OU Coaching Staff Wins Regional Honor

NORMAN – Oklahoma softball's coaching staff has been recognized as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I Central Region Coaching Staff of the Year, the NFCA has announced.

Led by head coach Patty Gasso, associate head coach Melyssa Lombardi, assistant coach Tripp MacKay and volunteer assistant coach Nicole Bishop, the Oklahoma softball team finished the 2015 season with a 49-9 record and the No. 9 ranking in the final NFCA poll.

Oklahoma has now won the Regional Staff of the Year in four straight seasons, and it's the ninth overall Regional honor picked up by the Sooners' coaches in program history.

After winning an unprecedented fourth straight Big 12 championship, the Sooners reached the postseason for the 22nd straight season, including all 21 years under Gasso. OU swept through the NCAA Regionals to reach the Super Regionals for the sixth consecutive season where the team's season ended in a best-of-three series at Alabama.

For the third time in the last four seasons, OU had at least three representatives on the NFCA All-America teams. Seniors Lauren Chamberlain and Shelby Pendley were each named to the All-America First Team, while freshman Paige Parker, the NFCA Freshman of the Year, was selected to the All-America Second Team. Oklahoma was one of nine teams to have at least three All-America honorees.

On April 30, Chamberlain hit a grand slam at North Texas for the 91st home run of her career to break the all-time mark of 90 held by former UCLA player Stacey Nuveman. Chamberlain went on to hit four more home runs during the season to finish her remarkable career with 95. In addition, she set the NCAA all-time slugging percentage record with a .960 career mark.

Parker threw four perfect games to join Louisiana-Lafayette's Kyla Hall (1994) and Boston U's Audrey West (1994) as the only pitchers in NCAA Division I history to throw four perfect games in a season. In addition, Parker is the 16th player in Division I history to have at least four perfect games in a career.

The program tied a school record by having all eight of its nominees named to the 2015 NFCA Division I All-Central Region Team, including five first-team honorees. It marks the second straight season that OU had eight selections. The five first-team selections also tied a school record for Oklahoma, matching the mark set by the 2005 and 2007 squads.

Oklahoma became the first team in Big 12 Conference history to capture each of the four major end-of-season awards, taking home Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year honors this season. It was the eighth Big 12 Coach of the Year award for Gasso.

Also this year, Gasso became the second-fastest coach in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 wins when she accomplished the feat this season in 1,300 games. She was the 28^th coach in NCAA softball history to reach that figure and the 17th to do it at the DI level. She also became one of 10 coaches to get 1,000 wins at one Division I school.

A 2012 NFCA Hall of Fame inductee, Gasso just completed her 21st season at the helm of the OU program. She owns a career collegiate coaching record of 1189-364-3 (.765) with an overall mark of 1028-305-2 (.771) at Oklahoma. Gasso has won more Big 12 games (273-83) than any coach in the league's history and has twice as many wins as any other coach in OU history.