ESPN.com Features OU's Regional Win

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 1 Oklahoma softball team advanced to a Super Regional after winning the Amherst Regional this past weekend in Amherst, Mass. The Sooners beat Colgate in the NCAA opener, 5-2, and shut out host school UMass, 2-0, to advance to the regional finals.

Oklahoma topped UMass, 6-3, in the regional final on Sunday to advance to its second Super Regional in the last three years. Third seeded OU and DePaul, a No. 14 national seed, will open Super Regional action on Saturday at 11 a.m. (CST) on ESPN.

Junior hurler Lauren Eckermann threw all three games for the Sooners this weekend, recording a 0.67 ERA and striking out 19 in 21 innings pitched with only one walk all weekend.

Norman Super Regional | NCAA Bracket

Graham Hays followed the Sooners all weekend and has featured Oklahoma in his column on ESPN.com this Monday. Below is an excerpt from the article:

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Graham Hays, ESPN.com
AMHERST, Mass. -- The clouds parted over this patch of New England on Sunday, blue skies and warmth replacing three days of gray, gloomy chill. For No. 3 overall seed Oklahoma, the mellowing meteorological picture had to seem like a sign from above, that it had passed the first obstacle thrown in its path on the road to a championship.

Oklahoma's Lauren Eckermann is known for her poise in the circle.
After a weekend of wet fields, frigid wind chills and tough competition, Oklahoma advanced to the super regionals with a 6-3 win against Massachusetts in Sunday's first game, eliminating the Minutewomen and avoiding the dreaded "if-game" nightcap.

The Sooners advance to face DePaul later this week in a best-of-three series at Marita Hynes Field in Norman, Okla., where most expected the team to open the tournament by hosting a regional. Instead, the Sooners headed to Massachusetts (briefly leaving the country altogether when the team charter flew through Canadian airspace after refueling in Dayton, Ohio) to play against a Minutewomen team with the nation's longest active home winning streak.

So much for the perks of winning the Big 12 tournament and entering the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 1 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25.

Complete Article

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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