Sooners Welcome in Mean Green

April 10, 2013

No. 1/1 OU (34-2, 3-0 Big 12) vs. North Texas (18-17, 6-7 Sun Belt)
Game Time	Wednesday, April 10, 6:30 p.m.
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Marita Hynes Field
Television	Fox Sports Oklahoma/Fox College Sports
Live Stats	Gametracker
Game Info	OU Game Notes \| Twitter \| Tickets

Oklahoma takes part in its final non-conference game of the regular season on Wednesday as it hosts the North Texas Mean Green at Marita Hynes Field. The game will be shown live on Fox Sports Oklahoma.

The Sooners have never lost to the Mean Green, holding a perfect 23-0 record. Sixteen of those wins have come in Norman, while OU has also won all seven matchups in Denton.

The teams have played each other at least twice in every season since 2004. Last year, OU won 4-1 at North Texas before taking a 9-4 decision in Norman.

Keilani Ricketts came out out away from perfect game in the team's 4-1 win at North Texas in 2012 after walking two batters in the bottom of the seventh and then giving up a single. She also hit a two-run home run and finished the game 2-3 with three runs batted in.

In the matchup in Norman, Oklahoma withstood three UNT home runs to take the 9-4 win. Ricketts got the win in relief and was 2-2 at the plate with two runs scored, two RBI a walk and a home run.

UNANIMOUS NO. 1 AGAIN
For the second time this season, and the second time in school history, Oklahoma is the unanimous No. 1 team in the country.

The Sooners received all 31 first-place votes in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll and all 20 votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25. The Sooners were also the unanimous No. 1 on March 19.

Oklahoma has now been ranked No. 1 by USA Softball for nine straight weeks, while the NFCA has put the Sooners on top for five weeks in a row. It's the fifth week in a row that OU has been ranked first in both polls.

The Sooners also maintained their spot as the No. 1 team in the third installment of NCAA Division I RPI rankings on April 9. They have been No. 1 each week since the rankings first came out.

RICKETTS' RECORD
Keilani Ricketts added to her stellar resume on Sunday by becoming the winningest pitcher in the history of Oklahoma softball.

Ricketts earned career win No. 116, passing former Sooner Jennifer Stewart, as No. 1 Oklahoma finished off a three-game sweep of No. 18 Bayloe with an 8-0, six-inning win. Ricketts' career record now stands at 116-35, while her season mark is 18-1.

"It means a lot with the tradition of excellence that we've had at OU to be mentioned in that category," Ricketts said of her record. "But it was also great to get the sweep in our conference opener against Baylor."

Perfect through three innings against the Bears, Ricketts allowed only four hits in the game while striking out five and walking one. It's the 12th shutout of her season and the 50th of her career, extending a school record she already owned.

In addition to the wins and shutouts records, Ricketts boasts the top school marks in complete games (111), innings pitched (964.1), strikeouts (1,445) and games started (144).

SOONERS PASS TOUGH WEEK WITH FLYING COLORS
Oklahoma went 4-0 last week, with all four winnings coming against ranked teams.

After losing two games due to rain vs. perennial power Louisiana-Lafayette, the Sooners were able to schedule a matchup at No. 20 Tulsa and come away with a 3-1 victory. Jessica Shults' two-run single proved to be the difference in the win.

That was followed by OU's Big 12-opening series vs. No. 18 Baylor, which Oklahoma took in a 3-0 sweep.

A five-run fifth inning, highlighted by a three-run homer from Lauren Chamberlain, broke open a tie game and led the Sooners to an 8-3 win in game one of the series.

Trailing 3-0 after two innings in game two, OU rallied with a five-run third inning and added four more runs in the fifth to win 9-3. Brittany Williams matched a career high with five RBI to lead the Sooners.

Game three, featuring the record-setting performance by Ricketts, was an 8-0, six-inning win for Oklahoma. Shelby Pendley hit a solo home run, Lauren Chamberlain hit a two-run shot and a five-run sixth inning closed out the win via run-rule.

TAKING ON THE TOP 25
Through April 7, the Sooners lead the nation in wins against top-25 teams (14) and winning percentage against top-25 teams (.875; min. 2 games), while they are tied for second in games played against ranked teams (16).

OU is 14-2 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), Florida State (No. 23), Tulsa (No. 20) and Baylor (No. 18, three times). The Sooners are 1-1 against Nebraska when the Huskers (No. 25) are ranked and 1-1 vs. Louisville (11).

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.

LEADING THE NATION
With the latest release of NCAA statistics, OU is the only school to lead in five individual categories ... OU is also the only school to have two different pitchers rank No. 1 in seperate individual categories ... Lauren Chamberlain is the only player to lead in three different individual categories ... Michelle Gascoigne is one of only two players in the NCAA with an ERA below 1.00 ... Chamberlain is one of only three players to have a slugging percentage above 1.000 ... Of the 11 team categories tracked by the NCAA, only Arizona St. (6) has more top-5 rankings than the Sooners (5)

DOMINANT DUO
Oklahoma's 1-2 punch of Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Gascoigne has been dominant in 2013. While Ricketts is 18-1 and Gascoigne is 14-1, each has an ERA under 1.04 and is holding an opponents' batting
average under .148. Ricketts has thrown 12 shutouts, Gascoigne has thrown six and the pair combined on another.

Gascoigne is averaging 11.8 strikeouts per seven innings and has a 10.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Ricketts' marks in those categories stand at 10.4 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.

SUCCESS WITH 2 OUTS
OU has enjoyed tremendous success with 2 outs this season. Of the team's 265 runs, 125 have come with 2 outs (47.2 %). Oklahoma has had 12 games this year where it has scored 5+ runs with 2 outs and seven games with 7+ runs coming with 2 out.

DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP AT WICHITA STATE
No. 1 Oklahoma took two games at Wichita State on March 27. A 7-1 win in game one was No. 900 of head coach Patty Gasso's Sooners career.

Game two belonged to sophomore Jessica Vest. The shortstop hit two home runs and drove in seven as OU prevailed, 16-1, in five innings. It was the most runs scored by OU in 2013 and the margin of victory was its largest since a 19-3 win over Lehigh on May 18, 2012.

VEST TRYING TO PLAY HER WAY INTO THE LINEUP
Serving primarily as the flex player during her first season and a half with the Sooners, sophomore infielder Jessica Vest is trying to hit her way into the lineup.

Vest played in 62 games last year, but recorded only three hits in 27 at-bats. This year, she's already collected six hits, including three home runs, in just 15 at-bats.

Players Mentioned

Lauren Chamberlain

Michelle Gascoigne

Shelby Pendley

Keilani Ricketts

Jessica Shults

Jessica Vest

Brittany Williams

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics