No. 1 OU Hosts Third Annual Omni Hall of Fame Classic in OKC

¹ Oklahoma

Omni Hall of Fame Classic

March 17-19 / Oklahoma City / USA Softball HOF Complex

WEEKEND BASICS

• No. 1 Oklahoma makes the short drive up I-35 North for five games at the third annual Omni Hotels Hall of Fame Classic, March 17-19, at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex.

• The Sooners meet Weber State, RV/#24 Northwestern and #19/22 Auburn on the weekend. OU plays WSU at 4 p.m. CT Friday before a WCWS rematch versus Northwestern at 6:30 p.m. Friday night. Oklahoma rematches versus Weber State at 4 p.m. Saturday prior to a 6:30 p.m. first pitch vs. Auburn and a Sunday finale against the Tigers at 2 p.m. All OU games can be seen via SoonerVision on ESPN+ and heard on the radio via 107.7 The Franchise, 1560 The Franchise 2 or nationwide on The Varsity app.

• OU, the host school, is 9-0 all-time in the previous two editions of the Hall of Fame Classic, played since 2021.

LAST TIME OUT

• The Sooners played two early-week games vs. South Dakota State on Monday and No. 6/6 Florida State Tuesday, winning both at Marita Hynes Field in Norman.

• Monday's game vs. the Jackrabbits saw OU win its 13th game by run-rule of the season, besting SDSU 8-0 in five innings courtesy of a walk-off hit by pitch to junior Alyssa Brito. Senior Alynah Torres hit her first home run in the Crimson & Cream with a grand slam in the first inning, while Nicole May earned her seventh win of the season in the circle, striking out seven in a combined shutout performance with sophomore Jordy Bahl.

• In the highest ranked regular season matchup in Norman since 2007 and a rematch of the 2021 WCWS Championship Series, No. 1 OU edged No. 6 FSU on Tuesday in front of another sellout crowd at MHF.

• The back-and-forth contest saw the Sooners plate a pair in the bottom of the fourth to win 5-4. Super senior Haley Lee and junior Tiare Jennings hit consecutive home runs in the second inning, and brought in the tying and go-ahead runs in the fourth inning. Bahl was stellar in the circle in a relief effort, striking out six of the 10 batters she faced to earn her second career save.

SEASON STORYLINES

• The Sooners have collected seven ranked wins on the season, including a win over then-No. 1 UCLA at the Mary Nutter Classic and a home victory over No. 6 FSU this week. OU meets 11 teams ranked in the preseason coaches top 25, including three of the preseason top five in UCLA, Oklahoma State and Florida State.

• OU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 204-21 on the season, surrendering an average of under one run per game. The pitching staff has been exceptional, tossing shutouts in 15 of OU's 23 games. Junior Nicole May and sophomore Jordy Bahl combined on the staff's first no-hitter of the season on Feb. 18 vs. Army before Alex Storako threw an individual no-no vs. No. 17/16 Kentucky on March 3 and Bahl completed a perfect game last Friday vs. SELA.

• May leads the pitching staff with a perfect 0.00 ERA and 68 strikeouts, while all four pitchers hold ERAs under 3.00.

• As a team, OU is batting a nation-best .391 with 38 home runs. Freshman Jocelyn Erickson has impressed in her initial season in the Crimson and Cream, leading the team with 26 RBIs and is tied with Jayda Coleman, Haley Lee and Alyssa Brito for the team lead in home runs with five.

Lead, Torres SDSU

LAST TIME THEY MET

• Weber State: The Sooners hold a 2-0 all-time record over WSU. The teams last met in 2018 in Phoenix, a 6-3 OU win. The other meeting came in Las Vegas in February of 2012, a 12-2 OU run-rule win in five innings.

• Northwestern: The Wildcats have been a common postseason foe as of late for the Sooners, most recently meeting in the WCWS opener last season, a 13-2 OU win in five innings which saw the Sooners blast a pair of grand slams for a WCWS record. OU is 21-2 all-time vs. Northwestern, including a 14-2 mark on neutral fields and a 3-1 record in OKC.

• Auburn: OU holds a 6-2 all-time advantage over future SEC foe Auburn, another common postseason opponent. The teams last met in the 2017 NCAA Super Regionals in Auburn, Ala., where the Sooners swept the Tigers in two games to advance to OKC. This weekend's matchups will be the first time the teams have met in OKC since playing for the 2016 WCWS crown which saw OU beat Auburn in three games to win its then-third national title.

SECOND HOME

• The Sooners will make the familiar trip to USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex this weekend, traveling less than 30 miles from Marita Hynes Field to the historic stadium.

• Oklahoma played 13 games in OKC a season ago, going a combined 11-2 across the Hall of Fame Classic, Big 12 Tournament and Women's College World Series.

• All-time, the program is 130-50 under head coach Patty Gasso in Oklahoma City, including regular season and postseason games. Since 2016, the program is 51-10 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex, with four national titles won in that span in OKC.

HOMER HAPPY

• As OU paced the country in home runs each of the past two seasons (NCAA-record 161 in 2021; 155 in 2022), the Sooners are off to another scorching pace in 2023, having blasted 38 so far in the early season, good for top five in the country.

• In 2023, the Sooners have homered in 19 of 23 games, including nine games with multiple home runs. OU hit single-season high six blasts vs. No. 1/1 UCLA (Feb. 26) and No. 17/16 Kentucky (March 3). The Sooners have hit two-plus in 16 games, three-plus in four games and six twice in a game this season.

• Individually, 12 Sooners have already hit a long ball in 2023 out of the 16 active non-pitchers on the roster. Of those 12, eight have multiple homers, including seven with three-plus and seven with four or more, paced by Jayda Coleman, Alyssa Brito, Haley Lee and Jocelyn Erickson's five a piece.

• Coleman and Kinzie Hansen each have multi-homer games on the season.

• Additionally, OU has hit five homers in one inning once this year (vs. Kentucky, 3/3), hit four in an inning twice, three-plus in two, and two-plus in three.

• The Sooners have hit back-to-back blasts four times this season and three consecutive once.

OUT OF THIS WORLD OFFENSE

• Since 2021, Oklahoma has paced the country offensively in several categories. OU led the nation in home runs in 2021 (161) and 2022 (155) and sit in the top five with 38 in the early 2023 season. Their 2021 mark broke an 11-year NCAA record for single-season home runs.

• In OU's recent span of offensive domination, the team has led the country in batting average for three straight seasons: 2021 – NCAA-record .405; 2022 – .371; 2023 – .391

• Additionally, the team has paced the country in runs, runs per game and slugging each of the past three seasons. The 2021 team's 638 runs, 10.63 runs/game and .778 SLG % all stand as NCAA records.

• In 2023, OU paces the country with an average of 8.8 runs/game, a .391 batting average and .698 slugging clip.

ELITE IN THE CIRCLE

• OU's pitching staff has been equally as dominant as the offense the past three seasons. The staff has led the country in shutouts the last two seasons (23 in 2021, school-record 33 in 2022) and are tied for first in shutouts already in 2023 with 15 in OU's 23 games.

• The Sooner arms led the country in ERA a season ago with an exceptional 1.05 mark and are off to a dominant start in 2023, ranking third with a 1.08 earned run average.

• The staff has three no-hitters under their belt already in 2023 and one perfect game. Nicole May and Jordy Bahl combined to no-hit Army on Feb. 18 before Alex Storako threw her second career individual no-no vs. Kentucky on March 3 and Bahl completed a perfect contest March 10 vs. SELA. These come a year after the staff had six no-hitters and two perfect games a season ago.

• All four of OU's pitchers hold ERA's less than 3.00 and nearly less than 2.00, led by Nicole May's perfect 0.00 average. The others: Alex Storako – 1.04; Kierston Deal – 1.14; Jordy Bahl – 2.09.

• The quartet has fanned a combined 184 batters in 2023 to go with 40 walks. May leads the group with 68 K's to Bahl's 58. The four have allowed opponents to bat just .162 against them and surrendered just 21 runs, an average of 0.9/game. In OU's eight games that they've allowed a run across, the staff has limited the damage with no opponent scoring more than four runs in 2023 (done thrice).

Lead, Bahl FSU 2

MORE NOTES & NUMBERS

• Oklahoma has won 137 of its last 145 games (.944 win %) dating back to the start of the 2021 season.

• Of those 145 games, 89 have been run-rule victories (61%).

• Of OU's seven games against top-25 competition, three have been run-rule wins. Furthermore, in those seven ranked victories, the Sooners have outscored opponents 63-10.

• OU's defense ranks first in the country with an exceptional .990 fielding percentage, committing just five errors on the season. The defense has turned 24 double plays already in 2023.

• Oklahoma has outhit its opponent in 22 of 23 games on the season, and in the one game they didn't outhit the opposition (vs. Texas A&M, 2/24), the Sooners won 8-0 in run-rule fashion in five innings (five hits to A&M's six).

• The Sooners have been dominant across all innings in 2023, but specifically the second inning, outscoring teams 67-0 in the second. The team has not surrendered runs in each the second, sixth or extra innings on the season.

BACK ON TOP

• The Sooners streak of being the top-ranked team for 31 consecutive coaches polls dating back to March 2, 2021 was snapped Feb. 21 after a narrow 4-3 loss at Baylor. Oklahoma quickly regained the top spot after a 14-0 thrashing of then-No. 1 UCLA. OU has been the No. 1 team in both major rankings for 34 of the last 35 polls dating back to March 2, 2021.

• Oklahoma was chosen as the unanimous No. 1 in both the 2023 USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25.

• Oklahoma's No. 1 spot in the NFCA poll marks the fourth time the Sooners enter a season in the top spot (2017, '18, '22, '23) and the third time OU has been the unanimous choice in the coaches poll, joining the 2017 and 2022 squads.

• OU received 800 total points and all 32 first-place votes to lead No. 2 UCLA (747) and No. 3 Oklahoma State (723) in the preseason poll. Florida and Florida State rounded out the top five.

• Additionally, it's the 12th 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 10 of the past 11 years, the most over that stretch.

• Overall, the Sooners are tied with Arizona for second with 23 top-10 appearances in the NFCA preseason poll, trailing only UCLA's 24.

• Oklahoma, 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, 407 straight polls (start of 2023).

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARITA HYNES FIELD

• 2023 marks the 25^th anniversary of historic Marita Hynes Field in Norman. The iconic field that has housed the nation's premier program opened its gates in 1998 and the Sooners have since gone 535-62-1 (.893).

• The field, named for former softball coach and senior woman administrator Marita Hynes on April 24, 2004, has a current capacity of 1,378 with standing room for over 2,000. The largest crowd to ever watch an OU softball game at the venue was May 4, 2019, with 2,076 in attendance for Bedlam vs. Oklahoma State.

• Oklahoma has gone undefeated on its home field four seasons since 1998, including each of the past two years. The Sooners last home loss was Feb. 29, 2020, a narrow 4-3 decision to North Texas. Over the past five seasons, OU holds a 102-2 mark at MHF.

• 2023 is anticipated to be the final season played at Marita Hynes as OU looks to open the state-of-the-art Love's Field in 2024.

BIG 12 FAVORITES

• The ten-time defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma softball team has been voted by the league's head coaches as the 2023 preseason favorite.

• The Sooners received 36 points in this year's poll and were followed by Oklahoma State with 29 and Texas with 28. OU received six of the seven first-place votes with OSU garnering the other. This marks the 11th straight year and 14th in the last 15 seasons that OU has topped the conference's preseason poll.

• Baylor was selected fourth (20 points) and Iowa State fifth (16 points). Rounding out the poll was Texas Tech (12 points) and Kansas (6 points).

• The Sooners finished the Big 12 regular season 17-1 in 2022 en route to their tenth consecutive conference regular season crown.

• Oklahoma holds a combined Big 12 record of 161-15 the past 10 seasons and has not lost a conference series since 2011.

• Overall, the program has won 21 Big 12 titles (14 regular season titles and seven Big 12 tournament championships) all under head coach Patty Gasso.

OU-TEXAS FRIDAY NIGHT GAME MOVED TO OKC

• The Oklahoma softball program and USA Softball recently announced the Friday night game of the Oklahoma vs. Texas series on March 31 at 6 p.m. CT will be moved from Marita Hynes Field in Norman to USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City. The second and third games of the series will still be played in Norman on Saturday (11 a.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.).

• OU, the designated home team, will assume hosting duties including ticket sales for the game in OKC, the first meeting of a rematch of the 2022 WCWS Championship Series. Current season ticket holders will receive complimentary tickets to the series in Oklahoma City, receiving the same number of tickets as they have season tickets at Marita Hynes Field. Those complimentary tickets can be accessed via the Oklahoma Sooners app and will be sent with your 2023 season tickets.

• Tickets are officially sold out.

CONFERENCE DOMINANCE

• OU finished the Big 12 regular season 17-1 en route to winning its 14th regular season crown and 10th consecutive in 2022.

• The Sooners have won 76 of their last 78 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 unbeaten in their last 66 conference series (62-0-4 in that span) and have not lost a conference series since 2011.

• OU has finished first in the Big 12 over the past 10 seasons with a combined record of 161-15. Prior to OU's current run of 10 straight regular season titles, no team had ever won more than two consecutive.

• Overall, the Sooners have 21 Big 12 titles with 14 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 (122 career total), 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 10th 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 and 2022 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.

• Current junior Tiare Jennings nearly matched Alo and Chamberlain's record (30) for freshman homers in 2021, hitting 27 to come within three of the NCAA frosh record. She followed suit in 2022 with 29 round-trippers.

• Jennings looks to continue the legacy at Oklahoma with two more seasons in the Crimson & Cream and already holding the No. 5 spot in the OU record book with 60 career homers. The two-time unanimous All-American is just five blasts shy of third place in program history.

• Senior captain Grace Lyons has come into her own offensively, hitting a career single-season best 23 blasts last year to bring her career total to 50, good for eighth in the OU record book.

CHAMPIONSHIP MINDSET SERIES STREAMING NOW

• The University of Oklahoma Athletics Department and its multimedia rightsholder, LEARFIELD, launched in January "Championship Mindset" – a brand-new original content series exclusively featuring Oklahoma softball.

• As the 2023 OU softball team prepares its competitive journey to a third straight national championship, the five-part series delivers authentic, behind-the-scenes access for fans.

• "Championship Mindset" will feature never-before-seen interviews with the team's coaches and student-athletes, giving fans a special and unique look into the legacy that is Oklahoma softball.

• All five episodes can be viewed on ESPN+, YouTube and on a dedicated page within SoonerSports.com, including snippets on Oklahoma softball's official social platforms.

• Three episodes have been released, with two more episodes to be released later this season.

• LEARFIELD's dedicated content team, LEARFIELD Studios, produced and directed the series in complete collaboration with Oklahoma's athletics administration.

TICKETS ON SALE FOR OMNI HOTELS HALL OF FAME CLASSIC

• Tickets for the third annual Omni Hall of Fame Classic played at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, March 17-19, are still available for purchase. Saturday's session is officially sold out but tickets for Friday and Sunday's games are still available.

• Fans can purchase both all-session passes and single-session tickets for the three-day event via SoonerSports.com/tickets or by contacting the OU Ticket Office at 405.325.2424. Chairback seats are available for $100 for all-session and $40 for single sessions, while bleacher seats are $75 for all-session and $30 for single sessions. Tickets for youth under 18 or seniors over the age of 55 are available in the bleacher seats for $50 (all-session) and $20 (single-session). Group tickets are available for $15 (single-session only).

• Hall of Fame Classic tickets are not included as part of a softball season ticket and all season ticket holders must purchase tickets to this event.

• A presale for season ticket holders, Trophy Club members and program donors will be held Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. before the public sale on Wednesday. This presale can be accessed by logging on to your OU Athletics account or by contacting the OU Ticket Office at 405.325.2424.

• The Sooners meet Auburn, Northwestern and Weber State at the 2023 edition of the Hall of Fame tournament in Oklahoma City. The host Sooners have gone undefeated in the tournament since its inception in 2021, compiling a 9-0 record. For the full schedule and game times, see the Sooners full schedule here.

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.

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