Omaha, UIC Visit for OU Tournament

OU Tournament
March 10-12 | Norman, Okla. | Marita Hynes Field

Tickets

Live Stats

KEBC 1560

TV Schedule

Notes

Twitter

NORMAN - Riding a season-best seven game winning streak, No. 9/10 Oklahoma (16-4) concludes its season-high 10-game homestand as Omaha and Illinois-Chicago visit for the OU Tournament this weekend.

Inclement weather in the forecast Saturday morning has altered the schedule for this weekend. Oklahoma will now play a doubleheader against Omaha on Friday beginning at 3:30 p.m. The first game Saturday will now be between the Sooners and Illinois-Chicago at 4 p.m. with a neutral game between UIC and Omaha to be played after its conclusion. Sunday's schedule has not been changed. UIC and Omaha will play at 11 a.m. followed by Oklahoma playing UIC at 1:30 p.m.

Fans with tickets to Saturday's games may use them for Friday. If fans with Saturday tickets are unable to attend Friday's game, they may exchange them for tickets to another home game this season by contacting the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 405-325-2424 or (800) 456-GoOU.

The 10-game homestand, on which OU is already 6-0, is the longest for OU since 10 straight games at home from April 16-26, 1998.

All four games involving Oklahoma will be televised or streamed this weekend. Friday's 3:30 game and Saturday's game will be streamed on SoonerSports.TV, while Friday night's game will be shown by Fox College Sports Atlantic and Sunday afternoon's contest can be seen on Fox Sports Oklahoma. All games can also be heard on KEBC 1560 in Norman or online via the link above.

Full Weekend Schedule
Day	Home Team	Visiting Team	Time (CT)
Friday	Oklahoma	Omaha	3:30 p.m.
Friday	Oklahoma	Omaha	6 p.m.
Saturday	Oklahoma	UIC	4 p.m.
Saturday	Omaha	UIC	6:30 p.m.
Sunday	UIC	Omaha	11 a.m.
Sunday	Oklahoma	UIC	1:30 p.m.

Facing Omaha

Oklahoma is 2-0 all-time against Omaha, though the teams have not met since OU's 4-0 win in 1983. OU won the first meeting between the schools in Norman in 1979, 3-0.

Former Sooner D.J. Sanchez (nee Mathis) is in her first season as the head coach at Omaha. Sanchez was a four-year letterwinner at Oklahoma from 2006-09. A 2008 second-team All-American, she was also a two-time first-team all-region and first team All-Big 12 honoree in 2008 and 2009. In three of her four years on campus she led the team in innings, strikeouts, ERA, wins, complete games, shutouts and starts. Sanchez still ranks among the school's top 10 in nearly every pitching category, including wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, shutouts and complete games.

Facing Illinois-Chicago

Oklahoma is 6-1 all-time against Illinois-Chicago, with six of those seven contests coming at neutral sites. The only game in Norman came the last time the teams met in 2011, a 9-1, six-inning Oklahoma victory. OU has won the last four in the series.

Home Sweet Home

Since April 3 of last season, the Sooners have won 21 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
21	April 3, 2016	N/A

OU Stealing at Highest Rate in Last 10 Years

Through 20 games, Oklahoma is 31-38 on stolen base attempts. With 1.63 steals per game entering the week, OU ranked 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 20 games since 2008.

SB	Year	SBA	Year
31	2017	38	2017
29	2009	34	2016
28	2016	34	2009
28	2010	33	2015
27	2014	31	2014
		31	2012

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)

Alisssa Dalton leads the team with a .500 average in home games ... Mariah Lopez has a team-best 0.55 ERA in home games ... Paige Parker sees an average of 5.6 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 11 of the last 12 games and has not walked more than 2 batters in any of the last 12 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.