Sooners Host Shockers in Midweek Matchup

Tuesday, March 29

Norman

6 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

Wichita State

Sooners Host Shockers in Midweek Matchup

March 28, 2022 | Softball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes Trophy Club #LaunchPad

¹ Oklahoma

Wichita State

March 29 / Norman, Okla. / Marita Hynes Field

Bally Sports Oklahoma / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

MIDWEEK BASICS

• No. 1 Oklahoma (29-0, 3-0) continues its homestand at Marita Hynes Field with a midweek matchup vs. Wichita State (17-9, 0-0) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT. Tickets are sold out.

• The game can be seen on Bally Sports Oklahoma with Chris Plank on the call. It can also be heard on the radio via 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma and nationwide on the TuneIn app.

• After 29 games played, the Sooners are batting .384 as a team with a nation-leading 74 home runs, 279 runs scored on 266 hits and 260 RBIs. They are outscoring opponents 279-25 with only 16 runs given up being earned. The team is slugging .777, holds a .502 on-base clip and has swiped 26 bases on 35 attempts.

• The pitching staff holds a nation-best 0.70 ERA and has 264 strikeouts, allowing opponents to bat just .136.

• The Sooners have won by run-rule in 24 of their 29 games (83% of games).

LAST TIME OUT

• The nine-time defending Big 12 champs opened conference play with a series sweep over Baylor in Norman, winning 9-1 (5), 8-0 (5) and 3-1.

• Tiare Jennings was the star, blasting two home runs on the weekend, one a grand slam and the other a walk-off, while going 4-for-8 with nine RBIs and six runs scored.

• OU's trio of pitchers were exceptional once again, allowing the Bears just two runs on the weekend and registering a combined 26 strikeouts to seven hits.

• Redshirt senior Hope Trautwein tied her season best with 13 strikeouts in Sunday's finale, allowing just one run (unearned) on one hit and three walks.

• OU won their 61st consecutive Big 12 series with the sweep and has won 62 of its last 63 conference contests.

HOME RUN QUEEN

• Jocelyn Alo is the new home run queen of college softball. In front of the home crowd of friends of family in Honolulu on March 12, Alo hit career home run No. 96 to break the tie with OU alum Lauren Chamberlain to be the NCAA career home run leader.

• After an eight-game stretch that saw Alo walk a combined 16 times including three intentional walks, the Hauula, Hawaii, native left no doubt when she finally saw the pitch she wanted.

• The historic homer came in the top of the sixth inning versus Hawaii, a two-run blast to right center on a 2-1 count. Alo went 3-for-3 in the game with three RBIs.

• Alo hit the 96 mark in 224 games and 651 at-bats, she hit the record-tying No. 95 in 215 games, less games than Chamberlain (220) and anyone else in the all-time top 10. Chamberlain registered 607 at-bats in her career, hitting home run No. 95 in her last career at-bat.

• In 2022, Alo is hitting .529 with 15 home runs and 38 RBIs. She has 23 extra-base hits, slugging an astronomical 1.309 and holds an NCAA-best .695 on-base percentage.

LAST TIME THEY MET

• The Sooners and Shockers met three times a season ago, with OU sweeping WSU by way of one regular season game (14-3 [5]) and ending the Shockers season by taking two (7-5, 24-7) in the NCAA Norman Regional.

• In the Regional final, OU beat WSU 24-7 after trailing by four runs after the first inning.

• OU's 24 runs set an NCAA Regional single-game record while the Sooners 50 runs in three games set an NCAA regional record.

• The Sooners blasted six home runs in the final, hitting four in the seventh inning. The six homers tied an NCAA single-game postseason record.

SERIES HISTORY

• The Sooners hold a 53-7 all-time record over the Shockers, most recently taking three games in 2021.

• Oklahoma has won 40 straight in the series, with WSU's last win coming on March 21, 1990, a 4-1 WSU win in Wichita.

• OU has gone 29-3 vs. Wichita State in Norman, winning two a season ago. The Shockers have not won in Norman since April 26, 1989 (9-2 final).

BREAKING DOWN THE 103

• New NCAA Career Home Run Leader Jocelyn Alo can hit blasts from anywhere in the lineup, anywhere in the count and anywhere in the country. A closer look at her 103 career homers:

• Starting with a bang: she's hit her most home runs in the first inning.

