Norman Regional Begins Friday for No. 3 OU

Norman Regional
May 20-22 | Marita Hynes Field

NORMAN - Winner of five straight Big 12 titles, the Oklahoma softball team has earned the No. 3 overall seed in the 2016 NCAA Division I Softball Championship. OU has earned a national seed each of the last 10 seasons and is a top-3 seed for the third time since the Super Regional format was introduced in 2005. Tickets sold out in less than 12 hours for the Norman Regional.

Against the NCAA Tournament field this year, the Sooners were an impressive 20-6 (.769) during the regular season.

Friday's game between Oklahoma and Wichita State will air nationally on ESPN, while the rest of the weekend's television designations have not yet been determined. Fans can listen to each of OU's games on KEBC 1560 in Norman or online via link above.

Postseason History

Oklahoma is making its 23rd postseason appearance which is tied for 12th most in NCAA history. In addition, OU is tied with Fresno State for the fifth-most wins (89) in postseason history and owns the seventh-best win percentage all-time (.674).

The Sooners have reached the postseason in each of the past 23 seasons. Only Arizona is currently on a longer active streak.

The Sooners are hosting a Regional for the 13th time in their history, including each of the last six seasons.

Oklahoma is 58-17 all-time in Regional play with 14 Regional championship in 21 appearances. OU has won 13 straight Regional contests and 18 of its last 19 dating to 2010. In the team's 13-game win streak, it has outscored opponents 158-38 (12.1-2.9), including a 17-5 margin last year.

Facing Wichita State

Oklahoma has a 45-7 (.865) all-time advantage over Wichita State, including a 24-3 (.889) mark in Norman. Since OU head coach Patty Gasso arrived in 1995 the Sooners own a perfect 32-0 record against the Shockers. That's the highest win total without a loss against a single opponent for Gasso.

OU has faced Wichita State once in the postseason, winning 2-0 in the first game of the 2005 Norman Regional.

The teams met this year in Norman on April 6 with OU winning 10-1 in five innings. Oklahoma scored seven runs over the first two innings, and the team's first five hitters in the lineup combined to go 9-13 (.692) with six runs scored and nine RBI. Paige Parker limited the Shockers to two hits and no runs over 4.0 innings. She struck out four and walked one.

Oklahoma has a long history of success against Wichita State. OU's 32-game winning streak in the series is its longest active streak against one opponent. In fact, Oklahoma has held Wichita State to two runs or fewer in all 32 of those contests.

The schools have met each year since 2012, with OU going 8-0 over WSU in that span by a score of 71-6. Oklahoma has not lost to Wichita State in Norman since the Shockers swept a DH on April 26, 1989, a streak of 18 games.

OU has one Kansan on its roster in freshman Brittany Finney, who hails from Wichita, Kan., and Bishop Carroll Catholic HS.

Wichita State has six Oklahomans on its roster: Liz Broyles from Blanchard, McKenzie Adams from Broken Arrow, Mackenzie Wright from Midwest City (Carl Albert HS), Laurie Anne Derrico from Sterling and Paige Luellen and Macklin Hitz, who are from Tulsa and went to Jenks HS with OU senior Erin Miller.

Facing Tulsa

Oklahoma is 39-10 all-time against the Golden Hurricane, including a 21-4 mark in Norman. OU has won five straight in the series after the teams altered wins and losses over a stretch of seven games from 2009-11. During OU's five-game win streak, it has outscored TU 20-3.

The Sooners are 3-2 all-time against Tulsa in the NCAA Regionals. OU was eliminated by TU in 2009 before winning two of three matchups in 2011 and winning again in 2012.

Against non-conference foes, OU's 39 wins over Tulsa rank fifth-best in program history after its win totals over Missouri (51), Texas A&M (49), Wichita State (45) and Nebraska (41).

Oklahoma visited Tulsa on May 4 and came away with a 4-1 win. Paige Parker struck out nine and allowed one unearned run on three hits and two walks. Erin Miller had three hits, while Nicole Pendley added an RBI triple.

The Sooners' roster features three Tulsa natives in Erin Miller, who attended Jenks HS, and Holland Holl graduates Kelsey Arnold and Paris Townsend. Miller was high school teammates with Tulsa's Kaitlin Allen at Jenks.

Facing Ole Miss

Oklahoma is 3-0 all-time against Ole Miss with one win coming in Norman and two at neutral sites. All three games took place between 1997 and 2000.

OU is 3-0 against SEC teams this year, defeating Alabama in Fullerton, Calif., and winning at both Arkansas and Tennessee.

Ole Miss has one Oklahoman on its roster: Raven Campos from Adair, Okla., and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.

Sooners Enter Postseason on 22-Game Win Streak

OU has not lost a game since a 5-2 setback to Kansas on April 2, a streak of 22 games. It's the fourth longest in program annals and is the longest since winning 23 from Feb. 9 to March 4 in 2007.

During the current streak, OU has four top-25 wins, nine shutouts and five run-rules. The Sooners are 10-0 at home, 10-0 on the road and 2-0 at neutral sites, while 15 of the wins have been against the Big 12 and seven have been non-conference. Here's a stat breakdown during the streak.

The 22-game streak is the longest active run in the country. In fact, Oklahoma has won 29 of its past 30 contests dating back to March 19. From that point through Saturday, no team has a better win percentage in the country than OU.

During the streak, Erin Miller leads the team in batting average (.431), slugging (.681), hits (31) and doubles (9), while Caleigh Clifton has a team-best .620 OBP and 21 walks and Shay Knighten leads in homers (4) and RBI (21).

The pitching staff has a remarkable 0.97 ERA during the streak, led by Paige Parker who has a 0.89 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 94.1 innings.

Clifton's On-Base Streak Stands at 28

Caleigh Clifton has a streak of reaching base in 28 straight games, the longest by an OU player this season and the longest since Lauren Chamberlain reached safely in the final 25 games of 2014 and the first 13 of 2015 for a 38-game streak.

During her run, Clifton has 25 hits, 25 walks and 13 hit by pitches. Four times during the streak she's had a hit, walk and hit by pitch in the same game.

She's posted a slash line of .424/.643/.712 during those 28 games and has scored 31 runs with 19 RBI, three doubles, a triple, four home runs and eight stolen bases.

Clifton is the team's leader in walks and hit by pitch this year. Additionally, she leads the Big 12 and is seventh nationally in OBP at .581, a figure that would be fourth in OU annals.

Parker Embarks on Another Dominant Run

Paige Parker hasn't allowed a run over the last 20.2 IP, hasn't given up an earned run in 30.1 straight IP and has allowed just two in her last 48.0 IP (0.29 ERA). She has eight career streaks of 20.0 scoreless innings, including four this year.

Earlier this year, Parker had a career-best streak of 30.1 scoreless innings from the sixth inning on April 1 against Kansas to the third inning on April 10 at Baylor. It was the longest streak by an OU pitcher since Keilani Ricketts had a 34.1 inning scoreless streak from Feb. 21 - March 2, 2013.