University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooner Sports Notes: March 31
March 31, 2008 | Athletics
NORMAN, Okla. -- Sooner Sports Notes provide fans with a quick overview of all teams in action for Oklahoma. View a recap of last week, notes and a look ahead for the Crimson and Cream in this weekly feature.
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Women's Basketball |
• Last Week: Four-seed University of Oklahoma fell to five-seed Notre Dame, 79-75, in overtime of its second round NCAA tournament game Tuesday, March 25, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Courtney Paris scored 24 points and added 16 rebounds for her 92nd consecutive double-double; Amanda Thompson had 19 points and eight board to go with a career high eight assists and Jenna Plumley shot 60 percent from beyond the arc to add 18 points.
• This Week: The awards circuit begins for Courtney Paris as she will be honored Saturday morning as one of the five members of the WBCA/State Farm (formerly Kodak) All-America First Team in Tampa, Fla. Paris, the Big 12 Player of the Year, has also been named a first-team All-American by Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com and CBSSports.com.
• Notes: The Sooners notched at least 20 wins for the third consecutive season and the 12th time in program history ... Ashley and Courtney Paris played their 100th game as Sooners against Notre Dame ... The NCAA second round contest was also OU women's basketball's 999th overall.
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Baseball |
• Last Week: The Sooners posted a 3-1 record last week, including a 2-1 series victory at home over No. 20 Baylor. Oklahoma began the week with a 6-5 win over UT-Arlington at L. Dale Mitchell Park and continued its unbeaten streak with an 11-2 victory over Baylor in the series opener. In game two on Saturday, the Sooners edged the Bears, 3-2, in the 10th inning but were unable to complete the sweep on Sunday, falling 7-3.
• This Week: The Sooners will host Dallas Baptist on Tuesday, April 1 at 3 p.m. The game between the Sooners and Patriots will be followed by a visit from No. 10 Texas over the weekend. The Sooners and Longhorns begin the Red River Rivalry in Norman on Friday, April 4 at 6:35 p.m. Game two is slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch and the series will conclude on Sunday at 1 p.m. Sunday's contest marks the end of the Sooners' eight-game home stand, the longest of the season.
• Promotions:
Tuesday, April 1 - 50 Cent Hot Dog Day
Friday, April 4 - Pack the Park Night ... First 250 fans receive a crimson "Pack the Park" T-Shirt
Saturday, April 5 - First 500 fans receive a free OU Baseball Mini-Helmet ... Team autographs after the game
Sunday, April 6 - First 250 fans receive free OU pom-poms ... Kids run the bases following the game
• Notes: OU improved to 10-0 in mid week games after defeating UT-Arlington on Tuesday ... The Sooners are 3-4-1 against ranked competition this season after taking two of three games against No. 20 Baylor and will face a ranked opponent for the third straight weekend on April 4-6 against No. 10 Texas ... The Sooners added four more home runs to their team total last week ... OU has 26 round trippers on the year after connecting for 37 a year ago ... 14 of the Sooners' homers have been with zero runners on base and seven have led off an inning ... The Sooners played in their fourth game of the year in extra innings on Saturday and improved to 3-0-1 ... OU is 11-0-1 in extra frames under current head coach Sunny Golloway ... Senior Mike Gosse extended his team-best hitting streak to 15 games after hitting safely in all four games last week ... In the last 15 games, Gosse has connected for 25 hits, including eight doubles and nine RBIs ... Gosse has hit safely in 23 of his last 24 games and leads OU with .394 batting average, five homers and 26 RBIs.
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Softball |
• Last Week: The No. 12 Sooners recorded a record-setting week as it opened the week on Wednesday with a 23-1 victory over Central Arkansas, setting single-game records in hits and runs scored. Next, Oklahoma jumped out to a 4-0 start in Big 12 play for the first time since 2005 as it swept Nebraska in Lincoln last Saturday. The Sooners shut out Nebraska in game one, 6-0, and completed the sweep with an 11-1 victory over the Huskers in the second game of the twin bill.
• This Week: Oklahoma will travel to Stillwater on Wednesday for the first meeting in the Ford Bedlam Series. First pitch between the Sooners and Cowgirls is slated for 6:30 p.m. and will be televised live in the state of Oklahoma on Fox Sports Southwest (Cox Channel 37 in OKC).
