Sooners Ready to Host Regionals

May 17, 2013

NCAA Softball Norman Regional
Game 1 - Arkansas vs. Fordham	Friday, May 17 - 5 p.m.
Game 2 - Oklahoma vs. Marist	Friday, May 17 - 7:30 p.m.
Game 3 - WG1 vs. WG2	Saturday, May 18 - 1 p.m.
Game 4 - LG1 vs. LG2	Saturday, May 18 - 3:30 p.m.
Game 5 - WG4 vs. LG3	Saturday, May 18 - 6 p.m.
Game 6 - WG3 vs. WG5	Sunday, May 19 - 1 p.m.
Game 7 - WG6 vs. LG6	Sunday, May 19 - 3:30 p.m.* (* if necessary)
Broadcast	All games will be streamed online on ESPN3.com
Radio	KREF 1400 AM
Tickets	Order online \| (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-GoOU
Game Info	Norman Regional Central \| OU Game Notes \| Twitter

Coming off the program's 10th Big 12 title, the Oklahoma softball team has earned the No. 1 overall seed in the 2013 NCAA Division I Softball Championship. The four-team, three-day event will feature Fordham (35-21, 15-7 A-10) facing Arkansas (34-18, 12-10 SEC) in a first round game at 5 p.m. before Oklahoma takes on Marist (30-24, 10-6 MAAC) at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. All the games will be carried by ESPN3.

Oklahoma is 49-17 all-time in NCAA Regional play, including a 3-0 mark last year. In fact, OU has won nine of its last 10 regional games.

Oklahoma has not faced Marist, but is 4-0 all-time against teams from the MAAC. The Sooners are 2-0 against Fordham with both wins coming in the 2010 Regional. OU is 16-2 vs. Arkansas, including 2-0 in Regional action.

SOONERS TAKE HOME TOP BIG 12 AWARDS
Patty Gasso was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for the second year in a row on Tuesday, while senior Keilani Ricketts took home Pitcher of the Year honors and sophomore Shelby Pendley was chosen as Player of the Year. It's just the second time since 2002 that one team has swept all three awards.

In addition, the Sooners put five players on the All-Big 12 First Team, two players on the All-Big 12 Second Team and four on the inaugural All-Big 12 Defensive Team.

PLAYER/COACH	BIG 12 AWARD(S)
Patty Gasso	Coach of the Year
Georgia Casey	Second Team \| Defensive Team
Lauren Chamberlain	First Team
Michelle Gascoigne	Second Team
Destinee Martinez	First Team
Shelby Pendley	Player of the Year \| First Team
Keilani Ricketts	Pitcher of the Year \| First Team \| Defensive Team
Jessica Shults	Defensive Team
Brianna Turang	First Team \| Defensive Team

SOONERS WIN 10TH BIG 12 TITLE
With a three-game sweep of Oklahoma State, Oklahoma earned its 10th Big 12 championship in school history. It's the sixth regular season title in school history, along with four tournament crowns. The 10 total crowns are the most in league history. The Sooners have won back-to-back league titles for the second time in school history, also doing so in 1999 and 2000.

In addition to the Big 12 championship, the win kept the Bedlam title in OU's hands, which it has been every year since the series against the Cowgirls (30-25, 6-11) was officially introduced in 2001.

The game was played in front of an announced attendance of 1,597. It was the largest regular season crowd in stadium history and the second largest overall, trailing the 1,645 that saw the Sooners play against DePaul in the Super Regionals on May 27, 2007.

BEST BIG 12 RECORDS
With a 15-2 Big 12 record, the Sooners finished with the third-best conference winning percentage in school history.

Year	Record	Pct.	Place	Postseason
2000	17-1	.889	1st	NCAA Champions
2008	16-2	.889	2nd	NCAA Super Regional
2001	15-2	.882	1st	N/A
2001	14-2	.875	2nd	WCWS
2002	14-2	.875	2nd	WCWS

UNANIMOUS NO. 1
For the fifth time this season, 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. Oklahoma has been ranked No. 1 by USA Softball for 14 straight weeks, while the NFCA has put the Sooners on top for 10 weeks in a row.

The Sooners also maintained their spot as the No. 1 team in the latest installment of the NCAA Division I RPI rankings on May 13. They have been No. 1 each week since the rankings first came out.

HOT STREAKS
A quick look at which OU batters have been enjoying recent success:

Player	G	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	HR	BB	K	SB	AVG/OBP/SLG
Casey	16	50	17	21	12	6	1	9	9	4	.420/.508/.600
Chamberlain	8	19	13	11	12	4	4	11	2	3	.579/.733/1.421
Martinez	15	44	9	23	6	1	0	2	1	4	.523/.543/.545
Parsons	17	28	10	11	7	1	0	3	2	1	.393/.438/.429
Pendley	17	52	20	24	34	5	11	9	9	2	.462/.548/1.231
Turang	17	41	16	21	8	1	0	4	5	4	.512/.556/.537

WALKING INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS
Entering the postseason, Oklahoma's 292 walks drawn have already shattered the Big 12 record of 247 set by Missouri in 2010.

In fact, OU already has the fourth-most walks in a season in NCAA history and, with a 5.7 walks per game average, would need roughly two more games to break the all-time record of 301.

Walks	Team	Year
301	California	2002
301	Arizona State	2008
293	Florida	2013
292	Oklahoma	2013

RICKETTS' NO-HITTERS
With her no-hitter against Oklahoma State, Keilani Ricketts has thrown six in her career and five this year, both of which are school records.

