Sooners to Play at Tulsa Thursday

No. 1/1 OU (30-2, 0-0 Big 12) at Tulsa (29-7-1, 9-0 Conference USA)
Game Time	Thursday, April 4, 4 p.m.
Location	Tulsa, Okla. \| Collins Family Softball Complex
Live Stats	Gametracker
Game Info	OU Game Notes \| Twitter \| Tickets: $8 - Adults; $5 - Youth

After having its doubleheader against Louisiana-Lafayette rained out on Wednesday, the top-ranked Oklahoma softball team has added a contest at Tulsa on Thursday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Collins Family Softball Complex.

The Sooners are 36-10 all-time against the Golden Hurricane, including an 11-6 record in Tulsa.

The two teams met last season at Marita Hynes Field in the NCAA Regional. Trailing 1-0 after five innings, the Sooners broke the game open with a six-run sixth inning en route to a 7-1 win. Keilani Ricketts struck out 10 to get the victory, while Jessica Shults had an RBI double and Erica Sampson delivered a two-run single.

SOONERS REMAIN CONSENSUS NO. 1 TEAM
For the fourth week in a row, Oklahoma is the consensus No. 1 team in the country. With a 30-2 record, the Sooners received all 31 first-place votes in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll and 18 of 20 votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

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

The Sooners also maintained their spot as the No. 1 team in the second installment of NCAA Division I RPI rankings on April 2.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Tulsa enters the game with a 29-7-1 record overall and 9-0 mark within Conference USA. The team is in first place in the conference has won three games in a row after sweeping UCF last weekend.

The Golden Hurricane and Sooners have played one common opponent so far this season in Florida State. OU won 6-0 on Feb. 23, while TU took two games by scores of 3-2 and 4-1 on Feb. 15 and 17, respectively.

Tulsa has also gone 1-1 against Texas and has beaten both Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. The team has upcoming games at Houston and Oklahoma State. With a 5-2 record (.714) against top-25 teams this year, Tulsa is tied with Florida for the fifth-best winning percentage in such games.

Like Oklahoma, Tulsa boasts a strong 1-2 punch in the circle with Aimee Creger and Lacey Middlebrooks. Creger is 15-2 on the year with a 0.86 ERA and 160 K's in 106.1 innings. Creger's ERA ranks third in the country (two spots behind OU's Michelle Gascoigne), while her figure of 10.5 K's/7 innings is fifth. To complement her, Middlebrooks is 12-2 with a 1.42 ERA and 75 K's in 103.2 innings.

SOONERS TAKE TWO AT WICHITA STATE
Playing in its first midweek games of the year, No. 1 Oklahoma took two games at Wichita State. 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 work 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 five hits, including three home runs, in just 10 at-bats.

TWO-LOSS STARTS
Sitting at 30-2 on the season, the Sooners are off to the second-best two-loss start in program history.

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 4/2, 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 tied for sixth in games played against ranked teams (12).

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.

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.

MARTINEZ HEATING UP
Destinee Martinez has elevated her play over the team's last 10 games. With 9 hits in her last 20 at-bats, Martinez's average has risen from .209 on March 9 to its current mark of .294.

LEADING THE NATION
Oklahoma leads Division I in two categories, team ERA (0.84) and team winning percentage (.938). In addition, Lauren Chamberlain is ranked No. 1 in two 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).

SUCCESS WITH 2 OUTS
OU has enjoyed tremendous success with 2 outs this season. Of the team's 237 runs, 113 have come with 2 outs (47.7 %). Oklahoma has had 11 games this year where it has scored 5+ runs with 2 outs and seven 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 15-1 and Gascoigne is 13-1, each has an ERA under 1.00 and is holding an opponents' batting average under .140. Ricketts has thrown 11 shutouts, Gascoigne has thrown six and the pair combined on another.

Gascoigne is averaging 12.6 strikeouts per seven innings and has an 11.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Ricketts' marks in those categories stand at 10.5 and 8.0, 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.

Players Mentioned

Georgia Casey

Lauren Chamberlain

Michelle Gascoigne

Destinee Martinez

Keilani Ricketts

Jessica Shults

Jessica Vest

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics