OU-Arizona for a Ticket to WCWS

May 23, 2012

Oklahoma (48-8, 19-5 BIg 12) vs. Arizona (38-17, 12-12 Pac-12)
Game 1	Friday, May 25- 1 p.m.
Game 2	Saturday, May 26- 11 a.m.
Game 3 (If nec.)	Saturday, May 26 - 1:30 p.m.
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Marita Hynes Field
Tickets	OU Athletics Ticket Office
TV - F	ESNPU
TV - S	ESPN
Radio	KREF 1400 AM
Online	Live on ESPN3.com \| Live Stats
Game Info	Game Notes \| OU Twitter \| 50 Cent Hot Dogs

NORMAN, Okla. -- In a rematch of last year's Tucson Super Regional that saw No. 4 Oklahoma (48-8, 19-5 Big 12) advance to its sixth Women's College World Series, No. 13 Arizona (38-17, 12-12 Pac-12) visits Norman for a two-day, best-of-three games Super Regional beginning on Friday.

The two teams kick off action on Friday at 1 p.m. in a game that will be televised on ESPN before returning to the field on Saturday at 11 a.m. for the series' second game which will be aired on ESPN. If the two teams split the first two games, they'll return for an if necessary game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN. Pam Ward and Michelle Smith will have the call this weekend for ESPN.

Riding a six-game winning streak, Oklahoma enters the Super Regional after sweeping its three regional opponents (Lehigh, Tulsa, Oregon State) by a combined score of 32-4. Arizona also swept its home regional with a combined score of 26-5, defeating North Dakota State and Notre Dame twice.

The weekend series marks the fourth time the two teams have met in NCAA Super Regional, with Arizona claiming two of the previous three. Oklahoma swept Arizona in two games, 6-0 and 5-2, at Tucson, Ariz., in 2011. The two wins were part of four the Sooners recorded against Arizona in the year.

Oklahoma's pitching staff sport the nation's top ERA, 1.19, while the ranks ninth nationally with a cumulative batting average of .321. Arizona ranks 29th with a batting average of .303 and 99th with an ERA of 2.87.

OU broke the Big 12 single season home record and is third nationally with 91 home runs and has five players with at least nine home runs led by Big 12 leader Lauren Chamberlain who broke the OU single season record for home runs with 26.

In the circle, the Sooners are led by the one-two punch of Ricketts (31-7) and Michelle Gascoigne (16-1). The two rank fifth (1.05) and 24th (1.49), respectively, among NCAA pitchers for ERA. Ricketts ranks second nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (10.8) and hits allowed per seven innings (3.64), third in strikeouts (371), fourth in hits allowed per seven innings (3.84) and fifth in ERA.

The Wildcats are led at the plate by Hallie Wilson who holds a batting average of .354 and 64 hits. Shelby Pendley leads UA with 19 of the the team's 80 home runs this season. In the circle, Shelby Babcock (21-9) is the Wildcats' most experience pitcher with an ERA of 2.92 in 189.1 innings of action. Kenzie Fowler (15-8) is second for UA on the pitching list with an ERA of 2.72 in 149.1 innings of work.

THE SERIES
• Arizona leads the overall series between the two teams, 26-15, although Oklahoma has won the last four meetings, all in 2011.
• The Sooners are 2-0 all-time against Arizona in Norman. with wins in 1983 and 1985.
• In postseason, the two teams have split 10 games while UA has a 3-4 edge in NCAA Super Regional action.

A LOOK AT ARIZONA
The fourth-place team in the Pac-12, Arizona enters the Super Regional with a record of 38-17 and ranked No. 11 in the final RPI.

The Wildcats have six players hitting over .300 led by Hallie Wilson (.354) and Karissa Buchanan (.345). Arizona is fifth nationally with 80 home runs with three players in double digits - Shelby Pendley (19), Lini Koria (16) and Brigette Del Ponte (15).

The Wildcats have won six of their last seven and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. Nationally they rank sixth in home runs per game with 1.45/game, 11th with a slugging percentage of .516 and 13th in scoring with 5.93 runs per game.

COMMON OPPONENTS
OU and Arizona have nine common opponents this season. The Sooners are 10-4 against those nine while the Wildcats are 9-5.

vs. Oklahoma	Common Series Opponent	vs. Arizona
L, 1-0	Georgia Tech	L, 2-1
W, 6-1; W, 5-2; L, 4-0	Texas A&M	L, 5-4
L, 5-4	Georgia	L, 3-0
W, 4-0; W, 11-1 (5); W, 7-1	Oklahoma State	W, 8-0 (6)
W, 10-0 (5)	UC Davis	W, 8-0 (6)
W, 6-3; W, 4-2	Iowa	W, 6-1
W, 5-0	San Diego State	W, 8-0 (5); W, 8-6 (8)
L, 5-0	Stanford	L, 4-1; W, 9-1 (5); W, 3-1
W, 6-0	Oregon State	W, 12-4 (6); L, 4-0; W, 3-1

SERIES HISTORY
The two teams have played 41 times with Arizona holding a 26-15 advantage. They have only played twice in Norman with OU winning 1-0 (1985) and 2-1 (1983).

In the last 10 games dating back to 2007, Oklahoma has won seven including four straight, all in 2011, by a combined score of 27-5.

LOOKING AHEAD
The winner of the Oklahoma-Arizona NCAA Super Regional will advance to the Women's College World Series, beginning May 31, and will face the winner of the Hofstra at South Florida Super Regional.

AFTER ALL THESE YEARS...
Only two teams have been every one of the 256 NFCA polls in its history and those two teams will meet in Norman this weekend. Oklahoma and Arizona have continued their streak by appearing in the weekly ranking each week this season.

SUPER REGIONAL HISTORY IN NORMAN
The 2012 Norman Super Regional marks just the second time that OU has hosted an NCAA Super Regional in Norman, both under Patty Gasso.

Oklahoma hosted DePaul in 2007 as the Blue Demons took both games by scores of 3-0 and 7-2.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST YEAR
May of 2011 saw No. 13 Oklahoma travel to Tucson to take on No. 10 Arizona. The match up was the third OU Super Regional in Tucson as the Sooners had faltered in the previous two trips.

Keilani Ricketts shutout the Wildcats with 13 strikeouts in the first game, a 6-0 Oklahoma victory, as Brianna Turang rattled off three of Oklahoma's eight hits.

OU picked up the sweep to advance to its six WCWS in program history as OU jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on for a 5-2 win. Ricketts again threw a complete-game win and backed her efforts at the plate with a first inning home run.

The Sooners also defeated Arizona in two regular season games, 11-1 (5) and 5-4. Boxes for all four games begin at page 18.

REGIONAL COMPARISON
See how the two teams in the Norman Super Regional stack up against each other...

Stat	OU	Arizona
Batting Avg.	.321	.303
Runs/game	6.6	5.9
Hits/game	8.4	7.9
HRs/game	1.6	1.5
RBI/game	5.8	5.5
Slugging %	.556	.516
Walks/game	3.5	3.6
On Base %	.413	.399
SB/game	1.0	1.0
ERA	1.19	2.83
Hits given up/game	3.8	5.5
Walks issued/game	1.0	3.5
Strikeouts/game	9.5	6.2
Opposing bat. avg.	.148	.229

OU VS. THE NCAA FIELD
The Sooners have played 16 of the 64 teams in the NCAA field and are 19-8 against those 13 teams. OU was one of six Big 12 teams in the field of 64. OU has played five of the remaining 16 teams and are 7-3 against those opponents.

GET OUTTA OF HERE
Now the Big 12 single-season record holder in home runs with 91, the 2012 Oklahoma team has ranks third nationally in the stat category.

The Sooners have hit multiple home runs on 25 occasions this season and at least three in 14 different games. Oklahoma is 24-1 in its 23 games with multiple home runs and hit 42 in its 24 Big 12 games.

