Sooners Set to Host Norman Regional

NCAA Softball Norman Regional
G1 - Texas A&M v. Hofstra	Friday, May 16 - 5 p.m.
G2 - Oklahoma v. Bryant	Friday, May 16 - 7:30 p.m.
G3 - Winner G1 v. Winner G2	Saturday, May 17 - 1 p.m.
G4 - Loser G1 v. Loser G2	Saturday, May 17 - 3:30 p.m.
G5 - Winner G4 v. Loser G3	Saturday, May 17 - 6 p.m.
G6 - Winner G3 v. Winner G5	Sunday, May 18 - 1 p.m.
G7 - Winner G6 v. Loser G6	Sunday, May 18 - 3:30 p.m. (if necessary)
Location	Norman, Okla. \| Marita Hynes Field (Sun.)
Broadcast	All games will be streamed online on ESPN3
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com
Radio/Audio	KREF 1400 \| SoonerSports.tv ($)
Game Info	Tickets \| Game Notes \| Twitter

The defending national champions, Oklahoma earned the No. 7 national seed in the 2014 NCAA Division I Softball Championship and hosts the Norman Regional this weekend. The four-team, three-day event will feature Texas A&M (35-20, 9-15 SEC) facing Hofstra (33-13, 11-4 CAA) in a first round game at 5 p.m. before Oklahoma takes on Bryant (32-20, 13-3 NEC) at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. All games will be carried by ESPN3.

POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE
Oklahoma is making its 21st postseason appearance which is tied for 13th most in NCAA history. In addition, OU owns the sixth-best win percentage and seventh-most wins in postseason history. The Sooners have reached the postseason in each of the past 21 seasons. Only Arizona is currently on a longer active streak.

Opponent	Longest Active Postseason Streaks
Arizona	28
Oklahoma	21
Washington	21
Michigan	20
UCLA	16
La.-Lafayette	16

Oklahoma is 52-17 all-time in Regional play with 12 Regional championship in 19 appearances. OU has won seven straight Regional contests and 12 of its last 13 dating to 2010. In the team's seven-game win streak, it has outscored opponents 107-15, including a 41-6 margin in a sweep last year.

SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma has met Bryant once before, beating the Bulldogs, 4-1, on March 8, 1992. OU has also faced Hofstra just once, losing to the Pride, 1-0, on March 1, 1996.

With a history dating back to their time together in the Big 12, OU holds a 45-30 all-time record over Texas A&M, including wins in five of the past six games. The teams met last season in the Super Regional in Norman with the Sooners sweeping. OU took the first game 10-2 in six innings thanks to a seven-run sixth inning. Keilani Ricketts struck out 13 and drove in four runs, including the walk-off homer in the sixth. Oklahoma then used another run-rule win to clinch a spot in the World Series. Shelby Pendley homered twice and drove in five runs while Ricketts threw a shutout in an 8-0, five-inning win.

OU AMONG THE HOTTEST TEAMS IN THE COUNTRY
Since being swept in a doubleheader at Louisiana-Lafayette on March 15, the Sooners have won 27 of their past 29 games. OU's winning percentage of .931 in games played after March 15 (through May 11) is tied for the best in the country.

Team	W	L	Pct.
Oklahoma	27	2	.931
Louisiana-Lafayette	22	2	.931
Florida State	26	2	.929
DePaul	25	3	.893
Tulsa	27	4	.871

OU FIRST TEAM TO WIN THREE STRAIGHT BIG 12 TITLES
Oklahoma claimed the Big 12 Championship for the third year in a row in 2014. No other team has won three straights in conference history. Previosuly, back-to-back crowns had only happened twice (Oklahoma in '99-00 and Texas in '02-03).

Oklahoma has now won seven Big 12 regular season titles and four conference tournament championships. The 11 combined championships are the most in league history.

Team	Regular Season Titles	Tournament Titles	Total Titles
Oklahoma	7	4	11
Texas	4	4	8
Nebraska	3	3	6
Missouri	2	2	4
Texas A&M	2	1	3
Baylor	1	0	1
Kansas	0	1	1

GASSO NAMED BIG 12 COACH OF THE YEAR
Patty Gasso was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for the third year in a row and seventh time overall. No other coach in Big 12 history has more than three.

Coach	Team	Awards	Years
Patty Gasso	Oklahoma	7	'96, '99-00, '09, '12-14
Connie Clark	Texas	3	'02, '06, '10
Jo Evans	Texas A&M	3	'04-05, '08
Ehren Earlywine	Missouri	2	'07, '11
Rhonda Revelle	Nebraska	2	'98, '01

Full list of OU Big 12 award winners:

Name	Award(s)
Patty Gasso	Big 12 Coach of the Year
Georgia Casey	All-Big 12 First Team \| All-Big 12 Defensive Team
Whitney Ellis	All-Big 12 Second Team
Destinee Martinez	All-Big 12 Defensive Team
Shelby Pendley	All-Big 12 First Team \| All-Big 12 Defensive Team
Kady Self	All-Big 12 First Team
Kelsey Stevens	All-Big 12 First Team \| All-Big 12 Defensive Team
Brittany Williams	All-Big 12 First Team \| All-Big 12 Defensive Team

BIG 12 FINISH AMONG THE BEST
Oklahoma finished 16-2 in Big 12 play, matching the 2008 season for the second-best record in league play in school annals.

