Softball Hosts Texas Tech for Senior Weekend

¹ Oklahoma

Texas Tech

April 24-25 / 1 p.m./3 p.m./12 p.m. CT / Marita Hynes Field

SoonerSports.tv / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes / Tickets

WEEKEND STORYLINES

• No. 1 Oklahoma plays host to Texas Tech for its home regular season finale at Marita Hynes Field, April 24-25.

• The Sooners and Red Raiders face off for a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. CT prior to a noon start on Sunday for the series finale.

• All three games can be seen via SoonerSports.tv (subscription required) with OU play-by-play announcer Chris Plank and alumna Destinee Martinez on the call.

• The action can be heard on The Franchise 2 (103.3 FM, 1560 AM) in Oklahoma and nationwide on the TuneIn app.

• A limited number of tickets have been made available for this weekend's series with Tech and can be purchased via SoonerSports.com/tickets or by calling the OU ticket office at 405-325-2424. All seating for the series will be in seating pods of 2. Please call the ticket office or email outickets@ou.edu with any questions.

SUPER SENIOR WEEKEND

• Oklahoma will honor its three redshirt seniors, Giselle Juarez, Nicole Mendes and Shannon Saile, this weekend as they play at Marita Hynes Field for the final time of the regular season.

• The three have combined for 229 wins to just 25 losses dating back to Mendes' freshman year in 2017. Juarez and Saile joined the team as transfers in 2019.

• Throughout their careers, they have been a part of one national title, three Big 12 regular season titles and two Big 12 tourney titles.

• Mendes, a two-time WCWS all-tournament team member and the 2017 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, helped the 2017 team to back-to-back national titles. The Houston native ranks in the top 10 in program history for triples and stolen bases and has started 187 games in her career.

• Juarez, a transfer from Arizona State in 2019, is a two-time NFCA First-Team All-American and the 2019 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and All-Big 12 First-Team honoree. The OU ace has thrown two perfect games as a Sooner and combined on another two, also has one individual no-hitter, one combined no-hitter and 16 double-digit strikeout games. Juarez ranks in the top 10 in OU career history for opponent batting average, strikeouts per seven innings and walks per seven innings.

• Saile, a 2019 transfer from Florida International, was a 2019 All-Big 12 Second Team selection and has 289 strikeouts and counting in her career. Saile ranks in the top 10 in program history with 11 saves and has combined on one perfect game and one no-hitter in her career.

CONFERENCE DOMINANCE

• The top-ranked Sooners are 9-0 through three Big 12 conference series. OU has swept Iowa State (March 26-28) in Ames and Kansas (April 1-3) and No. 7/8 Texas (April 16-18) in Norman.

• Oklahoma has won 52 consecutive Big 12 regular season games, with its last loss coming against Baylor on April 23, 2017. The streak is the longest in program history.

• OU is undefeated in their last 57 conference series (53-0-4 in that span) and have not lost a conference series since 2011.

• Winner of the last eight regular season Big 12 championships, the Oklahoma softball team topped the 2021 Big 12 Preseason Coaches' Poll and looks to make it nine straight regular season titles in 2021.

• OU has finished first in the Big 12 over the past eight seasons with a combined record of 137-13. Prior to OU's current run of eight straight regular season titles, no team had ever won more than two consecutive.

• Overall, the Sooners have 18 Big 12 titles with 12 regular season crowns and six Big 12 tournament championships, all under head coach Patty Gasso. OU claimed the last completed tournament championship in 2018 for the second year in a row (tournament was not finished in 2019 due to inclement weather).

• In 2019, the last year Big 12 conference softball contests were played due to the cancellation of the 2020 season prior to conference play, the Sooners became the first program to finish Big 12 play undefeated in back- to-back seasons.

A LOOK AT THE RED RAIDERS

• Texas Tech is lead by head coach Sami Ward in her first season in Lubbock and comes to Norman 18-20 on the season with a 2-10 record in conference play.

• The Red Raiders are paced in the batter's box by senior outfielder Karli Hamilton and junior utility player Yvonne Whaley. Hamilton holds a .320 BA to go with seven home runs and 30 runs batted in on the season while Whaley is batting .331 on the year with 15 RBIs.

