Completed Event: Softball at #12/14 Texas A&M on May 1, 2026 , Loss , 5, to, 8
Final
Softball
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at #12/14 Texas A&M
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University of Oklahoma Athletics
OU Hosts Home Tourney This Weekend
March 02, 2007 | Softball
NORMAN, Okla. - Enjoying a seven-game home stand, the No. 6 Oklahoma softball team will close out the week with the OU Residence Inn Invitational at the OU Softball Complex this Saturday and Sunday. The three-team field will also include Temple and Wichita State as the Sooners will play each team twice over the course of the weekend.
The Sooners will open the tourney with Wichita State at 2:30 p.m. and conclude the Saturday doubleheader with a 4:45 p.m. contest against Temple. In Sunday's action, the Sooners will play another doubleheader as they take on Temple at 12:15 p.m. and play Wichita State in the tournament finale at 2:30 p.m.
The tournament will finish OU's stretch of seven games in five days as they run ruled Arkansas twice on Wednesday night and edged North Texas, 4-1, on Thursday evening at the OU Softball Complex.
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LIVE STATS AND VIDEO COVERAGE
Fans that can't attend the games can follow the game on live stats. In addition, The O-Zone will provide video for three of the four games this weekend. The only exception is the Temple game on Saturday.
The O-Zone is a subscription service part of SoonerSports.com that offers inside video coverage exclusive to subscribers.
TOURNAMENT TICKETS
Tickets for this weekend's tournament are single-day tickets and are available for $10 (reserved), $7 (general admission), $5 (youth and senior citizen) and $3 for groups of ten or more at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and at SoonerSports.com. The gates will open an hour and a half before the first games of the day. Temple and Wichita State will open each day with a 12:15 p.m. contest on Saturday and 10 a.m. meeting on Sunday.
SCOUTING WICHITA STATE
The Shockers have opened the season with a 6-11 record and are riding a three-game losing streak after dropping its final three games in the Arkansas Invitational last weekend. The only common opponent between OU and Wichita State is Arkansas, whom the Shockers defeated 3-1 last Friday and the Sooners run ruled twice earlier this week. The Sooners haven't played the Shockers since 2005 and own a 22-game win streak against WSU.
Offensively, the squad has combined for a .242 team batting average with Britnee Barnett leading the way with a .362 clip that includes three home runs and 10 RBI on the year. Barnett is also highlighting the defense as the pitcher is leading the staff with a 3.87 ERA, but Ashly Bright has received the most action in the circle with 46.1 innings pitched in 10 appearances and a 4.08 ERA. Bright is holding opponents to a staff-best .205 batting average.
SCOUTING TEMPLE
The Owls are aiming for their first win of the year after only playing four games so far this season. Temple played in the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson Feb. 16-17 and dropped four straight games to Middle Tennessee State, Arizona, Virginia and Texas Tech. The offense has been strong as the Owls dropped close high-scoring games to Middle Tennessee State (12-11) and Virginia (11-8).
The bats were hot for Temple in its lone tournament of the year as it owns a .330 batting average with Cortney Norene leading the way with an impressive .636 clip that includes four home runs and seven RBI in one weekend, which she earned Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors for. The Temple staff owns a combined 8.22 ERA through four games this season.
PLAYER TO WATCH
OU cleanup hitter Samantha Ricketts has opened the season with a .429 avg and is leading the team with six home runs on the year. The first baseman owns a team-best .898 slugging percentage and has 11 extra-base hits this season.
SOONERS MOVE UP
Owning a perfect record, moved up in both top-25 polls. In the USA Today/NFCA Poll, the Sooners find themselves at No. 7 while they are No. 6 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll. The Sooners have been ranked in the top 25 of every NFCA poll since its inception, which spans 159 weeks long. OU and Arizona are the only programs to be ranked in the NFCA Top-25 every week of its existence.
The poll features eight of the opponents Oklahoma will face this season, including five Big 12 foes and two top 10 opponents (Arizona and Oregon State).Both polls can be found on in the left hand column.
UPDATING THE SOONERS
The Sooners remain one of only three undefeated teams left in the country and own a 19-0 record after wrapping up wins this week over Arkansas (two) and North Texas. Additionally, OU is off to its best start in school history.
OU recorded its latest win on Thursday evening as the Sooners edged North Texas, 4-1. The Oklahoma offense only connected on four hits, but Morgan Hudsonpillar earned her second win of the season after surrendering four hits and one run in six innings.
The Sooners swept Arkansas in a doubleheader Wednesday night as both contests ended in a run rule. D. J. Mathis pitched a no-hitter in the first game and the Sooner offense rolled to a 14-0 run-rule victory (five innings). It marked the first no-hitter by a Sooner since April 22, 2003 when Kami Keiter did it against Tulsa. The sophomore lefty struck out seven in the five-inning contest and was one walk away from a perfect game.
Traci Dickenson keyed the Sooners in the second game with her walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to give OU the 10-2 run-rule win. It marked her fourth home run of the season as OU recorded its ninth run rule of the year.
Samantha Ricketts was the offensive leader in both games as the sophomore was impressive against the Lady'Backs with seven RBI on a 4-for-7 performance. Ricketts, OU's home run leader, pounded her sixth home run of the year and also recorded a double in the combined two games.
