NCAAs Begin In Norman Tonight

NORMAN, Okla. -- For the fifth time since 1997, the OU softball complex will be a host site for an NCAA Division I Softball Regional. The Sooners are seeded 14th nationally and number one in the Norman Regional. They will have to contend with (2) Oregon (34-23), (3) Louisiana Lafayette (50-8) and (4) Wichita State (46-16) during action this Friday-Sunday.

The first pitch of Regional No. 14 is set for 5 p.m. Friday between Oregon and Lafayette. OU will open NCAA postseason play at 7:30 p.m. against WSU. The winners of both contests Friday will advance to a 1 p.m. meeting on Saturday, while the losers will advance to a 3:30 meeting. The four-team tourney is double elimination with the winner advancing to a Super Regional with the winner of Regional No. 3 next weekend.

Norman Regional Central | Online Ticket Ordering

OU enters with a record of 20-1 in its last five regional appearances. OU had won 19 straight regional contests before losing to ULL in the opener on Championship Sunday last season. They avenged that loss in the back end of the doubleheader with a 15-0 run rule, five inning win.

Beyond the regionals, the Sooners route to a potential sixth Women's College World Series is also familiar to last season. Arizona, the third seed nationally, is favored to win its region and host the winner of the Norman Regional next weekend. Last season, OU won Tucson Regional after defeating Temple, Northwestern, top-ranked Arizona and ULL.

ULL is the only team that OU has met in the postseason before. The Ragin' Cajuns won the first meeting last season, 12-4, while OU clinched its WCWS berth with a 15-0 win.

Postseason Guide | NCAA Bracket | Norman Bracket

OU's opening game against WSU will be carried live on KOKC (1520 AM) and online through Yahoo! audio with the voice of OU softball Brian Brinkley on the one-man show. If the Sooners are able to stay in the winners bracket, all three games will be live on KOKC, if not, the schedule may be adjusted. All of OU's regional contests will be aired live on Yahoo! audio. Live stats will also be available through NCAASports.com. There will not be any television or webcasts available for the postseason tourney.

Ticket Information
Fans are strongly encouraged to arrive early and reserve tickets ahead of time as the OU Athletics Department is expecting near capacity crowds. Those who want to attend the OU game on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. are encouraged to arrive prior to the start of Session One at 5 p.m. Gates will open 90 minutes before the start of each session this weekend.

Single-session reserved tickets will cost $15 (all ages) while single-session general admission tickets will cost $10 for adults and $8 for children 12 and under. All-session reserved tickets will cost $40 (all ages) while all-session general admission tickets will cost $25 for all ages. Only all-session tickets will be sold prior to the event. Advance tickets will be available beginning Monday, May16 by calling the OU Athletic Ticket Office at (800) 456-4668. To order tickets online, click on the link above.

Wichita State Stats | Oregon Stats | Louisiana-Lafayette Stats

Scouting Wichita State
The Shockers of Wichita State enter weekend play with a 46-16 overall record and a 23-4 Missouri Valley Conference mark. Head coach Tim Walton (Oklahoma '96) is in his third season with the team. Walton is assisted by Jennifer Jaime (Oklahoma '99) and Sondra Hall (South Carolina '00). Walton was the OU hitting coach from 1999-2002 when he took his current position at WSU. The team is coming off a second-place finish in its conference tournament, losing in the championship game to Creighton, 2-0. Wichita State outscored its three other MVC tourney opponents, 23-1.

Offensively, the Shockers own a .286 team batting average on the year. They are led by Katie McGeeney, a freshman who is hitting .389 with 15 doubles, seven home runs and 108 total bases. The team's top power hitters are junior Ashley Lynn and sophomore Stephanie De La Riva. The two have combined for 23 home runs, 81 RBIs and 173 total bases. Lynn hits at a .259 clip, while De La Riva bats .287.

On the mound, senior Lindsay Craig (22-7) and sophomore Margo Pruis (20-7) split time for the Shockers. Both pitchers have thrown 17 complete games. Pruis leads the way with a 1.45 ERA, while Craig sports a 1.53 figure.

All-time OU leads the series with WSU 34-7 and has not lost to the Shockers since 1990, a span of 21 games. The last meeting between the programs was 2002 in the OU/Worth Invitational, when the Sooners trumped the regional rival 3-1 and 12-1.

Scouting Oregon
The University of Oregon enters NCAA Regional play with an overall record of 34-23. The Ducks finished seventh in the Pac-10 conference with a record 7-14. Oregon is coached by Kathy Arendsen (CSU-Chico '80), who is in her third season at the school. Arendsen is assisted by J. Gaudreau (St. Luke's '73) and Amy Hayes (Evansville '92).

