Sooners Take Win Streaks to Texas

April 7-9 | Austin Texas | McCombs Field

Texas

^11/9 Oklahoma

NORMAN - Winners of nine straight overall, 15 in a row on the road and 18 consecutive games in Big 12 play, No. 11/9 Oklahoma (32-7, 3-0 Big 12) returns to conference play this weekend with the Red River Showdown at Texas (20-15, 0-3 Big 12).

The series begins Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT, continues Saturday at 1 p.m. and concludes Sunday with first pitch at 12 p.m.

All three games will be televised by the Longhorn Network with Alex Loeb and Megan Willis on the call. The games can also be heard on KEBC 1560 in Norman or online via the link above.

Facing Texas

Oklahoma is a 34-24 all-time against Texas, including an 11-9 mark in Austin. The Sooners have won seven in a row against the Longhorns and 10 of the past 11 meetings.

The seven-game win streak is the longest winning streak ever for either team in the series (see chart below). Previously, the longest stretch came in 2000-01 when the Sooners won six in a row. Over the current seven-game stretch, Oklahoma has outscored Texas 42-15.

Team	Win Streak	Dates
Oklahoma	7	4/19/14-Pres.
Oklahoma	6	3/4/00-4/8/01
Texas	4	4/11/03-5/4/03

OU has not lost a regular season series to Texas since 2009, going 5-0-1 since (rain cancelled all three games in 2010). The Sooners have not lost a road series to the Longhorns since being swept in a two-game set in 2009, going 2-0-1 in that span.

Oklahoma has two Texans on its roster in freshmen Alissa Dalton (Cypress; Cy-Fair HS) and Nicole Mendes (Houston).

Former Sooners assistant coach Tripp MacKay is in his first season as an assistant at Texas. He coached at OU from 2008-2015, helping OU to a 389-97 (.800) record, eight trips to the NCAA tournament, seven Super Regional appearances, four WCWS trips and one national title in 2013.

Texas assistant Jennifer McFalls also spent time in Norman as an assistant coach during the 1998 season. The Sooners went 49-15 that year, reaching the NCAA Regional final.

Oklahoma and Texas have played nine common opponents so far in Arizona, Houston, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech, Loyola Marymount, Notre Dame, Tennessee, UCLA, Washington. OU has gone 6-4 against those teams, while the Longhorns are 8-5 against those same opponents.

Last Time They Met

Last season, Oklahoma swept a three-game series in Norman. Coupled with a sweep the prior year in Austin, it was just the second time OU swept the Longhorns in consecutive seasons, also doing so in 2000 and 2001.

Oklahoma withstood multiple rallies to hold off Texas, 9-8, in game one of a doubleheader. The Sooners held a 6-2 lead after the fourth before Texas hit a game-tying grand slam in the top of the fifth. OU then regained the lead on a three-run homer by Shay Knighten in the bottom of the sixth, but Texas scored twice in the top of the seventh and had the tying run on base before OU could secure the win. Knighten, Sydney Romero and Erin Miller combined to go 7-10 with eight runs scored and five runs driven in.

Miller's walk-off, two-run homer was the difference in game two's 5-3 win as OU swept the doubleheader against Texas. Miller also had a game-tying double in the fifth, while Knighten had a two-run single in the third.

Miller was 2-2 with two runs scored, two walks and an RBI, while Romero went 2-4 with two runs scored and a run batted in during a 5-3 victory in game three. Paige Parker entered in the fourth and got the win as she struck out seven, but gave up three runs on three hits and two walks.

The last series in Austin came in 2015 when the Sooners posted a three-game sweep. It was just the second time ever that OU recorded a sweep in Austin in a series of any length and the first time doing so in a three-game set.

Sooners Look to Continue Road Winning Streak

Dating back to April 8 of 2016, OU has won 15 straight road games, including all five road contests this year. The 15 straight wins are tied for the second longest road win streak in program history and are one off the school record.

Wins	Start Date	End Date
16	March 18, 2002	March 20, 2003
15	March 8, 2000	Feb. 20, 2001
15	April 8, 2016	N/A

During the streak, Oklahoma has four top-25 wins, five shutouts and one run-rule win. Seven victories have been against Big 12 teams, while eight have been non-conference matchups.

Big 12 Win Streak at 18 Games

Since April 3 of 2016, OU has won 18 straight Big 12 games, including all three this year. The 18 straight wins are the second longest Big 12 win streak in program history and are three off the school record.

Wins	Start Date	End Date
21	April 1, 2001	April 10, 2002
18	April 3, 2016	N/A

During the streak, Oklahoma has three top-25 wins, six shutouts and five run-rule wins. Eight victories have been at home and seven have come on the road.

The Sooners are undefeated in their past 38 regular season Big 12 series, going 34-0-4. The last series loss for OU came to Missouri on April 16-17, 2011. The next longest Big 12 series unbeaten streak belongs to Baylor at 5-0-0.

Since the Big 12 began in 1996, OU has the best all-time win percentage in conference play at .777 (293-84), while Texas is a distant second at .640 (226-127). Among teams currently in the league, Baylor is third at .508 (181-175-1), followed by Oklahoma State at .449 (170-209), Kansas at .386 (149-237), Texas Tech at .317 (120-258) and Iowa State at .210 (79-298).

Mendes on a Tear Since Becoming a Starter

Freshman Nicole Mendes entered the starting lineup for the Sooners on March 10 in the second game of a doubleheader vs. Omaha and hasn't left since. Over the last 18 games, in which she has started in RF (11), DP (7), LF (1) and P (1), she leads the team in average (.468), hits (29), triples (3) and stolen bases (10) and is second in slugging (.726), OBP (.522) and runs scored (21).

Mendes has hit safely in 15 of the 18 games, including four games with three hits and a four-hit game at Loyola Marymount where she had two doubles and a triple.

OU Stealing at Highest Rate in Last 12 Years

Through 39 games, Oklahoma is 65-81 on stolen base attempts. With 1.68 steals per game entering the week, OU ranked 43rd in the country, but by their own standards, the Sooners are stealing at their highest rate in the past 12 years.

The 65 steals and 81 steal attempts are the most for OU at this point in the season since at least 2006.

SB	Year	SBA	Year
65	2017	81	2017
56	2007	74	2007
55	2016	66	2016
50	2010	61	2011
49	2011	59	2015
		59	2010

After stealing 14 bases all of last year, Caleigh Clifton already has 13 this year to lead the time, while Sydney Romero, who had six a year ago, is second with 12 and Nicole Mendes has 10 to rank third on the team. Eleven different players have at least one stolen base this year.

As a team, OU has 12 games this year with at least three stolen bases and seven games with at least four and a season-high five came against Iowa State (3/31).

Quick Hits

Through 4/2, Paige Parker is 8th among active pitchers in career shutouts (25), 8th in wins (78), 10th in ERA (1.66), 16th in complete games (64) and total strikeouts (626), 17th in strikeouts/7 IP (7.63), 28th in innings (574.0), 37th in starts (82) and 46th in appearances (112) ... Paige Lowary is 21st among active pitchers in saves (8), 34th in wins (50) and 32nd in strikeouts/7IP (6.17).

Mariah Lopez has not given up an earned run in 12.0 innings on the road this year ... she has also given up just one earned run in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd innings combined this year for a 0.19 ERA (36.0 IP total; 42 K's, 4 BB) ... Nicole Mendes leads the team with a .583 average in road games this year, while Macey Hatfield is hitting a team-best .800 (4-5) in Big 12 games this season ... Sydney Romero is hitting .456 (26-57) with runners in scoring position this year ... every pitcher on the OU staff has an ERA of 1.89 or better ... as a team, OU is 82-143 (.573) with a runner on third and less than 2 out ... after hitting 15 home runs in their first 32 games (0.47/game), the Sooners have hit 11 in their last seven contests (1.57/game)