UP NEXT
Following the Residence Inn Invitational, the Sooners will play six games in four days. OU will head to Tulsa next Wednesday to take on the Golden Hurricane at 6 p.m. The Sooners will return home to host Evansville on Thursday night at 6 p.m. and will host the OU Worth Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Playing a doubleheader on Friday, OU will take on Evansville at 2:30 p.m. and finish with Centenary at 4:45 p.m. In Saturday action, Oklahoma will face Centenary at 2:30 p.m. and UMKC at 4:45 p.m.
FIRST NO-HITTER SINCE 2003
The Sooners have recorded 27 no-hitters in their program history and D. J. Mathis' no-hitter against Arkansas this past Wednesday broke a four-year drought on the OU pitching staff. It marked the first one since Kami Keiter held Tulsa hitless on April 22, 2003.
NATION'S BEST IN RUNS SCORED
The Sooners have opened the season as an offensive juggernaut and are leading the nation in runs scored with an average of 8.6 runs per game since its latest contest against North Texas. Below is a look at the top teams in the country in runs scored as of March 1.
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BEST START EVER
Oklahoma has made history with its 19-0 start to the 2007 season. No other Sooner squad in OU history has recorded a better mark. The previous best was a 12-0 start by both the 2001 and 2002 squads.
LARGEST WINNING STREAKS
Riding its 19-game winning streak, the Sooners own the third longest winning streak in school history. The 2005 squad set the record with a 29-game win streak and the 2001 team won 23 straight.
SWEET 600 & 800
Gasso won the 600th game of her OU coaching career on Feb. 25, 2007 in a 7-2 win over Ohio State in the Palm Springs Classic this past weekend. The winningest coach in Big 12 history now owns a 603-200-2 (.750) mark at OU since taking over the Sooner program in 1995. She distanced herself from the previous Sooner coaches a long time ago. In fact the next closest in career wins is former OU administrator Marita Hynes, who went 256-189 from 1977-84. Gasso also needs 35 more wins to claim the 800th victory of her head coaching career.
DICKSON BREAKS STOLEN BASE RECORD
Senior Norrelle Dickson stole the 87th base of her career against Ohio State (Feb. 25) this past weekend in Palm Springs. The theft broke the career stolen base record at OU that was previously held by Christy Ring (1999-2002) with 86. Dickson leads the Sooners with 16-of-18 stolen bases on the season, which ranks second among all Big 12 players.
CHASING NO. 294
Senior All-American Norrelle Dickson is on pace to break the OU career hits record this season. The two-time All-American is the OU career leader in batting average and currently owns 266 career hits, which is tied for fourth on the all-time list. The record, set by Kristin Vesely last season, is 294. The current projection has her claiming the mark in 21 games which would be right around OU's conference-opening weekend at Texas Tech and Texas (March 22-25).
TOP DEFENSE
Head coach Patty Gasso has always said that this year's team was going to be very strong defensively. The Sooners' efforts have showed in the opening month of the season as OU is leading all Big 12 schools with a .980 fielding average. The Sooners have only committed 10 errors all year with three other schools being the next closest with 14 each. Additionally, only four bases have been stolen on the Sooners so far this season.
PERFECT IN FEBRUARY
Head coach Patty Gasso has recorded her first perfect February. The Sooners went 18-0 in the month of February, marking the first time in school history a squad has done that.
RICKETTS AND MENA CATCH FIRE
Samantha Ricketts and Mariee Mena caught fire at the Palm Springs Classic this past weekend. The four and five-hole hitters in the lineup, respectively, combined for 18 of OU's 36 RBI on the weekend. Ricketts led the way with 10 RBI on two home runs and three doubles while Mena also added a double and two home runs for eight RBI.
EXTRA BASES
The Sooners had their streak of 18 straight games with an extra-base hit snapped against North Texas. The Sooners had recorded at least one extra-base hit in all 18 games prior to that. The Sooners have recorded more than one multiple-base hit on 16 different occasions this season.
THE RETURN OF MATHIS
D.J. Mathis has come on strong in the last week of play and looks like a different pitcher compared to the beginning of the season. The sophomore lefty threw her first no-hitter of her career against Arkansas this past Thursday. Below is a comparison of her first three starts of the year and her last three:
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HOME RUN CENTRAL
Head coach Patty Gasso added more power to the lineup this season and it has been evident as OU leads the Big 12 with 23 home runs. Samantha Ricketts is leading the way with six home runs (second in the league). Additionally, OU has also recorded four grand slams this season by Ricketts, Susan Ogden, Stacia Aleman and Traci Dickenson.
A BETTER START
The Sooners are off to an impressive start to the 2007 season and are a much-improved squad compared to last year's young group. Below is a comparison of the first 19 games of 2006 and the first 19 games of 2007. Statistically, the Sooners are off to an impressive start.
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VANDEVER SETTLES IN
Freshman catcher Lindsey Vandever has often drawn comparisons to former All-American OU catcher Heather Scaglione. The rookie came on strong in Palm Springs as she started the final three games against No. 16 Cal, No. 6 Oregon State and Ohio State. The Davenport, Okla., native showed her arm strength as she threw out all three runners that attempted to steal on her this weekend
Vandever has shown her all-around talent since entering the starting lineup as she is hitting at a .355 clip and has thrown out four base runners in six attempts.
MENA NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Mariee Mena was recognized by USA Softball as the National Player of the Week for her play Feb. 19-25. The Escondido, Calif., native produced a .692 batting average over
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