Offensively, the Ducks come into the NCAA Tournament hitting at a .263 clip. They are led by freshman T.J. Eadus who boasts a team-high batting average of .340 to go along with 19 RBIs. Freshman outfielder Lovena Chaput is hitting .320 and leads the team with 86 total bases. Oregon has a pair of speedsters on the base paths in junior Breanne Sabol and sophomore Suzie Barnes. They have stolen 19 and 12 bases, respectively. Sabol also sports the team's third-best batting average (.318).

Pitching wise, Arendsen's preferred hurler is right-hander Amy Harris. The junior is 17-14 and owns a 1.16 ERA. Harris pitched 20 complete games this season and posted nine shutouts. When Harris is not pitching, the Ducks usually turn to freshman right-hander Alicia Cook. Cook is 10-6 with a 1.96 ERA.

Oregon and Oklahoma met earlier this season in the Las Vegas Classic and the Sooners were winning 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning before it was cancelled due to rain. Heather Scaglione had an RBI double and Jessica Leslie had an RBI single in the abandoned contest.

Oklahoma leads the all-time series with Oregon, 4-3. The Sooners have won three straight in the series with the most recent victory coming in 1999 at the UT-Arlington Tourney.

Scouting Louisiana Lafayette
Six-time defending Sun Belt champion Louisiana-Lafayette comes to Norman with a 50-8 overall record and a 19-1 Sun Belt Conference mark. The team is coached by co-head coaches Stefni (Louisiana-Lafayette '90) and Michael (Louisiana-Lafayette '85) Lotief. The Lotiefs are in their fifth season at the school and are assisted by Lacy Prejean (Alabama '03).

The team carries a .291 batting average into the postseason to go with 77 doubles, 13 triples and 76 home runs. Senior Jill Robertson has the team's best batting average (.384) and has registered 11 stolen bases. Power-hitting junior Danyele Gomez hits at a .354 clip and leads the team in home runs (19), RBIs (64) and total bases (130). Sophomore Lacey Bertucci and junior Ashley Evans have hit 15 and 10 home runs, respectively.

In the circle, the Ragin' Cajuns usually throw senior Brooke Mitchell or sophomore Heather Bobbitt. Mitchell owns a 27-7 record and a 0.78 ERA. She has 23 complete games, 10 shutouts and 338 strikeouts. Bobbitt is a perfect 18-0 with a 1.22 ERA.

OU defeated the Cajuns, 7-3, in the action at the KIA Klassic (Fullerton, Calif.) this season. Heather Scaglione had a two run homer, while Kami Keiter contributed a pair of RBI and Lafayette native Tayl'r Hollis hit a solo jack. All-time Lafayette leads the series 14-5, but OU has won three of the last four meetings, including two straight. The last time they met in Norman was in 2002 in the OU/Nike Classic when OU triumphed 5-3. OU also defeated them 7-5 in the OU/Worth Invitational in 2001.

Against The Field
Year in and year out OU head coach Patty Gasso puts together one of the toughest schedules in the country. This year was no exception. OU played 52 percent of its games this season (32) against teams in the NCAA Postseason field of 64. The softballers from Norman won 19 of the those contest for a winning percentage of .594. OU also posted a 4-6 record against the top-16 national seeds. Against the 32 opponents that landed in the postseason, OU more than doubled its opponents in scoring at a rate of 149-73. Forty percent of OU's runs this season (179-of-368) came against teams that are still playing. The only losses OU suffered against teams outside the NCAA postseason were to regional foe Tulsa.

Regional Notebook
* OU has handed ULL All-American ace Brooke Mitchell the three worst outings of her career in the last three meetings. Mitchell has allowed 20 earned runs on 22 hits over her last three starts against Oklahoma, including seven runs in two and two-thirds innings this season. Mitchell has allowed just 23 earned runs this season.
* OU has outscored it opponents in the last five regionals by a combined total of 142-33.
* Wichita State head coach Tim Walton worked as the OU hitting coach from 1999-2002.
* Additionally, assistant coach Jennifer Jaime earned three letters in Norman from 1996-98 and served as a graduate assistant coach (2000-01) after her career was complete.
* OU starter Jamie Fox and Tayl'r Hollis are both Lafayette natives and actually played club ball for UL Lafayette head coach Michael Lotief before he took his current position with the Ragin' Cajuns.
* Fox and Hollis have played with or against the majority of the ULL roster during either the club or high school seasons.
* OU second baseman Stacia Aleman played high school softball at Mustang HS with WSU shortstop Miranda Feldman.
* Sooner outfielder Amber Spaulding played travel ball with WSU utility player Stephanie De La Riva for the Fontana Aftershock.

