Sooners Face Wildcats in NCAA Super Regional

May 26, 2011

TUCSON, Ariz. – The ninth-seeded University of Oklahoma softball team opens NCAA Super Regional play against eighth-seeded Arizona Friday evening at 10:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The second game of the best of three series is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. CT. The if necessary game would follow at 6:30 p.m. CT. Both Saturday games air on ESPN with Carter Blackburn and Cheri Kempf on the call both days. Live stats are available at SoonerSports.com.

This marks the third time for Oklahoma and Arizona to meet in Super Regional play since the format began in 2005 (2005, 2008, 2011) and sixth time in the NCAA Championship (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011).

A LOOK AT OKLAHOMA AS A TEAM
• OU is 11-12 against ranked opponents this year. The Sooners haven't faced this many ranked opponents since facing 25 in the 2003 season (16-9).
• Oklahoma has hit 67 home runs this year; seven of those are grand slams.
• The Sooners are 18-15 against the field of 64 and have faced Arizona (2-0) twice this season.
• Oklahoma is 55-33 (.619) all-time in the NCAA Championship. OU has made five appearances at the Women's College World Series (2000-04).
• OU has won 10 NCAA Regional titles (2000-05, 2007-08, 2010-11) and is 2-8 in Super Regional play.
• The Sooners won the 2000 National Championship (66-8).

A LOOK AT OKLAHOMA INDIVIDUALLY
• Sophomore Keilani Ricketts (423) became the Oklahoma single season strikeout leader on April 30. The previous record was 356 by Jill Most in 1996.
• Ricketts' 769 career strikeouts is second all-time at OU and 36 from first place. She averages 11.46 K's per game.
• In her 38 starts in the circle, she has registered double-digit strikeouts 24 times.
• Ricketts set an Oklahoma single game record with 19 strikeouts against Iona on May 20. Her 22 career shutouts are eighth on the career all-time list.
• She led OU with a .636 (7-for-11) batting average during the Norman Regional. Ricketts drove in six runs and produced a 1.000 slugging percentage.
• Ricketts also posted a 1.62 earned run average, holding opponents to five earned run and a .115 batting average. She struck out 34.
• Ricketts was named the National Fastpitch Coaches Association National Player of the Week and Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week for games played May 2-8.
4 Ricketts is the seventh Sooners to earn National Player of the Week honors from the NFCA. It was her fifth career Big 12 honor and second this season.
• Senior Dani Dobbs set a single game best in the second game against Kansas on April 6. Dobbs went 5-for-5 at the plate.
• She's the first Sooner to have five or more hits in a game since Amber Flores had five against Iowa State in 2009. It's also an OU single game record.
• Freshman Destinee Martinez leads OU and the Big 12 with 77 hits. She leads OU with a .360 batting average.
• Senior Chana'e Jones continues to have a breakthrough season. Jones has set single season highs in the majority of offensive categories.
• She's also playing a new defensive position - first base. Jones is errorless in conference games and been responsible for several highlight-reel plays.
• Sophomore Jessica Shults missed the Norman Regional with an illness. She did not make the trip to Tucson.
• Shults' 19 home runs are a single-season best for the sophomore. The OU single season record is 20 (Lisa Carey, 2000 and Lynette Velazquez, 1999).
• Shults has two grand slams this year. Nix has the other two. Ricketts, Williams and Dobbs have the others.
• Freshman Brittany Williams leads the Sooners and Big 12 with 46 walks drawn this season. She also leads the team with a .497 on-base percentage.
• The only other Sooner to have more walks in a single season was Flores (2008-10).
• Ricketts, Jones and Martinez were named All-Big 12 first team. Shults, Dobbs and Nix earned second team honors.
• Head coach Patty Gasso won her 800th Division I game on March 19 against then-No. 4 Washington. Gasso is 815-267-2 (.752) in 17 years at OU.
• Gasso is the 20th active coach to reach the mark and 30th all-time at the NCAA Division I level.
• Gasso is 977-326-2 (.749) in 21 seasons as a head coach. She needs 23 wins for career win No. 1,000.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES HISTORY
• Arizona leads the all-time series 26-13 and holds a 15-4 advantage in games played in Tucson. OU's last win in Tucson was during the 2008 Super Regional.
• Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso is 21-8 all-time against the Wildcats.
• Oklahoma and Arizona are the only two programs to be ranked every week of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll (since 1995).
• Arizona and Oklahoma have previously met in the postseason: 2000 and 2001 WCWS; 2004 NCAA Regional, 2005 and 2008 Super Regional.
• Oklahoma beat the Wildcats 1-0 on May 28, 2000 en route to winning the program's first national championship.
• The Wildcats returned the favor the following year, winning 5-4. U of A won 3-2 in the 2004 Regional.
• In the first year of Super Regional format, The Cats took the series 6-0 and 7-6.
• In 2008, U of A won the first game 3-1, while the Sooners bounced back to win the second 2-0. The Wildcats won the if necessary game 5-2.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Face Wildcats in NCAA Super Regional

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