        • 1st inning: 25
        • 2nd: 13
        • 3rd: 19
        • 4th: 20
        • 5th: 12
        • 6th: 10
        • 7th: 3
        • 8th: 1

• The First Pitch She Sees: Alo has hit the most homers with a 0-0 count: 21. Next closest is the full count, 3-2, where she's hit 13.

• All over the field: Her most popular homer destination? Dead center.

        • Center Field: 30
        • Left Center: 13
        • Left Field: 29
        • Right Center: 14
        • Right Field: 9
     • Unidentified: 8

• Drive 'em in: Alo has hit homers throughout spots in the lineup, but her primary spot in the two-hole has seen the most blasts.

                • Leadoff: 4
                • 2 hole: 59
                • 3 hole: 24
• 4 hole: 11
• 5 hole: 2
                • 6 hole: 3

• The Mainland and Beyond: Understandably so, Alo has hit the most homers in the Sooner State, but she's also hit blasts in places like Mexico and most recently, her home state of Hawaii. The full list contains 10 states and Mexico. The top three states she's hit HRs:

                • Oklahoma: 55
                • Texas: 14
                • California: 11

HOMER HAPPY

• In 2022, the Sooners pace the NCAA with 74 home runs and a 2.55 HR/game average.

• Alo leads the Sooners and is second in the country with 15 blasts while Jennings sits close behind in a tie for ninth with 12.

• 13 Sooners have went yard already in 2022 with 10 hitting multiple blasts and seven hitting four-plus.

• As a team, Oklahoma has hit homers in 24 of its 29 contests, including hitting two or more in 20 games, three-plus in 15 games, four-plus in 10 games, five-plus three times and six in two games.

• The team has hit two-plus home runs in one inning 16 times, including four in one inning once, and back-to-back blasts five times on the year.

• 12 times this season a Sooner has hit two homers in one game. Tiare Jennings leads the way with four games of two HRs, while Jocelyn Alo has done so three times, Alyssa Brito and Lynnsie Elam twice and Jana Johns once. Elam hit three in one game vs. Iowa (3/20).

DOMINANCE IN THE CIRCLE

• Oklahoma's pitching staff is not to be overlooked by the potent offense. The OU staff of Jordy Bahl, Nicole May, Hope Trautwein and Macy McAdoo leads the country with a 0.70 ERA, allowing just 16 earned runs (25 R) in OU's 29 games. Additionally, the staff holds 16 shutouts on the season.

• Trautwein ranks first in the country with her 0.15 ERA, while Bahl (0.80) holds 10th.

• The staff has thrown two perfect games and three no-hitters. Bahl, May and Trautwein combined on a perfect game in the season opener, Trautwein threw a no-no vs. McNeese on Feb. 19 and Bahl tossed her first career perfect game Feb. 25 vs. CSU-Fullerton. May and Bahl combined on a no-hitter at Hawaii on March 12 and Bahl threw a no-hitter in OU's 20-0 win over Iowa on March 20.

• The staff have a combined 264 strikeouts in 161.0 innings pitched, a product of OU's 24 run-rules.

• Freshman Jordy Bahl leads the group with 116 strikeouts in 69.2 IP (0.80 ERA), while Trautwein (47.2 IP) and May (43.0 IP) have 88 and 59 K's, respectively.

• Bahl has four games with double-digit strikeouts, including a 16 K performance vs. Tennessee. Trautwein holds three double-digit K games while May has two.

CONFERENCE DOMINANCE

• OU finished the Big 12 regular season 16-1 a season ago en route to winning its 13th regular season crown and seventh Big 12 tourney championship.

• The Sooners have won 62 of their last 63 Big 12 regular season games. Their streak of 57 consecutive that ended in Stillwater with a narrow loss to the Cowgirls in 2021 was the longest in conference and program history.

• OU is undefeated in their last 61 conference series (57-0-4 in that span) and have not lost a conference series since 2011.

• OU has finished first in the Big 12 over the past nine seasons with a combined record of 147-14. Prior to OU's current run of nine straight regular season titles, no team had ever won more than two consecutive.

• Overall, the Sooners have 20 Big 12 titles with 13 regular season crowns and seven Big 12 tournament championships, all under head coach Patty Gasso.

HOME RUN U

• Oklahoma is officially Home Run University. With Jocelyn Alo's record-breaking career homer No. 96 (now 103), two Sooners sit atop the NCAA record books for career home runs in Alo and 2015 alum Lauren Chamberlain.

• In addition to Alo and Chamberlain, 2015 alum Shelby Pendley sits at ninth all-time with 84 career blasts.

• More evidence of the Sooners staking claim to HRU is the past two seasons when OU has lit up the record books:

• 2021 saw the Sooners set NCAA records for home runs (161), runs scored (638), runs per game (10.63) and homers per game (2.68), among other records.

• Jocelyn Alo hit 34 blasts in 2021 for second all-time in single-season NCAA history, just three shy of Laura Espinoza's (Arizona) 37 in 1995. Alo's 2018 along with Chamberlain's 2012 and '13 where each hit 30 homers a piece all rank in the all-time top-10.

• Sophomore Tiare Jennings nearly matched Alo and Chamberlain's record (30) for freshman homers a season ago, hitting 27 to come within three of the NCAA frosh record.

NO. 1

• OU has been the top-ranked squad since March 2, 2021, or 56 weeks, or 391 days.

• The Sooners have held the top spot in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 for 21 straight polls.

• OU spent a school-record 13 straight weeks at No. 1 during the 2021 season.

• Oklahoma was chosen as the unanimous No. 1 in both the NFCA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll and USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25 and has held the top spot for all six weeks of the 2022 season.

• Oklahoma's No. 1 spot in the NFCA preseason poll marked the third time the Sooners enter a season in the top spot (2017, '18) and just the second time OU has been the unanimous choice in the coaches poll, joining the 2017 squad.

• Additionally, it's the 11th straight year the Sooners have started in the NFCA's top 10, good for the nation's longest active streak. OU has been ranked in the top five nine of the past 10 years, the most over that stretch.

• Overall, the Sooners rank third with 22 top-10 appearances in the NFCA preseason poll, trailing only Arizona (24) and UCLA (23).

• Oklahoma, Michigan, UCLA and Washington are the only programs to be ranked in every NFCA preseason poll, which dates back to 1995. OU also extended its streak of being the only program ranked every week in the 28-year existence of the NFCA's poll (392 straight).

• It's the 15th straight season and 18th in the 20-year history of the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll that Oklahoma is ranked in the preseason top 10.

THE ALL-AMERICANS ARE BACK

• Oklahoma returns five NFCA All-Americans from a season ago in redshirt senior Jocelyn Alo, senior Grace Lyons, junior Kinzie Hansen and sophomores Jayda Coleman and Tiare Jennings.

• Alo, the 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and NFCA First Team All-American, rewrote the record books a season ago and will have the opportunity to do more damage as a super senior in 2022. Also the 2021 Big 12 Player of the Year, Alo recorded program records for home runs (34), batting average (.475) and total bases (203) in 2021, including an NCAA-best 1.109 slugging percentage in 2021.

• Another NFCA All-American, Hansen, ranked fifth in the country a season ago with 24 home runs as she batted .438 with 66 RBIs. The Norco, Calif., product was a versatile weapon for OU, starting all but two games behind the plate or at first base. The 2021 Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player allowed just three runners to steal on her, finishing the season with a .990 fielding clip.

• Coleman, an NFCA First Team All-American and finalist for the NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year, burst onto the college softball scene with her energy and playmaking ability as a freshman in 2021. The OU centerfielder led the team with 20 stolen bases and ranked second on the team with a .545 on-base percentage to go with nine home runs, 11 doubles and 53 RBIs.

• Jennings, the 2021 NFCA DI National Freshman of the Year and unanimous NFCA First Team All-American, had one of the most dominant first-year campaigns in not only Oklahoma, but NCAA history. The San Pedro, Calif., native set the NCAA single-season freshman RBI record with 92 and finished with 27 home runs on the season, just three away from the NCAA freshman HR record. Jennings also led the NCAA with 25 doubles and was second nationally behind Alo with a 1.000 slugging percentage.

FRESH FACES

• The Sooners reloaded once again via recruiting and the transfer portal for 2022.

• Nine newcomers enter the mix for OU this season, highlighted by consensus No. 1 recruit in the 2021 class, Jordy Bahl, and transfers Alyssa Brito (Oregon) and Hope Trautwein (North Texas).

• Six freshmen will lace 'em up for OU in 2022: Bahl, Turiya Coleman, Hannah Coor, Emmy Guthrie, Quincee Lilio and Sophia Nugent.

• Bahl, the 2020-21 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year, posted a 27-0 record with a 0.10 ERA her senior season, surrendering just 27 hits and 15 walks in 137 innings pitched and striking out 316 batters.

• Transferring to Norman from Oregon, Brito joins the Sooners following an All-Pac 12 season with the Ducks. The rising sophomore will have three years of eligibility with the Sooners.

• As a freshman in Eugene, Brito collected Second Team All-Pac 12, Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and Pac-12 All-Defense accolades and was named to the NFCA's All-Pacific Region Second Team. She started 53 games at shortstop in her first-year campaign with the Ducks, batting .299 with 10 home runs and 31 RBIs, adding five doubles, a triple and 30 runs scored. At shortstop, the Tustin, Calif., product registered 59 putouts, 73 assists and committed just four errors.

• Helping the Sooners reload in the circle is graduate transfer Trautwein.

• Trautwein departed North Texas as its career leader in ERA (2.05), wins (61), opponent batting average (.197) and K/7IP (8.11). Named back-to-back Conference USA Pitcher of the Year and to the first team NFCA All-South Region team in 2021, the Pflugerville, Texas, product made national news in April when she tossed a perfect game, striking out all 21 batters faced in UNT's game versus Arkansas Pine-Bluff, becoming the first pitcher in Division I history to tally 21 strikeouts in a perfect game. She amassed a 46-12 record over the last three seasons and is a four-time member of the C-USA all-conference squad.

ALO, COLEMAN, HANSEN JENNINGS NAMED TO NATIONAL TEAM ROSTERS

• Four members of the Oklahoma softball team were named to USA Softball rosters for international competition this summer, the organization announced the rosters in early February.

• Senior Jocelyn Alo, sophomore Jayda Coleman, junior Kinzie Hansen and sophomore Tiare Jennings will all compete in tournaments with USA Softball this summer. The four will compete in one tournament as a group at the 2022 Japan All-Star Series.

• Already announced as a member of the 2022 Women's National Team for the World Games in Birmingham, Ala., this July is Kinzie Hansen. The Norco, Calif., product was also named to the Japan All-Star Series roster.

• Alo and Coleman were both named to the 2022 Canada Cup and Japan All-Star Series rosters while Jennings will join her Sooner teammates for the Japan series.

• Selected by the Women's National Team Selection Committee (WNTSC) following the selection trials held in January, Alo, Coleman and Jennings make their first appearances on a Women's Senior National Team roster.

• The World Games are set to be held July 7-12 in Birmingham, while the 2022 Canada Cup will take place in Surrey, BC, Canada, June 20-26. The Japan All-Star Series is scheduled for August 1-9 in Fukushima, Japan.

THE TROPHY CLUB

• The Oklahoma softball program has announced the launch of its restructured booster club under a new name, The Trophy Club.

• The Trophy Club replaces the former Diamond Club as the program's premier booster initiative to continue to enhance the student-athlete experience at Oklahoma, both on and off the field.

• Softball fans can join now and take part in exclusive events, including the annual golf tournament, coaches luncheon and more.

For membership details and how donations will be utilized, visit The Trophy Club landing page on SoonerSports.com.

• Gifts to the Trophy Club and Oklahoma softball will be utilized for: resources for the development of our student-athletes, facility upgrades to enhance recruiting and student-athlete experiences and improved quality of travel to increase academic participation by our student-athletes.

THE #LAUNCHPAD IS BACK

• The #LaunchPad is back in 2022! Cheer on your Sooners and support our student-athletes in a fun, new and creative way by joining the #LaunchPad. The #LaunchPad is all about #homers. Pledge to donate your own customized dollar amount for every #homer that OU Softball hits in 2022!

• All donations are 100% tax deductible and will be directed to help fund the facility project of your choice - the new Love's Field - 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 for the 2022 season.

• Include if you'd like to make a gift for every home run hit in the 2022 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. For example, if OU Softball hits 20 home runs in March after you pledged $10 per #Homer, on April 1 we will charge your card $200.

Monthly Payment Dates:

Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Friday, April 1, 2022
Monday, May 2, 2022
Wednesday, June 1, 2022

• Have fun along the way by interacting with @OU_Baseball & @OU_Softball on social media with your favorite term to use for #homers! Some of our favorites include #dingers #taters #bombs #ruthianblast #yack #fourbagger #jimmyjack

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