Sooners Visit Shockers for DH

March 26, 2013

No. 1/1 OU (28-2, 0-0 Big 12) at Wichita State (12-15, 3-2 Missouri Valley)
Game Times	4 p.m. \| 6 p.m.
Location	Wichita, Kan. \| Wilkins Stadium
Live Stats	Game 1 \| Game 2
Game Info	OU Game Notes \| Twitter \| Tickets

*UPDATE*

The University of Oklahoma softball team, the nation's consensus No. 1, takes to the road for its first midweek games of the season with a doubleheader on Wednesday at Wichita State. Game one will begin at 4 p.m. with the second contest to follow.

The two teams were originally scheduled to meet on March 6, but unplayable field conditions at the time due to snow forced the games to be postponed.

Holding an 899-281-2 record at OU, Head Coach Patty Gasso is one win away from 900 in her Sooners career.

SOONERS REMAIN CONSENSUS NO. 1 TEAM
For the third week in a row, Oklahoma is the consensus No. 1 team in the country. Last week, the Sooners earned every first-place vote to sit atop college softball as the
unanimous No. 1 team in the nation.

With a 28-2 record, the Sooners received 27 of 31 first-place votes in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll and 17 of 20 votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

Oklahoma has now been ranked No. 1 by USA Softball for seven straight weeks, while the NFCA has put the Sooners on top for three weeks in a row.

The Sooners also opened as the No. 1 team in the initial NCAA Division I RPI rankings on March 25.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Wichita State enters the doubleheader with a 12-15 record overall and 3-2 mark within the Missouri Valley Conference. The team has won three of its last four games after suffering a six-game losing streak from March 3-16.

The Shockers have faced three common opponents with the Sooners, going 0-2 against Nebraska and losing the season opener against UC Santa Barbara, 7-1. Conversely, OU is 2-1 against Nebraska and defeated UCSB, 5-2, this season.

Of the team's 15 losses, three have come against top-25 teams. Wichita State lost to then-No. 1 Alabama, 2-0, on Feb. 16. WSU's two losses to Nebraska, 3-1 and 9-0, both came when the Huskers were ranked No. 22.

Wichita State is led offensively by Melanie Jaegers who has a .284 batting average and .385 on-base percentage. Layne Greenlee has a team-high three home runs and is the only player with a slugging percentage above .400.

Former Sooner, and the sister of current Sooner Keilani Ricketts, Samantha Ricketts is in her second season as hitting coach at Wichita State. Samantha played at OU from 2006-09, was a two-time second team All-American and finished as the program leader in home runs (48) and RBI (239).

SOONERS SPLIT DOUBLEHEADER WITH NO. 11 LOUISVILLE
No. 1 Oklahoma saw its 10-game winning streak come to an end with 5-1 loss to Louisville in game one of a doubleheader on March 23. A five-run fourth inning proved to be the difference as the Cardinals handed the Sooners just their second loss of the season and their first since a 1-0 setback to then-No. 25 Nebraska on March 2.

The Sooners bounced back though to win game two of the doubleheader, 9-1, in five innings. OU scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and took advantage of four Cardinals' errors to win via run rule for the 12th time this season. Oklahoma hasn't lost back-to-back regular season games since Feb. 24-25, 2012.

SHUTOUT STREAK ENDS AT SEVEN
Oklahoma tied a school record by throwing seven consecutive shutouts from March 9-13. The run matched a mark initially set March 8-15, 1997 and equaled Feb. 23-March 2, 2008.

The Sooners' scoreless inning streak ran to 43.1, with their last run allowed coming in the fourth inning against Drake on March 8.

Earlier in the season the Sooners enjoyed a 35-inning scoreless streak from the third inning against Northwestern on Feb. 10 to the sixth inning against Notre Dame on Feb. 17.

TAKING ON THE TOP 25
OU is 10-2 against top 25 teams at the time of the matchup with wins over Stanford (No. 20), Oregon (No. 6), Kentucky (No. 22), Washington (No. 16), Georgia (No. 16), Arizona (No. 19 and No. 14) and Florida State (No. 23). The Sooners are 1-1 against Nebraska when the Huskers (No. 25) are ranked and 1-1 vs. Louisville (11).

Through 3/25, the Sooners lead the nation in wins against top-25 teams (10) and winning percentage against top-25 teams (.833; min. 2 games), while they are second in games played against ranked teams (12).
The statistical breakdown between Oklahoma and its ranked opponents illustrates how dominant OU has been.

OU won its first eight games of the year against top-25 teams, tying for the school's longest winning streak in such games. The record was initially set March 14-May 12, 2000.

It took 49 innings, but a ranked team finally scored against Oklahoma when No. 25 Nebraska plated three runs in the top of the fifth inning on March 2. At the time, OU was outscoring ranked teams 50-0. The run differential now sits at 71-10.

LEADING THE NATION
Oklahoma leads Division I in two categories, team ERA (0.85) and team winning percentage (.933). In addition, Lauren Chamberlain is ranked No. 1 in three categories, while Michelle Gascoigne has the top ERA and Keilani Ricketts has the most shutouts. Below is a list of all OU's top-10 rankings (complete rankings pages 11 and 12).

The Sooners are the only team in the country to lead in five individual categories, next closest is Houston Baptist at three.

Along with Gascoigne, Keilani Ricketts ranks eighth in the nation in ERA. The only other school with two players in the top-25 is Baylor, with their players coming in at No. 23 and No. 24.

SUCCESS WITH 2 OUTS
OU has enjoyed tremendous success with 2 outs this season. Of the team's 214 runs, 103 have come with 2 outs (48.1 %). Oklahoma has had 10 games this year where it has scored 5+ runs with 2 outs and six games with 7+ runs coming with 2 out.

DOMINANT DUO
Oklahoma's 1-2 punch of Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Gascoigne has been dominant in 2013. While Ricketts is 14-1 and Gascoigne is 12-1, each has an ERA under 1.00 and is holding an opponents' batting
average under .143. Ricketts has thrown 11 shutouts, Gascoigne has thrown six and the pair combined on another.

Gascoigne is averaging 12.4 strikeouts per seven innings and a 11.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Ricketts' marks in those categories stand at 10.6 and 7.6, respectively.

Ricketts has tallied nine 10+ strikeout games this year, and now has 72 for her career. Likewise, Gascoigne has 7 this season and 21 in her career.

NEARLY NO-NOS
In 11 games this season, Oklahoma pitchers Keilani Ricketts, Michelle Gascoigne, Taylor Dewbery and Georgia Casey have helped carry a no-hitter into at least the fourth inning. Ricketts was able to finish the job twice, recording back-to-back no-hitters to start the season.