Seniors Shine On Their Night

NORMAN, Okla. Every senior joined in the fun as the No. 10 Oklahoma softball team (45-13, 12-6) closed the regular season and capped Senior Night with an 11-3 five inning, run-rule defeat of North Texas (12-33) on Wednesday night at the OU Softball Complex.

“This was a special and a hard night,” said OU head coach Patty Gasso. “The last four years have gone by so fast. Those four (seniors) came in knowing that they had to carry the load of this program. They have cherished that role and built upon the legacy of this program. They've had as much influence on the success of Sooner softball as any senior class in the history of this program.”

Senior Heather Scaglione led the offensive onslaught with a three hit, four RBI night, that included a solo home run and a two-run double. Scaglione is just two home runs (44) shy of the OU record of 46, which is held by Ashli Barrett (1998-01).

Box Score

Starting pitcher Kami Keiter also did damage at the plate. She knocked in one run on a fourth-inning double, her 10th of the season, and another on third-inning fielder's choice.

Keiter worked four innings of shutout ball before handing off to junior Nicole Denes. Keiter allowed four hits and doubled that mark with eight strikeouts. She improved to 27-5 on the season and dropped her ERA to 1.25.

Senior Jessica Leslie went 1-for-1 with an RBI to improve her season total to 53. The RBI snapped a 10 game skid in the category, while a fourth inning double improved her season total to 21, which is one short of tying the Big 12 single season record.

The final senior to contribute to the rout was Christina Enea, who went 1-for-3 with one run scored and a stolen base.

Shining in the senior's shadows was Jamie Fox, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI. It is the 11th multi-hit and the 10th multi-RBI game of the season for Fox.

Freshman Alison Horne also tallied one RBI on a 1-for-3 night.

OU put three runs on the board in the first and third innings and sealed the run-rule with four consecutive doubles and five runs in the fourth frame.

OU has a week off for finals before beginning the postseason with the Big 12 Tournament. The No. 2 seed Sooners will open tourney play on Wednesday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m., against the winner of the play-in game between the No. 7 and No. 10 seeds. The All-Big 12 teams and individual player honors will be announced during a pre-tournament banquet on Wednesday.

Game Notes: After the first pitch of the fifth inning, Gasso made defensive replacements for the entire senior class, who left the field to a standing ovation ... Scaglione has 16 multi-RBI games this season and five games with four or more RBI ... It also marked the 20th multi-hit game of the season for Scaglione ... Leslie is three shy of the OU single season doubles record (24), which was set by Becky Burroughs in 1994 ... OU had four doubles tonight to improve it season total to 110, which is four shy of the team season record ... Tonight marked the night time that OU has scored in the double digits, 27th time OU has hit double digits in hits and the 14th opponent the Sooners have run ruled ... Kami Keiter is three wins shy of the 100th of her career.

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