• Right-handed senior pitcher Missy Zoch (9-9, W-L) leads the Raiders in the circle with a 3.07 ERA and 105 strikeouts to 73 walks while junior lefty Erin Edmoundson (7-8) is right behind her with 102 strikeouts to 35 walks and a 4.05 ERA.

• The Sooners and Red Raiders most recently most in the 2019 Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, a 8-0 OU win in six innings. Current redshirt seniors Giselle Juarez and Shannon Saile combined for OU's then-23rd shutout of the season.

• The last time the teams met in the regular season was March 22-24, 2019 with the Sooners taking the three-game sweep in Lubbock by scores of 5-1 (G1), 8-3 (G2) and 13-1 (G3 [6 inn.])

ALL THE NUMBERS

• Oklahoma's offense leads the country in every major offensive category:
    • Home runs: 104
    • Home runs per game: 2.97 avg.
    • Batting average: .439
    • On base percentage: .519
    • Slugging percentage: .847
    • Runs: 405 (11.57 per game avg.)

• OU is outscoring opponents 405-52 on the season, scoring an average of 11.57 runs per game to opponents 1.48 clip.

• Oklahoma has won by run rule in 26 of its 35 games.

• OU has scored 10-plus runs in one inning five times in 2021.

• 13 Sooners have hit a home run this season, with 10 players blasting at least two.

• The Sooners hold four of the top 10 individual batting averages in the country:
    • 2nd - Jayda Coleman - .510
    • 4th - Jocelyn Alo - .500
    • 8th - Tiare Jennings - .482
    • 9th - Grace Lyons - .480

• Three of the top 10 home run hitters in the country reside in Norman.

    • T1st - Alo: 23
    • 3rd - Jennings: 20
    • T10th - Hansen: 15

• As a team, OU has hit at least one home run in 33 of its 35 games this season and has hit at least two in 29 of the 35 contests.

• The Sooners 104 HR mark in 2021 is already good for third in program history for a single season (Record is 115: 2019)

• The Sooners top three HR hitters (Alo, Jennings, Hansen) have combined for more HRs (58) than all but 11 teams in the country.

• Oklahoma has hit two-plus home runs in one inning 23 times this season, including three or more seven times and four-plus in one inning four times.

• The Sooners have hit back-to-back home runs 11 times in 2021 and back-to-back-to-back blasts three times.

• The Oklahoma defense holds first in the country out of teams that have played at least five games with a .988 fielding percentage and has committed just nine errors on the season. The Sooners last error came nearly a month ago vs. Iowa State on March 26.
• OU's pitching staff leads the country with 17 shutouts. The staff ranks ninth with a 1.63 ERA.

• Oklahoma holds the top two run single-game run totals of 2021 with 33 in its victory over New Mexico Feb. 27 and 29 in its season opener over UTEP.

• Oklahoma set an NCAA single-game home run record with 13 in the season opener versus UTEP, a 29-0 (5 inn.) run-rule victory. The team tied the NCAA record for homers in an inning with five in the first and fifth innings of the game.

• Freshman Tiare Jennings and junior Grace Lyons tied the school record for home runs in a game with three a piece against the Miners in the season opener.

• Oklahoma registered a program-best 28 hits in its 33-4 victory over New Mexico on Feb. 27 in Phoenix.

ALO, JENNINGS TOP 25 FINALISTS FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR

• Oklahoma senior utility player Jocelyn Alo and freshman infielder Tiare Jennings have been named two of the 25 finalists for the 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, USA Softball announced Friday.

• No. 1 Oklahoma is one of just five programs in the country to have multiple finalists for the award, considered the most prestigious honor in NCAA Division I softball.

• Alo has paced the potent Oklahoma offense in 2021, sharing the nation's lead with 23 home runs to go with an exceptional slash line of .500/.591/1.250. Her 1.250 slugging clip leads the country and she shares the lead in runs batted in with fellow top-25 finalist and teammate Jennings at 60.

• The senior slugger has homered in 21 of OU's 35 games, including two grand slams and two multi-home run games. She has successfully reached base in 47 of OU's last 48 games, including going on a program record 40-game consecutive hit streak dating back to 2020.

• Additionally, Alo tied the NCAA record for consecutive games with a home run at seven from March 7 vs. Sam Houston through OU's first matchup with Iowa State March 26. The Hauula, Hawaii, native has 77 career homers, just 18 shy of the OU and NCAA career record for home runs, set by 2015 OU grad Lauren Chamberlain.

• Jennings has had one of the more impressive starts for a freshman in program and NCAA history in 2021. The San Pedro, Calif., native is one of just two freshmen on the top-25 list.

• Jennings has hit 20 home runs and batted in 60 runs on the season, sharing the national lead with Alo in the RBI category and ranking third in home runs. She holds a slash line of .482/.519/1.116 and her slugging clip is third in the nation.

• Jennings has homered in 16 of OU's 35 games and hit multiple home runs in a game three times, beginning with the season opener at UTEP where she tied a single-game program record with three home runs in her first collegiate game. The frosh has also been exceptional in the field, starting every game of the season at second or third base and holding a .969 fielding percentage with 32 putouts and 30 assists to just two errors.

• The Top 25 will eventually be narrowed down to a Top 10 (announced May 5) and Top 3 (announced May 19) before the winner is announced prior to the start of the NCAA Women's College World Series.

AMAZING ALO

• Senior utility player Jocelyn Alo is tied for the national lead with 23 home runs in OU's 35 games. The Hawaii native has hit a homer in 21 of OU's 35 games, including two grand slams and two multi-HR games.

• Alo has moved up the OU record book for career home runs to second in program history with 77. The NCAA HR record holder Lauren Chamberlain ranks first in program and NCAA history with 95.

• The slugger tied the NCAA record for consecutive games with a home run at seven from March 7 vs. Sam Houston through OU's first matchup with Iowa State on March 26.

• Alo and Chamberlain share the OU single-season HR record at 30 home runs, Chamberlain doing so twice ('12, '13) and Alo hitting the 30 mark her freshman season in 2018.

• More of Alo's eye-popping numbers:

• T1st in the country with 23 home runs.

• Averaging 0.66 home runs per game and a home run ever 2.86 at-bats

• Ranks fourth in the country with a .500 batting average.

• NCAA-leading 1.250 slugging percentage

• Program record 40-game hit streak dating back to Feb. 21, 2020 vs. Texas A&M came to a close April 3 vs. Kansas. The streak goes down as the third best consecutive game hitting streak in NCAA history, falling just three games shy of the record.

• Alo recently announced she will be returning for her extra year of eligibility in 2022 as a redshirt senior.

FRESHMAN PHENOMS

• Oklahoma's freshman trio of Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings and Nicole May have put together quite the first-year campaigns as Sooners.

• Jennings, the 2019-20 Gatorade California Softball Player of the Year, is tied for the team and national lead with 60 RBIs on the year and is second on the team and third in the country with 20 home runs.

• Coleman, the 2019-20 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year out of The Colony, Texas, leads the team with a .510 batting average and just had her 19 game hit streak snapped on Tuesday.

• Coleman also leads the team with 16 stolen bases on 17 attempts in 2021. She's third on the team in doubles with seven on the year and has hit five home runs.

• May, the 2018-19 Gatorade California Softball Player of the Year, is second among the OU pitching staff with 11 wins on the season and third in strikeouts behind veterans Giselle Juarez and Shannon Saile with 62 K's on the year to just 14 walks. She holds an exceptional 1.67 ERA and opponents are batting just .199 against the Pleasanton, Calif., native.

IN THE LYONS DEN

• OU junior Grace Lyons has been known for her savviness in the field, starting all 122 games of her career at short stop for the Sooners dating back to her freshman season in 2019.

• Lyons has a career fielding percentage of .963 and has committed just 11 errors in her OU career and only one in 2021 (.986 FLD%)

• Equally impressive at the plate, Lyons has blasted 12 home runs in 2021 for fourth on the team in a locker room full of big bats.

• Lyons is batting .480 on the year to go with 40 RBIs and 98 runs scored. The junior from Peoria, Ariz., has also hit eight doubles on the year, good for second on the team.

JUAREZ, SAILE LEAD SEVEN-DEEP CIRCLE

• The seven-deep Oklahoma pitching staff has put together a solid season, pitching shutouts in 17 of OU's 33 games.

• The staff has put together two combined perfect games this season plus a no-hitter. Redshirt senior Giselle Juarez, redshirt sophomore Brooke Vestal and freshman Nicole May pitched a perfect game vs. Portland State (2/28). Three OU pitchers, Vestal, freshman Alanna Thiede and sophomore Olivia Rains, combined for OU's second perfect game of the season vs. Sam Houston, March 7. Juarez, Rains and Shannon Saile combined to throw a no-hitter versus New Mexico Feb. 26, an 8-0 run-rule OU victory.

• Along with two perfect games and one no-hitter, the staff has allowed one hit in nine games this season and has not allowed more than seven hits in a single game.

• The staff holds a 1.37 ERA and has allowed 42 runs in 33 games to go with 241 strikeouts and 91 hits allowed to 56 walks.

• Redshirt senior Shannon Saile boasts 70 strikeouts in 41.0 innings of work to go with nine wins and two saves. Opponents are batting just .093 against the Land O'Lakes, Fla., native.

• Redshirt senior LHP Giselle Juarez paces OU with 79 strikeouts on the year in 63.0 IP to go with a team-best 12 wins.

• Freshman Nicole May has impressed in her first season of collegiate competition, striking out 60 in 43.0 innings pitched and collecting 11 wins. May holds a 1.30 ERA.

• Sophomores Olivia Rains (14.2), Macy McAdoo (7.2), Alanna Thiede (9.1) and Brooke Vestal (5.1) have all seen action for the Sooners.

TICKETING/MASK POLICY AT MARITA HYNES FIELD

• No public attendance will be permitted this weekend, with attendance being on a pass-list only basis.

• OU officials are continuing to work closely with leading medical and public health authorities to ensure they are making decisions that are in the best interest of student-athletes, stakeholders and the university. At this moment, OU is anticipating the seating capacity of Marita Hynes Stadium to be at approximately 25% for the 2021 season. Seating capacities are subject to change.

• With limited capacity and overwhelming demand, tickets will be made available to 2020 OU Softball season ticket holders and Sooner Club members in priority order. The University of Oklahoma Athletics Department will be contacting these groups with ticket options for the 2021 season.

• Digital ticketing will be implemented for 2021 to allow fans to seamlessly access or transfer tickets to others via the SoonerSports2Go app.

• Appropriate cloth or surgical-style masks that cover the nose and mouth completely will be required at all times while on campus and inside the OU Softball Complex.

• Other face coverings including clear face shields, gaiters/buffs, bandanas or masks with valves are not permitted.

• Masks may be removed temporarily only if necessary for eating and drinking while in the stadium.

#LAUNCHPAD

• The Sooner Club recently launched a fun, new and creative way to support OU student-athletes and the OU Softball and Baseball stadium projects by offering fans the opportunity to join the #LaunchPad. The #LaunchPad is all about #homers. Pledge to donate your own customized dollar amount for every #homer that OU Softball and/or OU Baseball hit in 2021!

• All donations are 100% tax deductible and will be directed to help fund the facility project of your choice - the new OU Softball Stadium Project and/or the OU Baseball Stadium Renovation Project.

• How It Works: Donate an amount to be charged per home run for softball and/or baseball for the 2021 season.

• Include if you'd like to make a gift for every home run hit in the 2021 season or start your pledge as of today.

• Watch the Sooners and cheer us on to victory while supporting future OU facility projects for baseball and softball.

• #Homers hit prior to your gift date will be included in your pledge. Monthly updates on the Pledge Per Home Run Campaign and other important Sooner Club information will be shared throughout the season.

• All donations from the Pledge Per Home Run Campaign will be treated as charitable donations supporting either the OU Softball Stadium Project or the OU Baseball Stadium Renovation Project and are tax-deductible.

• Payment Dates: Each month, we will charge your card on the first business day of the proceeding month for the amount you have elected to pledge per home run multiplied by the number of home runs in that month. (Monthly Payment Dates: Thursday, April 1, 2021; Monday, May 3, 2021; Tuesday, June 1, 2021; Thursday, July 1, 2021)

For updates and more information on Oklahoma softball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Softball) and like Oklahoma Softball on Facebook.