Date	Opponent	Score	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
5/12/13	Oklahoma State	5-0	7.0	0	0	0	0	7
4/28/13	Iowa State	12-0	5.0	0	0	0	2	10
4/14/13	Texas Tech	9-0	6.0	0	0	0	4	8
2/9/13	Oregon	12-0	5.0	0	0	0	1	10
2/8/13	Stanford	6-0	7.0	0	0	0	3	14
3/30/12	Kansas	8-0	5.0	0	0	0	0	10

LEADING THE NATION
Below is a list of all OU's top-10 rankings in the latest NCAA Statistics (Games through 5/12).

Michelle Gascoigne is one of three players in the NCAA with an ERA of 1.00 or lower ... of the 11 team categories tracked by the NCAA, Oklahoma leads the nation in three of them, no other school ranks No. 1 in multiple categories ... OU ranks in the top 3 of four different categories, more than any team in the country ... OU also ranks in the top 5 of five different categories, no other school is on more than three lists ... the Sooners lead the country in ERA and scoring, no team has led both categories at the end of a season

Stat	Team/Player	Total	Rank
Earned Run Average	Team	1.09	1
Runs/Game	Team	7.55	1
Winning Percentage	Team	.922	1
Slugging Percentage	Team	.581	3
Home Runs/Game	Team	1.59	5
Fielding Percentage	Team	.976	7
Batting Average	Team	.333	9
Slugging Percentage	Chamberlain	1.072	1
Runs/Game	Chamberlain	1.35	2
Home Runs/Game	Chamberlain	0.49	2
On-Base Percentage	Chamberlain	.599	3
Home Runs	Chamberlain	25	3
Walks Drawn/Game	Chamberlain	1.00	4
RBI/Game	Chamberlain	1.25	6
Earned Run Average	Gascoigne	0.91	2
Strikeouts/7 Innings	Gascoigne	10.6	6
Hits Allowed/7 Innings	Gascoigne	4.03	9
RBI/Game	Pendley	1.25	6
Slugging Percentage	Pendley	.894	6
Shutouts	Ricketts	15	2
Earned Run Average	Ricketts	1.10	5
Hits Allowed/7 Innings	Ricketts	3.59	5
Strikeouts/7 Innings	Ricketts	10.4	7
Walks Drawn/Game	Ricketts	0.88	8

TAKING ON THE TOP 25
Through the regular season and conference tournaments, the Sooners lead the nation in winning percentage against top-25 teams (.842; min. 10 games), are second in wins against top-25 teams (16) and are 14th in games played against ranked teams (19).

Team	Wins vs. Top 25
Washington	17
Oklahoma	16
Arizona State	16
Oregon	14
Florida	13

Team	Record vs. Top 25	Winning Pct. vs. Top 25 (Min. 10 games)
Oklahoma	16-3	.842
Florida	13-4	.765
Arizona State	16-6	.727
Texas	10-4	.714
Missouri	11-7	.611

The statistical breakdown between Oklahoma and its ranked opponents illustrates how dominant OU has been.

Stat	Oklahoma	Top-25 Teams
Wins	16	3
Batting Average	.296	.159
On-Base Percentage	.429	.242
Slugging Percentage	.500	.236
Runs	112	25
Hits	139	70
Doubles	21	7
Home Runs	25	7
RBI	105	21
Total Bases	235	104
Walks Drawn	102	31
Times Struck Out	95	171
Stolen Bases	16	3
Earned Run Average	1.23	5.56
Shutouts	9	1

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.

DOMINANT DUO
Oklahoma's 1-2 punch of Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Gascoigne has been dominant in 2013. Ricketts is 27-1 and Gascoigne is 17-3, while each has an ERA under 1.10 and is holding an opponents' batting
average under .162. Ricketts has thrown 15 shutouts, Gascoigne has thrown eight and the pair combined on two more.

Gascoigne is averaging 10.6 strikeouts per seven innings and has a 7.6 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Ricketts' marks in those categories stand at 10.4 and 6.4, respectively.

Ricketts has tallied 12 10+ strikeout games this year and now has 75 for her career. Likewise, Gascoigne has 8 this season and 22 in her career.

THEN AND NOW
Comparing stats, through the regular season, between the 2013 team and the 2012 squad that reached the finals of the Women's College World Series:.

Stat	2013	2012
Record	47-4	45-8
Batting Average	.332	.316
Runs	385	335
Hits	430	435
Doubles	77	56
Triples	1	4
Home Runs	81	85
Slugging Percentage	.581	.548
On-Base Percentage	.461	.408
Walks Drawn	292	182
Times Struck Out	239	224
Earned Run Average	1.09	1.17
Complete Games	33	34
Shutouts	26	21
Innings Pitched	321.0	346.0
Hits Allowed	181	204
Runs Allowed	58	71
Earned Runs Allowed	50	58
Walks Issued	71	55
Strikeouts Recorded	478	499
Home Runs Allowed	15	19
Opponents' Batting Average	.160	.166

THREE SOONERS AMONG 10 FINALISTS FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
The No. 1 Oklahoma softball team showcased how strong its season has been by placing a nation's best three players among the 10 finalists for the 2013 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced Wednesday.

Senior pitchers Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Gascoigne and sophomore infielder Lauren Chamberlain were all chosen for the award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women's softball. The honor is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.

SUCCESS WITH 2 OUTS
OU has enjoyed tremendous success with 2 outs this season. Of the team's 366 runs, 166 have come with 2 outs (45.4 %). Oklahoma has had 16 games this year where it has scored 5+ runs with 2 outs and 10 games with 7+ runs coming with 2 out.

Outs	Runs	Pct. of Runs
0	90	23.4
1	124	32.2
2	171	44.4
Total	385	100.0

Players Mentioned

Georgia Casey

Lauren Chamberlain

Michelle Gascoigne

Destinee Martinez

Shelby Pendley

Keilani Ricketts

Jessica Shults

Brianna Turang

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics