Dickson Named National POW

NORMAN, Okla. For the second straight week and third time this season, the No. 3 Oklahoma softball team earned national recognition as senior third baseman Norrelle Dickson was named by the Amateur Softball Association as the USA Softball Co-National Player of the Week for her play March 18-25. Dickson shared the honor with Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher and also collected Big 12 Player of the Week honors for the third time in her career.

Dickson is the third Sooner to pick up the National Player of the Week honor this year as Mariee Mena (Feb. 28) and Samantha Ricketts (March 21) have also been named NPOW. Prior to this year, the only other Sooners to be named National Player of the Week were Leah Gulla (2003) and Jessica Leslie (2005).

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Dickson led the Sooners to a 3-1 record this week in Big 12 play while also making history as she became the career hits and runs scored leader at the University of Oklahoma. Dickson broke the career hits record on Sunday against No. 10 Texas going 5-for-5 against the Longhorns. She now owns the lead with 297 hits in her career, passing former OU player Kristin Vesely's mark of 293. The senior also set the career record in runs scored during OU's win over Texas Tech surpassing former Sooner Christy Ring. She now owns the top mark with 211 runs scored in her tenure at Oklahoma.

“This is really special to me because this is the first time in my career I have ever gotten this,” Norrelle Dickson said. “Our team did a great job this weekend and I just went out there and tried to be an offensive leader all week and get our offense going. It was exciting to break the school records and leave my mark on the program. Hopefully I can continue to be consistent through Big 12 play and our team can continue to improve.”

In addition to setting career records, Dickson was impressive at the plate posting a .750 batting average (12-for-16) to lead the Sooners to two wins over Texas Tech and a victory over rival Texas. She was perfect in two games against the Longhorns going 7-for-7 with two walks while notching a 1.429 slugging percentage and posting 10 total bases against UT.

Despite OU's extra-innings loss to the Longhorns on Sunday, Dickson went 5-for-5 from the plate with a triple and an RBI. The five hits in one game marked a career high for the Sooner while she also set a career high with seven total bases in Sunday's contest.

“Norrelle was such a huge offensive catalyst for us this weekend,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “She was absolutely in the zone all weekend and was clutch for us in all four games. She had a great offensive performance against some very good pitching. I'm excited for her because this honor is very deserving.”

For the week as the lead off batter she amassed a .778 on-base percentage with two RBI on a 1.000 slugging percentage. She also stole two bases during the week, including one against highly touted UT catcher Megan Willis.

Dickson and the Sooners begin a two-week home stand this Wednesday as they host Central Arkansas at 6 p.m. Then, Oklahoma will play in one of the biggest Big 12 series of the season as No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 3 OU meet up this weekend at the OU Softball Complex in a top-five showdown. The Aggies and Sooners will open the weekend with a 2 p.m. contest on Saturday that will be televised on ESPN2. Saturday's contest will also feature a whiteOUt promotion with the first 1,000 fans receiving a free white OU t-shirt to wear during the game.

The series will conclude on Sunday with a 12 p.m. contest between both schools.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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