Year	Win Pct.	Record	Place	Postseason
2000	.945	17-1	1st	NCAA Champions
2008	.889	16-2	2nd	NCAA Super Regional
2014	.882	16-2	1st	N/A

DON'T RUN ON OKLAHOMA
Led by sophomore catcher Whitney Ellis, opponents have just eight stolen bases in 22 attempts. OU has a caught stealing rate of .636, which is by far the best in the country as only two other teams are above .500. In addition, the eight stolen bases allowed is tied for the fewest in the country with Hofstra.

Team	SB Against	Caught Stealing	Opp. SB Attempts	Caught Stealing %
Oklahoma	8	14	22	.636
Hofstra	8	10	18	.556
Mississippi State	15	16	31	.516
Nebraska	24	23	47	.489
USC Upstate	9	8	17	.471

CHAMBERLAIN, PENDLEY MEMBERS OF 50-HR CLUB
Lauren Chamberlain and Shelby Pendley are two of seven active student-athletes, and the only juniors, with 50 or more career home runs (through 5/11).

Player	School	Fr.	So.	Jr.	Sr.	Total
Jennifer Gilbert	Ball State	15	18	23	19	75
Lauren Chamberlain	Oklahoma	30	30	8	N/A	68
Haley Outon	Houston	5	22	16	15	58
Kaila Hunt	Alabama	10	21	15	11	57
Shelby Pendley	Oklahoma	19	22	13	N/A	54
Taylor Edwards	Nebraska	18	5	13	17	53
Amber Lutmer	Omaha	11	11	12	17	51

DYNAMIC DUO
Lauren Chamberlain and Shelby Pendley have more combined career HR than any other duo in the nation (through 5/11).

Player (Total)	Player (Total)	Team	Total
Lauren Chamberlain (68)	Shelby Pendley (54)	Oklahoma	122
Jennifer Gilbert (75)	Taylor Rager (38)	Ball State	113
Taylor Edwards (53)	Tatum Edwards (46)	Nebraska	99
Kaila Hunt (57)	Jackie Traina (36)	Alabama	93
Elise Fortier (45)	Gabby Luety (43)	Fordham	88

AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
Below is a list of all OU's top-25 rankings in the latest NCAA Statistics (Games through 5/11).

Stat	Player/Team	Total	Rank
Runs/Game	Team	7.15	3rd
Fielding Percentage	Team	.978	4th
Slugging Percentage	Team	.538	6th
Home Runs/Game	Team	1.29	9th
Winning Percentage	Team	.818	9th
Double Plays/Game	Team	0.49	12th
Batting Average	Team	.318	23rd
Saves	Shelby Pendley	4	12th
RBI/Game	Shelby Pendley	1.15	19th
Wins	Kelsey Stevens	33	1st
Shutouts	Kelsey Stevens	8	22nd
Strikeouts	Kelsey Stevens	229	25th

CHAMBERLAIN FIGHTS THROUGH INJURIES
Lauren Chamberlain returned against UAB on April 26 after missing 23 games (OU went 19-4 without her) due to a back injury suffered March 13. She hit a two-run double in her first at-bat and finished the weekend by going 2-5 with four runs scored, two RBI, six walks and two stolen bases. She initially returned as the DP, but played the last two games at first base. Chamberlain suffered a knee injury however at Oklahoma State on May 10 and did not play May 11. Coach Gasso is “hopeful” Chamberlain will be available for the NCAA Regionals.

In eight games since her return, Chamberlain is hitting .455 (5-11) with a .769 on-base percentage and 1.091 slugging percentage. She's scored nine runs and driven in four with a double and two homers. She's walked 15 times with just three strikeouts and has stolen four bases in four attempts.

SELF GOES DOWN WITH ACL INJURY
Sophomore Kady Self had been one of the hottest hitters in the country in recent weeks but a torn ACL against Texas Tech on May 2 ended her season. Self's numbers in her final 22 games easily trumped her entire career to that point.

Stat	First 45 Games of Career	Past 22 Games
AVG/OBP/SLG	.150/.261/.300	.500/.597/.828
Hits/AB	3/20	29/58
Runs	13	22
2B/3B/HR	0/0/1	4/0/5
RBI	2	19
Total Bases	6	48
Walks/Strikeouts	3/6	14/5

HOME, SWEET HOME
The Sooners have won 39 of their past 41 home games. Included in the run is a 16-game winning streak from March 23, 2013 to March 1, 2014, and a 14-game win streak from March 4 to April 17. Those are the fifth and seventh longest home winning streaks in school history, respectively. OU is currently on a 10-game winning streak at Marita Hynes Field.

Home Win Streak	Dates
45	4/14/00-3/29/02
30	3/13/04-4/6/05
25	4/19/06-3/31/07
18	3/21/08-3/4/09
16	3/23/13-3/1/14
15	4/6/96-4/12/97
14	3/4/14-4/17/14

TICKET SALES AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH
Oklahoma has enjoyed a considerable home-field advantage this season, going 27-2 at Marita Hynes Field and outscoring opponents 225-51 in those games. In fact, more fans have attended OU home games in 2014 than any other season. To date, 21,374 fans have attended home games. That figure trumps the 13,431 that saw the Sooners play during the 2012 season. The highest turnout came on May 11 when a record 1,728 fans attended the Oklahoma State game.

Players Mentioned

Georgia Casey

Lauren Chamberlain

Destinee Martinez

Destinee Martinez

Shelby Pendley

Keilani Ricketts

Kady Self

Kady Self

Kelsey Stevens

Brittany Williams

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics