Sooners Ready for Home Opener

No. 6/5 Oklahoma (14-3) vs. Missouri State (8-7)/Samford (14-5) Courtyard Marriott Tournament
Saturday	vs. Missouri State \| 2:15 p.m. CT vs. Samford \| 4:30 p.m. CT
Sunday	vs. Samford \| 12:15 p.m. CT vs. Missouri State \| 2:30 p.m. CT
Location	Norman \| Marita Hynes Field
Video Webcast	SoonerSports.TV ($) - All Four Games
Radio	All Games on KREF 1400 AM (Norman) Saturday's games also on 1560 AM (Norman/OKC)
Live Stats	Links Available Before First Pitch
Game Info	Buy Tickets \| Game Notes \| Media Guide \| Twitter

It's the home opener for the No. 6/5 Oklahoma Sooners as they embark on their 18th season at Marita Hynes Field at the OU Softball Complex this weekend as Missouri State and Samford visit for the Courtyard Marriott Tournament.

Oklahoma has won 20 straight, and 25 of its past 26, home openers. The last time the Sooners lost a home opener was a 5-2 setback against South Carolina on March 9, 1994. All-time, OU is 36-8 all-time in its first home game of the season. The Sooners have never lost a home opener at Marita Hynes Field since it opened in 1998.

Not only has OU won 20 straight home openers, it has not allowed a run in a home opener in the last four seasons, outscoring opponents 32-0.

OU was supposed to have its home opener last weekend, but the games were moved to Conroe, Texas, due to snow and cold temperatures. As a result, the March 7 home opener is the latest for the Sooners since 1996 when they opened against Iowa State on March 30.

The Sooners open at home against Missouri State for the second time in program history, also doing so in 1997 with a 5-2 win. OU has won two straight and five of its past six against MSU. The teams last met in 2011 when OU swept a DH, 1-0 and 9-1 in six innings. Oklahoma is 12-3 in the series when played in Norman, but 4-9 in games played elsewhere.

Oklahoma is 2-0 all-time against Samford, though those games were played in 1991 and 1992. OU has never given up a run against the Bulldogs, winning games 2-0 and 6-0 in the series.

WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
Saturday: Season-ticket holders may pick up their season ticket holder gift at the Missouri State game at 2:15 p.m.: an Oklahoma softball visor with head coach Patty Gasso's signature on the side.

Sunday: The first 200 fans for the Samford game at 12:15 p.m. will receive a coffee mug and access to the make-your-own hot chocolate station.

We've got some fun promotions this weekend just in case you needed any more reasons to come out to see the Sooners! pic.twitter.com/Vp1XggJ9BA
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) March 6, 2015

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

Player	G	AB	R	H	RBI	XBH	HR	BB	K	SB	AVG/OBP/SLG
Chamberlain	15	41	18	19	24	9	7	16	3	4	.463/.621/1.049
Ellis	16	35	10	12	12	6	0	9	4	1	.343/.468/.514
Miller, E.	17	49	16	17	11	5	1	8	7	1	.347/.431/.551
Miller, L.	5	5	1	3	5	2	1	2	1	0	.600/.714/1.400
Nirschl	14	14	9	8	4	1	0	2	5	1	.571/.625/.643
Parker	7	15	4	10	8	3	2	2	3	0	.667/.706/1.133
Parsons	11	16	5	6	3	2	0	1	2	1	.375/.412/.563
Pendley, N.	17	56	20	21	11	5	3	4	7	2	.375/.426/.571
Self	17	40	13	15	12	4	1	5	5	1	.375/.429/.550
Vest	14	4	8	3	5	1	0	3	0	3	.750/.750/1.000

Pitchers

Player	G	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
Parker	3	8.0	5	1	1	4	10	0	0.88
Stevens	6	24.0	9	8	5	16	22	2	1.46

CHAMBERLAIN MARCHING TOWARD HR RECORD
With 79 career home runs, senior Lauren Chamberlain is just 11 home runs away from tying the all-time home run record of 90 and 12 away from breaking it. She is currently tied for sixth.

HR	Player, School	Years
90	Stacey Nuveman, UCLA	'97, '99, '01-02
87	Stacie Chambers, Arizona	'08-11
85	Leah Braatz, Arizona	'94-95, '97-98
85	Laura Espinoza, Arizona	'92-95
83	Danyele Gomez, Louisiana-Lafayette	'03-06
79	Kristen Rivera, Washington	'02-05
79	Lauren Chamberlain, Oklahoma	'12-Pres.

STEVENS THROWS NO-HITTER, WINS BIG 12 WEEKLY HONOR
Throwing a no-hitter last weekend against IPFW has earned junior Kelsey Stevens her fourth career Big 12 Pitcher of the Week Award. It was her first of 2015 after winning three a year ago in her first season in the league.

In her only appearance of the weekend, Stevens threw the second no-hitter of her career, and her first as a Sooner, as Oklahoma opened a doubleheader Saturday against IPFW with a 5-0 win at the Scrap Yard Sports Complex in Conroe, Texas.

Stevens struck out a season-high 11 batters, one off her career high, and walked just one. The lone baserunner she allowed was a one-out walk in the second inning. From there, Stevens proceeded to set down the next 17 batters as she was perfect over the final 5.2 innings. She struck out at least one batter in every frame, including two punchouts in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings.

The no-hitter was the second of Stevens' career. While a freshman at Stanford, Stevens threw a perfect game with 10 strikeouts against Virginia on Feb. 23, 2013. It was also the second no-hitter of the season for OU as freshman Paige Parker recorded a perfect game of her own at Hawaii on Feb. 7. It was the 41st no-hitter in program history, and it marked the first time since 2007 that multiple Sooners threw a no-hitter in the same season.

A CLASS OF THEIR OWN
The 2015 campaign marks the final seasons for five Oklahoma seniors: Georgia Casey, Lauren Chamberlain, Callie Parsons, Shelby Pendley and Jessica Vest. Since they stepped on campus three years ago (Pendley transferred to OU as a sophomore in 2013), no team in the country has a better win percentage than the OU seniors and only Florida has more wins.

Best Winning Percentage Since 2012 (through 3/1/15)

Team	Win Pct.	Wins	Losses	Ties
Oklahoma	.854	176	30	0
Florida	.843	183	34	0
Louisiana-Lafayette	.831	164	33	1
Alabama	.812	173	40	0
Oregon	.805	167	40	1

Most Wins Since 2012 (Through 3/1/15)

Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Win Pct.
Florida	183	34	0	.843
Oklahoma	176	30	0	.854
Alabama	173	40	0	.812
Oregon	167	40	1	.805
Louisiana-Lafayette	164	33	1	.838
Arizona State	164	42	1	.795

TAKING ON THE TOP 25
Though early in the season, Oklahoma has already played one of the toughest schedules so far. Through March 1, OU has played eight games against ranked teams this year; only Florida State (9) has played more. In addition, OU's five wins against ranked teams are the second most in the country behind Michigan (6), and it has the third-best winning percentage (min. 4 games).

CHAMBERLAIN, PENDLEY DUBBED 'RUTH AND GEHRIG'
In a Feb. 2 article on ESPNW.com, writer Graham Hays referred to OU's Lauren Chamberlain and Shelby Pendley as the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of college softball.

“In Chamberlain and Pendley, Oklahoma has the closest combination college softball might see to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig,” Hays wrote. “One is the face and voice of a sport, the other the quiet embodiment of excellence. Good luck stopping them.”

Chamberlain and Pendley currently rank first and second nationally among active players in career home runs (through 3/4).

Player	Team	Fr.	So.	Jr.	Sr.	Total
Lauren Chamberlain	Oklahoma	30	30	12	7	79
Shelby Pendley	Oklahoma	19	22	19	3	63
Lauren Haeger	Florida	14	18	20	7	59

Additionally, Chamberlain and Pendley have combined for more career HR than any other teammates in the nation.

Player (Total)	Player (Total)	Team	Total
Lauren Chamberlain (79)	Shelby Pendley (63)	Oklahoma	142
Chelsea Goodacre (55)	Kellie Fox (33)	Arizona	88
Kory Hayden (53)	Morgan Noad (35)	Coastal Carolina	88
Amber Freeman (47)	Haley Steele (40)	Arizona State	87
Stephany LaRosa (49)	Ally Carda (38)	UCLA	87

IN THE POLLS
Oklahoma is ranked sixth and fifth in the NFCA and USA Softball polls, respectively. OU has been ranked sixth or better for the last six NFCA polls and fifth or better in the last six USA polls.

Oklahoma is the only program to be ranked every week of the NFCA poll. The Sooners entered the rankings at No. 18 in the first poll on January 24, 1995. They have not dropped out since -- 294 straight polls. Likewise, the Sooners have been ranked every week of the USA Softball poll, dating back to the 2003 season when they opened at No. 11.

THUMB INJURY LIMITS CASEY
Senior infielder Georgia Casey is expected to be limited to pinch-running duties for a significant time after a thumb injury suffered during Oklahoma's season opener. On Feb. 5, Casey suffered a tear of her ulnar collateral ligament in her left thumb during a tag play at second base. Casey had surgery on Feb. 12; one week after the injury occurred. The timetable for recovery is 8-12 weeks from the date of the surgery.

Casey made her return to the field on Feb. 28 as a pinch-runner against IPFW, but it will still be several weeks before she'll be able to swing a bat.

A three-time All-Big 12 honoree, Casey has a career batting average of .346 with 29 home runs and 121 runs batted in. Her on-base percentage of .459 ranks eighth in school history, while her .608 slugging percentage is ninth. Casey also ranks 10th at OU with 139 career runs scored, 38 doubles and 95 walks drawn.

VEST WINS HIGHEST BIG 12 ACADEMIC HONOR
Senior Jessica Vest was one of three University of Oklahoma student-athletes that were among the 57 recipients of the fifth annual Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award. Vest was joined by Ty Darlington (football) and Kim Moldenhauer (rowing) as winners of the conference's highest academic honor.

The award is named for and given in memory of Dr. Gerald Lage, who was the Faculty Athletics Representative at Oklahoma State University from 1983-2007. To be eligible for this award, students must have earned 100 hours with a cumulative 3.80 GPA, be a letterwinner and must be in residence at their institution for at least one academic year. Students may only receive this recognition one time.

THREE HOME GAMES ADDED TO SCHEDULE
The Sooners have added three games to their 2015 home schedule. OU has added a doubleheader against Central Arkansas on Tuesday, March 31, starting at 4 p.m.

In addition, after having a doubleheader rained out against North Texas in Houston on March 1, the Sooners and Mean Green will meet in Norman on Monday, April 20 at 6 p.m. in a one-game matchup.

Players Mentioned

Georgia Casey

Lauren Chamberlain

Paige Parker

Callie Parsons

Shelby Pendley

Kelsey Stevens

Jessica Vest

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics