Softball Earns No. 3 National Seed

NORMAN -- Winner of five straight Big 12 championships, the Oklahoma softball team (47-7, 17-1 Big 12) has earned the No. 3 overall seed in the 2016 NCAA Division I Softball Championship and will host an NCAA Regional in Norman beginning Friday.

The No. 3 seed is the highest for OU since being No. 1 and winning the national championship in 2013. Oklahoma has been a national seed for each of the past 10 seasons.

The four-team, three-day event features Tulsa (35-19, 9-9 American) facing Ole Miss (39-20, 11-13 SEC) at 5:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN3, before Oklahoma takes on Wichita State (35-19, 18-6 Missouri Valley) at 8 p.m. Friday night on ESPN.

Friday's winners will square off in the first of three games Saturday, while Friday's losing teams will face off in an elimination game for game two of Saturday's tripleheader. The loser of Saturday's first game will take on the winner of the day's second game in an elimination game later Saturday night. The winner of Saturday's final game will take on the winner of the day's first game on Sunday with an if necessary rematch scheduled for later on Sunday. A full schedule for all three days is below.

Oklahoma, which claimed its 13th Big 12 title this season and is on a nation's best 22-game win streak, owns a 45-7 all-time record against Wichita State. The Sooners have won 32 straight against the Shockers, OU's longest active winning streak against another opponent. The teams met earlier this year on April 6 with Oklahoma winning 10-1 in five innings.

The Sooners also faced Tulsa earlier this season, earning a 4-1 victory on May 4. Oklahoma is 39-10 all-time against the Golden Hurricane, including five straight wins where OU has outscored Tulsa 20-3. Oklahoma is 3-0 all-time against Ole Miss, though the teams have not met since the 2000 season.

The winner of this weekend's regional will advance to the NCAA Super Regional round against the winner of the Lafayette Regional, hosted by Louisiana Lafayette, the following weekend with an ultimate goal of reaching the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma has made the NCAA tournament in every year of head coach Patty Gasso's 22 seasons at the helm of the program and in 23 straight seasons overall. Last season, Oklahoma reached the Super Regionals for a sixth consecutive year.

General admission all-session tickets for the 2016 NCAA Softball Norman Regional are on sale online at SoonerSports.com and over the phone beginning at 10 a.m. Monday morning at (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-GoOU.

Prices are $25 for general admission adult all-session tickets and $20 for general admission youth (2-18 year old, OU student & senior citizen 55 years and older) all-session tickets. Each day of the regional is considered one session and a session ticket is good for all games in one day. Children under one year of age are admitted free. OU students will have to purchase an OU student ticket for this event as it is an NCAA sponsored tournament.

Single-session tickets, if availability remains, will not go on sale until the first day of the tournament at the Oklahoma Softball Complex box office. Single session tickets are $15 for reserved tickets, $10 for general admission adult tickets and $8 for general admission youth/senior citizen tickets.

Orders will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to availability.

Game	Day	Teams (TV)	Time
Game 1	Friday	Tulsa vs. Ole Miss (ESPN3)	5:30 p.m.
Game 2	Friday	Oklahoma vs. Wichita State (ESPN)	8:00 p.m.
Game 3	Saturday	Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (TBA)	1:30 p.m.
Game 4	Saturday	Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (TBA)	4:00 p.m.
Game 5	Saturday	Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 (TBA)	6:30 p.m.
Game 6	Sunday	Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 (TBA)	3:30 p.m.
Game 7	Sunday	Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) (TBA)	6:00 p.m.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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