Sooners Open Home Slate with Minnesota

Monday, March 7

Norman

4 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

Minnesota

Sooners Open Home Slate with Minnesota

March 06, 2022 | Softball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes #LaunchPad Trophy Club

¹ Oklahoma

Minnesota

March 7 / 4 PM CT / Norman, Okla. / Marita Hynes Field

Bally Sports Oklahoma / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

GAMEDAY BASICS

• No. 1 Oklahoma (15-0) opens the home slate Monday, March 7, at 4 p.m. CT vs. Minnesota (11-6 as of 3/5).

• The game can be seen via Bally Sports Oklahoma and the Bally Sports app, and can be heard on The Franchise 2 (103.3 FM/1560 AM) in Oklahoma and nationwide on the TuneIn app with OU play-by-play announcer Chris Plank on the call.

• After 15 games played, the Sooners are batting .378 as a team with 40 home runs, 137 runs scored on 141 hits and 125 RBIs. They are outscoring opponents 137-16 with the only eight runs given up being earned. The team is slugging .769, holds a .476 on-base clip and has swiped nine bases on 14 attempts. The pitching staff holds a 0.64 ERA and has 142 strikeouts.

• The Sooners have run-ruled 11 of their 15 opponents.

HOME SWEET HOME

• The Sooners play inside the friendly confines of Marita Hynes Field for the first time on Monday. The team will play 14 games at MHF in 2022, not including the possibility of hosting NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals.

• Oklahoma went undefeated at Marita Hynes in 2021, finishing 21-0 in Norman and winning regionals and super regionals in front of the home crowd.

• All-time, the program is 510-62-1 (.890) at Marita Hynes Field, opened in 1998. In the past 10 years, the team is 237-17 (.933) at MHF.

• Holding a capacity of 1,378, the program has sold out its allotment of season tickets for five consecutive seasons.

ALO CHASING NO. 96

• Jocelyn Alo, the 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and NFCA First Team All-American, tied the NCAA Career Home Run Record with homer No. 95 on Feb. 20 vs. Texas State in Houston.

• Alo hit five home runs in five games at the Houston Classic, including hitting career No. 95 to tie OU alum Lauren Chamberlain as the NCAA Career Home Run Leader.

• Since No. 95, opponents have pitched around the Sooner slugger. In five games at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic last weekend, Alo was walked 10 times, including one intentional walk and one HBP. She went 3-for-8 at the plate with one double and two RBIs.

• Alo hit the 95 mark in 215 games and 634 at-bats, reaching the record in 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 leads the team (min. 10 at-bats) with a .474 batting average and 20 RBIs. She's hit seven homers and has 11 extra-base hits, slugging an astronomical 1.132 and holds a .643 on-base clip.

LAST TIME OUT

• OU swept through the Mary Nutter Classic (5-0) for the first time since 2013 and remained undefeated on the season at 15-0. The Sooners collected two ranked wins, beating No. 8/10 Arizona 10-2 in five innings and outlasting No. 17/17 Tennessee 9-8 in 10 innings. OU also beat CSU-Fullerton (10-6, 6 inn.) and Long Beach State (11-3, 5 inn.).

• On the weekend, Oklahoma's offense hit 15 home runs and outscored the opposition 42-14. The Sooner pitching staff struck out a combined 55 batters and held a 1.70 ERA.

• Redshirt senior Jana Johns (9 RBI) and sophomore Tiare Jennings (5 RBI) hit four home runs a piece over the weekend. Six Sooners blasted at least one home run and 10 brought in one or more runs.

• Freshman Jordy Bahl (17.1 IP) led the pitchers with 31 strikeouts and six runs (4 ER) on seven hits, also tossing a perfect game Friday vs. CSU-Fullerton, while sophomore Nicole May fanned 13 batters and grad transfer Hope Trautwein K'ed 11 on the tourney

A LOOK AT THE GOPHERS

• As of Saturday's games, Minnesota sits at 11-6 on the year and have one top-25 win on the season, beating No. 21 Arizona State, 7-5, in Tempe on Feb. 19.

• The Gophers continue their Oklahoma road swing with Monday's game vs. OU after playing in the OSU-Tulsa Invitational throughout the weekend and finishing with a midweek vs. Oklahoma State on Wednesday.

• Entering the weekend, the team is led at the plate by Lauren Espalin's .380 batting average, while Natalie DenHartog and Megan Dray have each hit four home runs. Chloe Evans paces the team with 14 RBIs.

• In the circle, Autumn Pease has K'ed 53 on the year and holds a 2.92 ERA and a 3-3 W-L record. Emily Leavitt has 44 strikeouts and a 3.39 ERA and 6-3 record.

LAST TIME THEY MET

• The programs will meet Monday for the first time in six years, last playing an eight inning game in Norman on March 16, 2016, which saw the Gophers come out on top 12-10.

• Minnesota holds a 8-3 advantage all-time over the Sooners, including a 3-2 record in Norman.

• The Sooners are searching for their first win over the Gophers since Feb. 17, 2007, a 6-5 win in Norman.

BAHL, JOHNS COLLECT BIG 12 WEEKLY HONORS

• Oklahoma redshirt senior Jana Johns and freshman Jordy Bahl were named Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. The conference announced the weekly honors Tuesday.

• Both Sooners had impressive performances at the Mary Nutter Classic, helping No. 1 OU to a 5-0 mark and two ranked wins.

• Johns hit four home runs in the five games with nine RBIs. The Calhoun, Ga., native went yard in three of OU's five contests, highlighted by a two-HR performance in OU's 10-inning win over No. 17 Tennessee. It marked her second career two-homer game. On the tournament, Johns batted .429 and slugged 1.357.

• Bahl struck out a combined 31 batters at the MNCC. She pitched her first career individual perfect game Friday vs. Cal-State Fullerton, striking out 11. It was OU's first individual perfect performance since 2019 and first by a frosh since 2015.

• Against Tennessee, Bahl went a season-high 8.1 innings and struck out a career-best 16. It was the most strikeouts by an OU pitcher since 2019.

• Bahl finished the weekend 2-0 with 31 K, a 1.62 ERA and a .121 opponent batting average, allowing six runs (four earned) on seven hits and four walks.

• It marked Johns' first career Big 12 weekly award and Bahl's second of her freshman season.

HOMER HAPPY

• In 2022, the Sooners currently lead the NCAA with 40 home runs and a 2.67 HR/game average.

• Jennings is currently tied for the NCAA lead with nine homers while Alo and Jana Johns hold a tie for seventh with seven a piece.

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

• As a team, Oklahoma has hit homers in 12 of its 15 contests, including hitting two or more in 11 games, three-plus in nine games, four-plus in seven games and five home runs in one game.

• The team has hit two-plus home runs in one inning nine times and back-to-back blasts three times on the year.

• Seven 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 twice and Jana Johns once.

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 have combined for a 0.64 ERA, allowing just eight earned runs (16 R) in OU's 15 games.

• The staff has thrown two perfect games and one no-hitter. 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.

• The staff has a combined 142 strikeouts in just 87.0 innings pitched, a product of OU's 11 run-rules in 15 games.

• Freshman Jordy Bahl leads the group with 65 strikeouts in 37.2 IP (0.74 ERA), while May (25.0 IP) and Trautwein (23.2 IP) have 39 and 37 K's, respectively.

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

HOME RUN U

• Oklahoma is officially Home Run University. With Jocelyn Alo's record-tying career homer No. 95, 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.

JENNINGS PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF

• Sophomore and reigning NFCA Freshman of the Year Tiare Jennings has picked up where she left off in 2021 during OU's start to 2022.

• The sophomore has hit nine home runs over OU's 15 games, batting .395 with 17 RBIs and 22 runs scored, also drawing 11 walks and stealing two bases on three attempts.

• The San Pedro, Calif., native holds a .519 on-base percentage and 1.023 slugging percentage. Jennings has struck out just once on the season in her 43 at-bats.

HALL OF FAME CLASSIC TICKETS ON SALE NOW

• Tickets for the second annual Hall of Fame Classic played at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, March 18-20, went on sale Tuesday (March 1) via SoonerSports.com/tickets.

• Fans can purchase both all-session passes and single-session tickets for the three-day event. Chairback seats are available for $80 for all-session and $35 for single sessions, while bleacher seats are $60 for all-session and $25 for single sessions. Tickets for youth under 18 or seniors over the age of 55 are available in the bleacher seats for $40 (all-session) and $15 (single-session).

• The host Sooners will play five games across the three days in OKC, matching up against Sam Houston (4 p.m. CT) and Indiana (6:30 p.m.) on Friday, San Diego (1:30 p.m.) and Houston (6:30 p.m.) on Saturday before closing the weekend with Iowa at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

• The OU games will be available to watch via Bally Sports Oklahoma or SoonerSports.tv with official designations to be announced. All OU games can be heard on The Franchise 2 (1560 AM/103.3 FM).

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 Wednesday afternoon.

• 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.