OU Hosts Intrastate Rival Tulsa Wednesday

March 8 | Norman, Okla. | Marita Hynes Field

Tulsa

^9/10 Oklahoma

KEBC 1560

NORMAN - Riding a season-best six game winning streak, No. 9/10 Oklahoma (15-4) continues its season-high 10-game homestand as intrastate rival Tulsa visits Norman Wednesday night.

The 10-game homestand, on which OU is already 5-0, is the longest for OU since 10 straight games at home from April 16-26, 1998.

The game is airing live on Fox Sports Oklahoma and Fox College Sports Pacific. It can also be heard on KEBC 1560 in Norman or online via the link above.

Promotions

Wednesday is Dollar Dog Night where all hot dogs are $1, while supplies last.

Join us for $1 🌭 tomorrow night at Marita Hynes.

Weather report =☀️ pic.twitter.com/9cDoE9AJv2
— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) March 7, 2017

Facing Tulsa

Oklahoma is 39-10 all-time against the Golden Hurricane, including a 21-4 record 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.

Against current 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 (47) and Nebraska (43). It should be noted that Missouri, Texas A&M and Nebraska were all in the Big 12 for several years.

Since the series began in 1994, the only years in which OU and Tulsa have not played at least once are 1999 and 2015.

The Sooners and Golden Hurricane have played one common opponent this year in Incarnate Word. OU won 14-0 in five innings, while Tulsa beat the Cardinals 7-3.

The Sooners' roster features one Tulsa native in Kelsey Arnold, who attended Holland Hall Prep.

Last Time They Met

Oklahoma prevailed its final non-conference regular season game with a 4-1 win at Tulsa on May 4 of last year.

Paige Parker struck out nine and allowed one unearned run on three hits and two walks. Erin Miller had three hits, while Nicole Pendley also had a multi-hit game with a single and an RBI triple.

Macey Hatfield also had an RBI single, while Shay Knighten and Tori Nirschl drew bases-loaded walks.

Home Sweet Home

Since April 3 of last season, the Sooners have won 20 straight home games. That's the fourth longest win streak in program history.

Wins	Start Date	End Date
45	April 14, 2000	March 29, 2002
30	March 13, 2004	April 6, 2005
25	April 19, 2006	March 31, 2007
20	April 3, 2016	N/A

OU Stealing at Highest Rate in Last 10 Years

Through 19 games, Oklahoma is 31-38 on stolen base attempts. With 1.63 steals per game, OU ranks 48th in the country, but by their own standards, the Sooners are stealing at a higher rate than any time over the last 10 years.

Below is a chart that shows the most steals and steal attempts at OU through the first 19 games since 2008.

SB	Year	SBA	Year
31	2017	38	2017
28	2010	33	2009
28	2009	32	2015
26	2014	30	2014
24	2015	30	2010
24	2011

Sydney Romero leads OU with 9 steals in 9 attempts this year after going 6-8 all of last season. Caleigh Clifton (7) is already halfway to her total of 14 from last year, while Alissa Dalton has 6 to rank third on the team.

As a team, OU has had five games this year with 4 stolen bases. And before going 0-3 against Western Kentucky on March 5, the Sooners were successful on 26-27 tries during a 13-game span from Feb. 17 to March 4.

Quick Hits

Through 3/7, Paige Parker is 4th among active pitchers in career shutouts (24), 7th in ERA (1.68), 9th in wins (71), 14th in complete games (61), 16th in strikeouts/7 IP (7.47) and total strikeouts (559), 30th in innings (524.0) and 38th in starts (75) ... Paige Lowary is 27th among active pitchers in career saves (7), 31st in wins (46) and 47th in strikeouts (357)

Kelsey Arnold leads the team with a .600 average in home games and has raised her average 130 points over the last five games (.176 to .306) ... Mariah Lopez has a team-best 0.55 ERA in home games ... Paige Parker sees an average of 6.0 pitches per plate appearance, no one else on the team is above 4.9 ... OU is 7-0 this year when hitting a home run ... the pitching staff has struck out at least six batters in 10 of the last 11 games and has not walked more than 2 batters in any of the last 11 contests ... opponents have had just one at-bat with the bases loaded this year

OU Continues Remarkable Run in National Polls

After going 6-0 last week, OU remained at No. 9 for the second straight week in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll and dropped from a tie for ninth to No. 10 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

Oklahoma is the only program to be ranked every week of the NFCA poll, 326 straight polls.

Tough Schedule faces Sooners in 2017

Sixteen opponents that reached the 2016 NCAA Softball Tournament, including WCWS participants Auburn and UCLA, highlight Oklahoma's 2017 schedule.

Seven opponents are currently ranked in both polls, including four in the top 10: No. 2/4 (NFCA/USA) Auburn, No. 5/6 Arizona, No. 8/8 Washington, No. 10/11 UCLA, No. 14/13 Tennessee, No. 15/15 Baylor and No. 22/22 Ole Miss. BYU (25 - NFCA) and Arkansas (24 - USA) are ranked in one, while and Notre Dame and Texas are receiving votes in both polls.