OU Welcomes Texas Tech for Series in Norman

¹ Oklahoma

Texas Tech

April 6-8 / Norman / Marita Hynes Field

WEEKEND BASICS

• No. 1 Oklahoma continues its homestand with a three-game Big 12 series vs. Texas Tech at Marita Hynes Field, April 6-8. The teams meet at 6 p.m. CT Thursday and Friday before a 1 p.m. finale on Saturday.

• All three games can be seen via SoonerVision on ESPN+ and heard on 1560 The Franchise 2 (TH), 107.7 The Franchise (FRI & SAT) or nationwide on The Varsity Network app.

• Oklahoma (33-1, 6-0 Big 12) continues its chase towards an unprecedented 11^th consecutive Big 12 regular season title. The program holds a conference record of 167-15 the past 10 seasons and has not lost a Big 12 series since 2011, winning 50 consecutive conference series.

• OU has won 30 straight games over Tech and 10 consecutive series dating back to a two-game split in 2011.

LAST TIME OUT

• The Sooners swept top-10 Red River rival Texas in three games, highlighted by a record-breaking Friday night in OKC. The 8,930 fans in attendance broke a 23-year-old record to set a new NCAA regular season single-game attendance record.

• OU beat UT 8-1 Friday before a dramatic 4-3 win Saturday highlighted by a two-run game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh from Jayda Coleman and walk-off RBI single from Kinzie Hansen. Sunday saw the Sooners run rule the Horns 10-1 in six innings.

• Tiare Jennings paced OU with a 8-for-11 (.727 BA) weekend with two home runs and eight RBIs. In the circle, Jordy Bahl collected two wins in 8.2 IP, striking out six and allowing just one run on two hits.

• The series sweep marked the seventh time in the last eight seasons OU has swept Texas in conference play and the three wins on the weekend made it 30 wins over the Horns in the last 31 games.

SEASON STORYLINES

• The Sooners have collected 13 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. The Sooners are currently first in the NCAA RPI and holds the No. 14 strength of schedule in the country (1^st in the Big 12).

• OU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 300-33 on the season, surrendering an average of 0.9 runs/game. The pitching staff has been exceptional, tossing shutouts in 19 of OU's 34 games to lead the country in shutouts.

• 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 0.39 ERA and 82 strikeouts, while all four pitchers hold ERAs under 2.00, including two in May and Storako (0.80) with earned run averages under 1.00.

• As a team, OU is batting a nation-best .390 with 63 home runs. Seven Sooners have hit six or more home runs, paced by Jayda Coleman and Tiare Jennings' nine. Jennings leads the team with 39 RBIs while four other Sooners have 30-plus runs batted in.

Lead, Hansen OU TX G2

FOR THE FANS

• Thursday's game will be OU's annual Hispanic Heritage Night, celebrating Hispanic heritage with music, in-game entertainment and a Supermercado Morelos table inside the front gate. Friday and Saturday will be senior celebrations for Haley Lee (FRI) and Alex Storako (SAT) with free posters available at the front gate on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• To ensure easy access into the game, be sure to download your digital tickets to your wallet on your phone before you arrive on campus. For easy access to manage your mobile tickets, download the latest version of the Oklahoma Sooners app today

• Gates open 90 minutes prior to first pitch.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT

• Texas Tech: OU holds a 66-7 all-time record against the Red Raiders, including 30 straight victories over their Big 12 foe and a 30-4 record in Norman. The Sooners have won 10 straight series over Tech dating back to a two-game split in 2011

• The teams most recently met for a trio in Lubbock in 2022 where the Sooners showcased their dominance, sweeping the Red Raiders by a combined score of 43-0 in three run-rule wins.

• Familiar faces: First-year head coach Craig Snider has the Red Raiders ranked second in the country in home runs with 64, one more than OU's season total. Snider spent one season under OU head coach Patty Gasso as a graduate assistant in 2005-06. Snider was also OU super senior Haley Lee's hitting coach for three years at Texas A&M, where Snider coached prior to taking the head job at Tech.

JENNINGS NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Oklahoma junior second baseman Tiare Jennings was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week following her performance in OU's three-game sweep of Texas.

• Jennings batted .727 on the weekend with two home runs, eight RBIs and a double for a 1.364 slugging clip. The two-time unanimous All-American registered her first four-hit game of 2023 and fifth of her career in Sunday's run-rule win over the Horns, finishing a perfect 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.

• In Friday's 8-1 win in OKC in front of a record-breaking crowd, Jennings went 3-for-4 with a home run, double and four RBIs. In the field, the second baseman helped turn two double plays and went error-less with seven putouts and eight assists.

• On the season, Jennings is batting .457, leads the team with 39 RBIs and is tied for the team-lead with nine home runs.

• The honor marked Jennings' second career national player of the week accolade with her first coming Feb. 16, 2021.

BAHL, JENNINGS SWEEP BIG 12 WEEKLY HONORS

• Jennings and sophomore Jordy Bahl combined to sweep the Big 12 conference weekly honors after their performances in OU's three-game sweep of Texas.

• Bahl was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after allowing just one run on two hits (0.81 ERA) in her three appearances (8.2 IP) on the weekend to go with two wins in the circle and six K's. The sophomore righty allowed UT just a .080 opponent batting average on the weekend. In Friday's game one, after surrendering a leadoff home run in the first inning, Bahl allowed just one more UT hit the remainder of the game, striking out six in the complete-game performance.

• She entered in relief Saturday and Sunday and closed out OU wins, allowing no hits, runs or walks in games two and three in a combined 1.2 IP. On the season, the reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Co-Pitcher of the Year moved to 10-1 with a 1.55 ERA and 80 strikeouts.

• Jennings, also named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week, collected Big 12 Player of the Week, batting .727 on the weekend with two home runs, eight RBIs and a double for a 1.364 slugging clip. Her batting average, eight hits and eight RBIs led the conference on the week.

• It marked the first weekly honor of 2023 for both Bahl and Jennings. In the career, the accolades are Bahl's fourth career Pitcher of the Week honor and Jennings' seventh Player of the Week award of her career.

COLE WORLD

• Oklahoma centerfielder Jayda Coleman has showcased her versatility for the Sooners since she stepped on campus as a freshman in 2021 and her productivity from the leadoff spot for OU has been pivotal to the Sooners success.

• Coleman has started every game for the Sooners since 2021, 156 straight, and batted leadoff in 75 of those 156, including 39 straight contests and 50 of OU's last 51 games. In those 75 games when Coleman has started in the leadoff position, OU is 73-2.

• The triple threat has shown her power in 2023 with nine home runs, nine doubles and a triple, her home run count is tied for the team lead. For comparison, Coleman hit nine homers as a freshman in 2021 and eight total last season.

• Of Coleman's 26 career home runs, seven of those have been leadoff blasts. Additionally, three have been in the first at-bats of the game.

• The two-time NFCA First Team All-American paces OU in batting average (.477), SLG% (.909), OB% (.617) and stolen bases (11-11) and is second in hits (42, one shy of Jennings' 43). She ranks in the top-10 nationally in on-base (No. 3), batting (8^th) and slugging (8^th) percentages and runs/game (9^th).

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARITA HYNES

• 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 537-62-1 (.895).

• 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, for a home winning streak of 54 straight. 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 104-2 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.

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 63 so far in the early season, good for third in the country and just six off the lead.

• In 2023, the Sooners have homered in 29 of 34 games, including 16 games with multiple home runs. OU hit single-season high six blasts vs. No. 1/1 UCLA (Feb. 26), No. 17/16 Kentucky (March 3) and at Iowa State (March 25). The Sooners have hit two-plus in 16 games, three-plus in eight games and six three times in a game this season.

• Individually, 13 Sooners have already hit a long ball in 2023 out of the 16 active non-pitchers on the roster. Of those 13, nine have multiple homers, including eight with three-plus and seven with five or more, paced by Jayda Coleman and Tiare Jennings' nine a piece.

• Brito, Coleman and Kinzie Hansen all have multi-homer games on the season (one a piece).

• 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 three, and two-plus in seven.

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

• 133 of OU's 300 runs on the season have come via home run (44.3%)

Lead, Jennings NPOTW

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 three with 63 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 – .390

• 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:

• 8.82 runs/game

• .390 batting average

• .704 slugging percentage

• .475 on-base percentage

• 2.15 doubles per game

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 first in 2023 with 19 in OU's 34 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 second with a 1.00 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 2.00, led by May's third-nationally 0.47 average and Storako's 10th-ranked 0.84. The other two OU arms: Kierston Deal – 1.29 and Jordy Bahl – 1.55.

• The quartet has fanned a combined 270 batters in 2023 to go with 58 walks. May leads the group with 90 K's to Bahl's 80 and Storako's 79. The four have allowed opponents to bat just .153 against them and surrendered 29 earned runs (33 R), an average of 0.9/game. In OU's 15 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).

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 and goes for its 11^th in a row in 2023, starting conference play 6-0.

• The Sooners have won 82 of their last 84 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 has won 50 consecutive conference series (42 sweeps), is unbeaten in their last 68 (64-0-4 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 167-15. 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.

MORE NOTES & NUMBERS

• OU currently holds the nation's longest active win streak at 25 games.

• Oklahoma has won 148 of its last 156 games (.948 win %) dating back to the start of the 2021 season.

• Of those 156 games, 95 have been run-rule victories (61%).

• Of OU's 13 games against top-25 competition, five have been run-rule wins. Furthermore, in those 13 ranked victories, the Sooners have outscored opponents 108-18.

• OU's defense ranks first in the country with an exceptional .989 fielding percentage, committing just nine errors on the season. The defense has turned 14 double plays already in 2023.

• Oklahoma has outhit its opponent in 32 of 34 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 other game the hits were tied with OU winning 2-1 over Northwestern.

• The Sooners have been dominant across all innings in 2023, but specifically the second inning, outscoring teams 85-1 in the second. The team has surrendered just one run in each the second and sixth innings on the season.

• OU has been an exceptional two-out hitting team in 2023 with 123 of 300 (41%) runs coming with a pair of outs.

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.

• Four episodes have been released, with at least one more episode 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.

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.