Six players have hit at least five home runs with freshman Lauren Chamberlain leading the way with a Big 12 single season record of 26. With three home runs against Iowa State, the first-year Sooner broke the Big 12's single season record for home runs.

Entering the Super Regional, the Sooners rank third nationally with 91 home runs.

Rank	Team	HRs	Games	Games Left
1.	New Mexico	95	52	0
2.	Alabama	92	60	NCAAs
3.	Oklahoma	91	56	NCAAs

CHAMBERLAIN CHASING
The Big 12 leader in home runs with 26, Lauren Chamberlain broke the conference's single-season record in last week's win over Iowa State.

The freshman ranks second nationally in home runs per game (0.46) and overall with her 26 home runs.

Currently Chamberlain ranks 12th in NCAA history with her 26 single season home runs.

GASSO HITS 1,000 WINS
Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Gasso hit a major coaching milestone as she hit the 1,000-win mark as her No. 7 Sooners defeated Virginia, 9-1, at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. Gasso now stands at 865-277-2 at Oklahoma and 1,025-338-3.

Counting just NCAA Division I wins, Gasso entered the 2012 season 29th all time and has already moved up four spots to 25th.

HITS PARADE
Oklahoma has registered at least seven hits 44 games this season and have hit double digits in the category on 14 different occasions including twice at the Judi Garman Classic with a season-high 19 hits against DePaul before collecting 18 against Virginia. OU opened up postseason play with 17 hits against Lehigh.

OU is 42-2 in the games it records at least seven hits with the only losses coming to Georgia when the Sooners out hit the Bulldogs, 7-4, but fell 3-2, and on April 6 when OU fell to Texas Tech, 5-4, despite collecting seven hits. Oklahoma is 6-6 in the seven games below seven hits.

OU has seven starters hitting at least .329 and eight players with at least 30 hits.

SLUGGING AWAY
The Big 12's top team in slugging with a .556 clip, OU owns four of the top five spots on the Big 12's individual slugging percentage list.

Lauren Chamberlain leads all Big 12 batters with a percentage of .865 while Keilani Ricketts is second with .841. Jessica Shults sits in fourth, slugging .757. Georgia Casey carries a .714 slugging percentage.

Nationally, the OU ranks sixth in slugging with Chamberlain 10th and Ricketts 13th. Shults is 36th and Casey 51st OU joins UTEP as the only school to have two players in the top 15 nationally in slugging percentage.

RACKING UP THE Ks
Keilani Ricketts didn't stop racking up the Ks after reaching the OU career plateau. After striking out 10 Iowa State batters on May 11, the junior now has 19 double-digit strikeout games on the season.

Ricketts has racked up 56 career games with at least 10 strikeouts and has eight games with at least 15 strikeouts including one game this season, 16 at UNLV, and the school record, 19 last season versus Iona.

Strikeouts	Date	Opponent	Hits/Walks	Result
16	2/10	UNLV	3/0	W, 5-0
12	2/11	Kent State	2/1	W, 6-0
13	2/17	Georgia Tech	2/3	L, 1-0
10	2/24	Stanford	8/0	L, 5-0
10	2/25	Georgia	4/1	L, 3-2
14	2/29	North Texas	1/2	W, 4-1
13	3/2	LSU	1/1	W, 7-0
10	3/3	LSU	3/2	W, 5-0
11	3/4	Iowa	3/0	W, 4-2
14	3/23	Baylor	4/1	W, 2-0
10	3/28	Oklahoma State	1/1	W, 4-0
10	3/30	Kansas	0/0	W, 8-0
11	4/5	Texas Tech	1/2	W, 3-1
12	4/13	Texas A&M	5/0	W, 6-1
12	4/20	Missouri	6/1	W, 2-1 (10)
11	4/22	Missouri	4/1	W, 2-1
13	4/28	Central Arkansas	1/0	W, 8-0 (6)
13	5/4	Texas	3/0	W, 5-2 (8)
10	5/11	Iowa State	2/1	W, 10-0
10	5/19	Tulsa	3/1	W, 7-1
10	5/20	Oregon State	2/1	W, 6-0

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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