Oklahoma will follow that with a home series against Missouri this weekend at the OU Softball Complex. The first game of the two-game series will begin on Saturday at 12 p.m. and will be televised in the state of Oklahoma on Cox Channel 2 in Oklahoma City. The Missouri series will conclude on Sunday with a 12 p.m. start at the OU Softball Complex.
• Notes: The Sooners own a 4-0 start in Big 12 play for the first time since 2005 and fifth time in Big 12 history ... OU's sweep of Nebraska last weekend marked the first time since the start of the Big 12 Conference that the Sooners have swept the Huskers in Lincoln ... D.J. Mathis shut out the Huskers in the first game of the doubleheader, marking the first time since 2005 that the Huskers had been shut out at home ... OU's 11-1 win against Nebraska was NU's worst home loss since 2000 when it fell to Arizona, 13-0, in the NCAA Regional ... Nebraska gave up double-digit runs for the first time since last season when it lost to Oklahoma in Norman, 10-9 ... Oklahoma has claimed 11 straight wins against the Cowgirls ... The Sooners are third in the nation in home runs with 57 and had six in the series against Nebraska which is more home runs than Nebraska has had all season (5).
• Promotions:
Friday: First 250 fans will receive a free OU Soft Softball and kids in attendance can run the bases and play catch on the field after the game, weather permitting.
Saturday: First 1,000 fans receive a free OU Softball Trading Card Set and team will sign autographs following the game.
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Wrestling |
• Last Week: The Sooners began preparing for the upcoming International freestyle competition last week. April 10 will mark the first event for select Sooners at the University Nationals in Akron, Ohio.
• This Week: The team will hold its annual end-of-the-year banquet this Friday, April 4, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Postal Training Center in Norman. Members of the team will be presented with numerous wrestling and scholastic achievements from the year.
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Men's Gymnastics |
• Last Week: Second-ranked Oklahoma travels to Lincoln, Neb., in search of the program's ninth Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title. OU has won eight of the last nine MPSF crowns, including the last three. The 2008 MPSF Championships are slated for a 2 p.m. (CDT) start from the Bob Devaney Center on the University of Nebraska campus.
• Notes: Senior Jonathan Horton will travel to New York City on April 1 for the 78th James E. Sullivan AAU Award banquet at the New York Athletic Club. Horton is one of five finalists for the honor, given annually to the nation's top amateur athlete ... On Saturday, March 29, the OU men's and women's gymnastics programs dedicated a newly-added team room at the Sam Viersen Center. The meeting room is named in honor of legendary OU women's gymnastics coach Becky Dunning Switzer ... Oklahoma has defeated each of its MPSF rivals this season except for No. 1 Stanford. The Sooners fell to the Cardinal by a 361.650-359.800 count at the Pacific Coast Classic in Oakland, Calf., on Feb. 23 ... Horton is the defending MPSF champion in the all-around and on floor, rings and high bar.
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Women's Gymnastics |
• Last Week: Heading into the final rotation in third place, the No. 9 OU women's gymnastics team recorded its second-highest vault score of the season (49.275) to clinch the 2008 Big 12 Championship in front of 1,660 fans inside the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday night. Performing the final routine of the night and needing a 9.875 or better for an Oklahoma win, Redmond-Sturms posted a 9.95 on vault as the Sooners clinched their second Big 12 title and first since 2004. Following the meet, OU head coach K.J. Kindler was named the 2008 Big 12 Coach of the Year while senior All-American Redmond-Sturms was named the conference's Gymnast of the Year.
• This Week: Next up for the Sooners is the 2008 NCAA South Central Regional at the Lloyd Noble Center on April 12 at 6 p.m. A complete list of South Central Regional opponents will be announced this week.
• Notes: The Sooners improved to 22-0 on the year, clinching at least a share of all four individual event titles, marking just the third time in Big 12 history that a school had event winners on all four apparatuses ... Joining Redmond-Sturms atop the podium (floor-9.9, vault-9.95) were Hollie Vise (bars-9.9) and Haley DeProspero (beam-9.9).
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Track & Field |
• Last Week: Oklahoma athletes returned Saturday from the Bobby Lane Invitational in Arlington with 16 top-three finishes including six event titles. The Sooners were led by sophomore Amy Backel who topped her previous school record in the javelin by over 10 feet on the campus of the University of Texas-Arlington.
