Vandever Keys Win in Intrasquad

Sept. 22, 2007

NORMAN, Okla.- OU Softball fans caught an early glimpse of the 2007-08 Sooner club Saturday afternoon as the reigning Big 12 Champions hosted the Sooner Diamond Showdown - an eight-inning, intra-squad scrimmage between the black and white teams at the OU Softball Complex.

Displaying the prolific power that guided last year's club to the second-highest winning percentage in school history, the two teams scattered 23 hits including four home runs in a 7-5 victory for the white team.

"For it being a first week under our belt weekend, I though they were really good," said head coach Patty Gasso. "I'm very pleased and really excited about what this can become."

Down 5-2 entering the bottom of the eighth, the white squad scored five runs including the eventual game-winning, three-run homer by sophomore catcher Lindsey Vandever.

"Today we're split up and to imagine what we can do together, it definitely builds excitement," said Vandever. "We hit the ball hard which is good."

Both squads also contributed spectacular defensive plays as the white squad's Amber Flores robbed Rickets of possible extra-bases with a diving grab to start the third and Savanna Long threw out Jessica Legendre from her knees in the fifth.

Not to be outdone, Iver McDonald made a sliding catch of her own in center for the black squad. The black team got on the board in the second after McDonald's bunt back to the pitcher caused a collision between McDonald and Flores who was covering first, causing the throw to get by the Calexico, Calif. native scoring the base-runner from second.

The black squad struck again in the top of the fifth when Ricketts blasted a two-run homer into the last row of bleachers in right that extended the lead to 3-0. The 2007 second-team All-American led the nation a year ago with her 81 RBIs. Flores cut the lead to two in the bottom half of the fifth after crushing a homer off the 2000 National Championship signage atop the scoreboard in left, once again displaying the power throughout the entire Sooner lineup.

Sherman, Texas native Susan Ogden would stretch the black lead back to three with OU's third home run of the day in the sixth. The black squad took a three-run lead into the bottom of the eighth after matching Flores' seventh-inning RBI-single with a Tracy Dickinson solo shot in the top half of the final frame before Vandever's heroics in the final at-bat.

Morgan Hudsonpillar picked up the victory allowing four runs on five hits in four innings of relief action for starter D.J. Mathis.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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