Ranking The Regionals
When OU head coach Patty Gasso watched the selection show and saw the teams coming to Norman she said it was the second toughest Regional in the country, behind the Fresno Regional (No. 3).

Her assessment was dead on. The combined winning percentage of the teams (Cal, BYU, Fresno State and Long Beach State) in the Fresno Regional is .783, while the percentage of the teams headed for Norman is .741. The third best percentage is in South Bend, where Northwestern, Albany, Notre Dame and Louisville have combined winning percentage of .733.

Below are the combined record and winning percentages of all 16 regionals:

Regional No.1 - Ann Arbor = 146-61 (.705)
Regional No. 2 - Fresno = 170-47 (.783)
Regional No. 3 - Tucson = 148-58 (.718)
Regional No. 4 - Austin = 153-63-1 (.705)
Regional No. 5 - College Station = 142-88 (.617)
Regional No. 6 - Columbia = 157-59-1 (.724)
Regional No. 7 - Los Angeles = 135-70 (.659)
Regional No. 8 - Corvallis = 137-70 (.662)
Regional No. 9 - South Bend = 159-58 (.733)
Regional No. 10 - Athens = 165-73 (.693)
Regional No. 11 - Knoxville = 186-76 (.710)
Regional No. 12 - Tuscaloosa = 160-74 (.681)
Regional No. 13 - Gainsville = 169-89-1 (.653)
Regional No. 14 - Norman = 177-62 (.741)
Regional No. 15 - Auburn = 166-85 (.661)
Regional No. 16 - Lincoln = 158-64 (.712)

Two Sooners Make Player of the Year Semifinal List of 10
Oklahoma softball players Kristin Vesely and Heather Scaglione were named to the semifinal list of 10 players for the USA Softball Player of the Year Award. It marks just the second time that an OU player has reached the final 10 (Leah Gulla in 2003) and the first such distinction for each player. OU and Michigan (Jennie Ritter and Jessica Merchant) are the only teams with two players on the semifinalists.

Jessica Leslie was on the initial list of 25 but did not make the semifinal cut. Norrelle Dickson and Kami Keiter were on the preseason watch list, along with Scaglione, but did not make the first cut of 25. The final cut of three will be announced just before the WCWS on May 31.

Below are profiles on the each of OU's candidates:

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. This season in only conference games, she led the league in four categories (HR, RBI, TB, SLG, BB).

If it weren't for her Big 12 leading 33 base on balls, Scaglione might be again dominating the conference offensive races. Regardless, her numbers are ahead of last year's pace in every category except base on balls.

In the Big 12 ranks for all games, Scaglione leads in total bases and walks, while ranking second in RBI and coming in no lower than seventh in home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and batting average.

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 48 of 62 games this season, including 46 of the last 54. The Phoenix, Ariz., native has already set career single season highs in runs (60), hits (91), doubles (18), RBI (30), total bases (119) and stolen bases (30).

Vesely leads the Big 12 in batting average, hits and runs while ranking second in on-base percentage and fourth in doubles and sixth in total bases. 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 a 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 NCAA Regional:
179 - Consecutive games started by Kristin Vesely.
141 - 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.
12 - 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) is entering its final collegiate postseason. 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 its final season. The 2005 version appeared 21 times. The 2001 crew only improved its mark in its final season and currently appears 32 times on the career lists. As of May 6, the 2005 class appears on the career lists 31 times, which is significant considering its have two less players than 2001.

The 2005 senior class holds 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 its 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.

Keiter and Scaglione Earn All-Big 12 Tourney Honors
For the fourth time in her career, senior Kami Keiter was named to All-Big 12 Tournament Team, while fellow senior Heather Scaglione earned the first such honor of her career. The pair of Oklahoma stars led the Sooners to a 2-2 mark in the conference tourney.

Scaglione led the OU offense and ranked fourth among tourney participants with a .455 batting average. She collected five hits, one double and one RBI while also posting a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000.

Keiter worked 19.1 innings and allowed just one earned run - via a solo home run - for the Sooners. Her 0.36 ERA was second only to Tournament MVP Cat Osterman, who did not allow an earned run on the weekend.

Five Sooners Garner First Team All-Big 12 Honors
Christina Enea, Norrelle Dickson, Kami Keiter, Heather Scaglione and Kristin Vesely were named to the Coaches All-Big 12 First Team on Wednesday afternoon at the annual pre-Big 12 Tournament Banquet. It marks the fourth time since the inception of the Big 12 (1996) that OU has placed at least five players on the first team. The school record of six was set in 2000 and 2001.

For Keiter and Scaglione it was the fourth All-Big 12 honors of their careers. It marked the second first team honor for both players. It was the third honor of Enea and Vesely's careers, while it marked the first such honor for Dickson. It marked the third first team honor for Enea and the second for Vesely.

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