• This Week: The Sooners split this weekend as the majority of the team heads to Austin, Texas, for the 2008 Texas Relays, while a group of distance athletes head to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational.
• Notes: Backel broke the school record at last Saturday's Tulsa Duels with a throw of 155 feet and four inches (47.36 meters), but took only one week to rewrite the Oklahoma record books with a throw of 166-8 (50.80) ... Leslie Cole won the 400-meter dash with a personal-best and regional qualifying time of 54.35 ... The OU women's 4x400-meter relay finished first with a regional qualifying time of 3:41.16 ... Latoya Greaves claimed a first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a regional qualifying time of 13.71 ... OU recorded a title sweep in the 200-meter dash with Marcus Pugh and Scottesha Miller picking up wins in their respective divisions with times of 21.09, an NCAA regional qualifying time, and 24.00, respectively.
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Men's Golf |
• This Week: Paced by 2007 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Jesse Schutte's 17th-place standing, the Sooners finished the seventh annual Barona Collegiate Cup in 11th place at the 7,393-yard, par-72 Barona Creek Golf Club in Lakeside, Calif., on March 18.
• This Week: The Sooners return to the links on April 11 when they travel to Tempe, Ariz., for the 54-hole ASU Thunderbird Invitational.
• Notes: Schutte (-1) carded rounds of 71, 71 and 73 to pace the Sooners, who fired rounds of 292 (+4), 298 (+10) and 298 (+10) in finishing at +24 (808) at the California tournament.
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Women's Golf |
• Last Week: The No. 40 University of Oklahoma women's golf team finished in a tie for third place at the 17-team MountainView Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz.
• This Week: The Sooners host the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic, April 6-7 at the Jimmie Austin University of Oklahoma Golf Club.
• Notes: With a team score of 287 (-1) in the first round of the MountainView Collegiate, the Sooners tied the school record for low 18 holes set in 1994 at the Chris Johnson Invitational ... Senior Heather Wright shot a career-low 69 (-3) in the first round ... Wright finished in third place alone, the best tournament finish of her career ... Junior Kendall Dye shot a season-best 70 (-2) in the first round ... Senior Kelly Jacques finished tied for 11th place, her 18th career top-20 finish and the sixth time in eight events this season that she has finished in the top 12 ... Sophomore Ryanne Elmer posted a career-low 72 in the final round.
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Men's Tennis |
• Last Week: Friday, OU dropped its first Big 12 match of the season, 4-3, to No. 21 Texas A&M (10-6, 1-1 Big 12). Sunday afternoon the Sooners (7-9, 0-2 Big 12) were defeated by the No. 5 Texas Longhorns, 7-0, at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
• This Week: Next up, the Sooners host Texas Tech on Friday, April 4. The match is slated for a 5 p.m. start.
• Promotions: Friday is OU Student Group Day - The student group/organization with the most attendees wins $300 in cash. Second place wins $150. Groups must be present by 5:15. Prizes will be awarded after the men's doubles match and groups must be present to win. It's also 50 Cent Hot Dog Day - The first 500 fans in attendance will receive $.50 hot dogs and cokes.
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Women's Tennis |
• Last Week: The University of Oklahoma women's tennis team (8-7, 1-3) traveled to Kansas for the weekend to resume Big 12 play against Kansas (6-7, 1-2) and Kansas State (5-8, 1-3). The Sooners first stop was in Lawrence, Kan., Friday, March 28, where they fell 4-3 to the Jayhawks. OU then headed to Manhattan, Kan., for a Saturday meeting with Kansas State. Losing only one doubles match, the Sooners defeated the Wildcats 7-0.
• This Week: The Sooners return home to host Iowa State and Missouri at the Headington Family Tennis Center. Oklahoma will take on the Cyclones, Friday, April 4, at 5 p.m. The first serve against Nebraska is set for Sunday, April 6, at 1 p.m.
• Notes: Freshman Ana-Maria Constantinescu, ranked No. 87, continued to roll, picking up two wins on the weekend. She first defeated Kansas' Magdalena Tokarczyk 6-4, 6-1. In Manhattan, Constantinescu defeated Viviana Yrureta, 6-0, 6-2.
