olympic Gold Medal, is 16-3 with a 0.26 ERA. She has been defeated by Cal, Baylor and Long Beach State this season. Teams are hitting .062 against the lefty, who has already collected 315 strikeouts in 135.1 innings of work.

Texas made national news recently due to an unfortunate event. A bench in the home team dugout collapsed during a rain delay against Kansas on March 25. Several players were standing on the bench at the time and five were injured. All five of the players were sidelined for UT's three games last week. Amber Hall and Desiree Williams, who were among the injured athletes, returned to the lineup in Texas' 3-0 defeat of Texas A&M on Wednesday night.

Offensively, Texas is hitting .255 as a team. The leading hitter is Chez Sievers, who is hitting .368 in 23 games of action. Freshmen Desiree Williams (.301) and MicKayla Padilla (.310) are the only other hitters with plus-.300 batting averages.

OU leads the all-time series 15-13, which includes a sweep in 2004. The Sooners have not been as successful against Osterman. Osterman owns a 5-1 record in seven outings against OU. The lone loss came in the 2002 Regional Championship, which secured the Sooners' trip to the WCWS. The last time OU faced Osterman was in the 2003 Big 12 Tournament, when she defeated OU twice and eliminated them from the tourney.

OU will more than likely counter with senior Kami Keiter who has a 2-5 all-time record against Texas. Both wins came last season, while four of the five losses came during the 2003 campaign.

Texas enters the Red River contest with a three-game winning streak, that includes a 3-0 defeat of No. 7 Texas A&M on Wednesday night. It was the Aggies first Big 12 loss and the first in 19 contests. Osterman and an error-prone Aggie defense were the story lines. Osterman allowed three hits and struck out 16 for the victory. The game was decided in the second inning when three Aggie errors led to a trio of Longhorn runs.

OU has only started the conference season 5-0 on two other occasions. Both of those years, 2000 and 2002, the Sooners began 9-0. In 2000 they claimed the Big 12 regular season title.

Scouting Texas Tech
Texas Tech is 22-11 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play under first year head coach Teresa Wilson. Wilson is one of the most successful coaches in Division I softball and earned most of that acclaim during her previous stint as the head coach at Washington.

Like OU, the Lady Raiders have already swept Iowa State. Their two conference losses came to Baylor in the opening weekend of Big 12 play.

Tech is hitting .270 as a team, which ranks seventh in the Big 12. The top Lady Raider hitter is freshman Jennifer Corkin, who is 17th in the Big 12 with a .371 batting average. Corkin also leads the team with five HR and 35 RBI. Three other regulars are also hitting above .300 for Tech.

The ace of the Tech staff is junior Erin Crawford. She is 13-5 with a 2.71 ERA. Crawford was peppered by the OU lineup for seven runs on 13 hits in 10 innings of work last season. The Sooners swept the Lady Raiders in Norman and Crawford was charged with one of the losses.

All-time, OU leads the series 20-3 and has won nine straight. Kami Keiter is the only player on the pitching staff who has faced the Lady Raiders. She has 4-0 record in four appearances against Tech. Offensively, Kristin Vesely hit .500 (4-for-8) and Heather Scaglione hit .750 (3-for-4) with three RBI against Tech last season.

Bedlam Leftovers
OU won its fifth straight in the Bedlam Series by breaking open a pitcher's duel and recording its 12th run rule of the season with a 9-0, six inning win ... Senior Kami Keiter (20-3) notched her eighth shutout of the season with a three hit masterpiece ... Keiter, who had struggled over the last three weeks, has been dominant in her last two appearances (Missouri and OSU) ... The shutout was her first since March 17 vs. Syracuse ... OU was held to one hit and two runs by OSU starter Marjorie Johnson ... Reliever Jessica Hoppock was drilled by the OU offense for seven runs on four hits in the sixth inning ... It marked OU's sixth straight win and 30th consecutive at home ... It was also just the fourth time that OU has defeated OSU by at least nine runs ... Jessica Leslie's walk off three-run homer increased her team-leading HR total to seven and her Big 12-leading RBI total to 48 ... Keiter clinched her third consecutive 20 win season ... It was the 700th game of Gasso's career at OU.

Leslie Named Big 12 Player of the Week
For the second time in the last month Oklahoma softball player Jessica Leslie was named Big 12 Player of the Week, as announced by the conference offices on April 5. Leslie also claimed the conference honor and Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week on March 16. It is the four such honor for the Sooners in the last five weeks.

The Sooners posted a 3-0 record behind Leslie's effort last week. The Raytown, Mo. native compiled a .500 batting average (5-for-10) with five RBI, one home run, one triple, one double and four runs scored.

Leslie's three-run home run that sealed the victory against No. 15 Missouri (6-4) highlighted her performance last week. In the North Texas win (9-1) Wednesday, Leslie also provided an offensive spark, recording a run scoring triple in that contest, and on Saturday a run-scoring single in the 8-3 series-opening victory over the Tigers. On the week, she tallied a 1.000 slugging percentage, while maintaining a .545 on-base percentage.

Shining Senior: 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 .370 with 17 doubles, seven home runs and 48 RBI. The powerful righty has struck out just 12 times (11.25 AB per K) while hitting between the No. 3 and No. 5 spots all season.

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 (18 games) when she has hit .419 with 26 hits, 28 RBI and 13 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 been flawless as well. She is currently in the midst of a 119-game streak without committing an error. The streak stretches back to her sophomore campaign.

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 regulars in OU head coach Patty Gasso's current lineup are hitting above .300, with junior Kristin Vesely (No. 2 hitter) leading the pack with a .518 batting average. Eight batters - Vesely, Christina Enea, Heather Scaglione, Jessica Leslie, Kami Keiter, Jamie Fox, Nicole Denes and Tayl'r Hollis - have at least 14 RBI, with Leslie heading the group at 48. The Sooners are one of two teams (Tennessee) in the top 25 that can claim eight batters with 10 or more RBI.

In the circle OU's pitching staff has an above average ERA of 1.39. Three pitchers - Kami Keiter (20-3), Nicole Denes (8-0), Stacy Braddock (6-2) - have at least six wins. Only two other 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 six or more wins.

Four Reliable Arms
With the Big 12 season in its early stages, 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 weekends, the staff has taken it to a new level during OU's recent hot steak. As a group they have a combined ERA of 1.39. Senior Kami Keiter (20-3, 1.01) worked 79 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run during OU's winning streak. Freshman Stacey Braddock (6-2, 1.76) has worked 47.2 innings and allowed 12 earned runs. Junior Nicole Denes (8-0, 2.11) has struck out 85 batters in 66.1 innings of work. Preseason No. 4 starter Jadyn Smith (3-1) has been the hottest hurler lately, which has helped drop her ERA to a staff best 0.93.

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.

Streaks
Notable streaks entering Texas/Texas Tech:
160 - Consecutive games started by Kristin Vesely.
136 - Consecutive weeks since the inception of the NFCA Poll that OU has been ranked in the top-25.
119 - Consecutive games without committing an error by Jessica Leslie.
79 - Length of Kami Keiter's recent streak of innings without allowing an earned run.
30- Consecutive wins for the Sooners at the OU softball complex.
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.
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 record streak is the other.
6 - Consecutive wins for OU.
5 - Consecutive Regional Championships.
5 - Consecutive wins for OU in the Bedlam Series.
5 - Consecutive Women's College World Series appearances.
2 - Consecutive seasons that head coach Patty Gasso has started a freshman at shortstop.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Softball Takes Aim at Cat, No. 4 Texas

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors