Softball Travels to Kansas for Top-25 Series

NORMAN – Unanimous No. 1-ranked Oklahoma Softball looks to continue its unbeaten start to Big 12 play with a three-game conference series at No. 24/RV Kansas beginning Thursday, March 28.

First pitch on Thursday is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT followed by a 5 p.m. start on Friday and a noon Saturday finale. The series will be broadcast on ESPN+ and 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2.

The Big 12-leading Sooners enter the series two full games ahead of third-place Kansas in the conference standings.

OU leads the all-time series 78-44 with a 26-12 mark in Lawrence and a 67-13 record under head coach Patty Gasso. The Sooners have won 19 straight games against KU including a three-game sweep at home last April.

The series marks the beginning of a challenging seven-game road stretch for Oklahoma, as the top-25 series against the Jayhawks is followed by a visit to No. 2/2 Texas next weekend and a rescheduled April 9 midweek at red-hot Wichita State.

SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS

Kansas enters the weekend 22-8-1 on the season with a 7-2 mark in Big 12 action, two full games behind OU in the conference standings. The Jayhawks have won 19 of their last 22 including Big 12 sweeps of then-No. 13/19 Baylor and Houston. KU entered the top-25 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll this week at No. 24.

Campbell Bagshaw is the Jayhawks' leading hitter, carrying a .317 average into the week with five doubles, two home runs and 24 RBIs. Hailey Cripe has driven in 23 with a KU-best seven doubles and hits .309 while Lyric Moore bats .307 and leads the club with five home runs. The Kansas lineup bats .278 as a team while scoring 4.77 runs per game.

Right-hander Katie Brooks and southpaw Kasey Hamilton combine to form a formidable pair, anchoring the Kansas pitching staff. Brooks is 10-2 with a 1.89 ERA, striking out 53 and walking 46 over 74.0 innings of work. She has yet to allow a home run this season, limiting opponents to a .246 average. Hamilton has fanned 71 and walked 37 across 101.1 innings, going 9-5 with a 2.28 ERA and a .207 batting average against.

TORRES NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Senior utility player Alynah Torres was named Big 12 Player of the Week following an impressive week at the plate, the conference announced Tuesday.

Torres led the league in home runs, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage while helping the Sooners to a 4-0 week that included a Big 12 sweep of No. 19/22 Baylor. The senior went 5-for-8 (.625) with four home runs, 10 RBIs and four runs scored while slashing .625/.700/2.125 for a 2.825 OPS. She drew a pair of walks and reached on an error as part of her terrific performance, reaching in eight of her 10 plate appearances. In the field, Torres was a perfect 14-for-14 on her chances across second base, first base and right field.

The fifth-year senior produced three multi-RBI efforts alongside two multi-hit games across the week. Torres' weekly honor is the first of her career and marks the third consecutive season that OU has earned a Big 12 Player of the Week honor in three straight weeks.

OU has earned 109 Big 12 Player of the Week honors under head coach Patty Gasso.

ALL ABOUT ALYNAH

Tuesday's Player of the Week honor punctuated an incredible 19-game stretch that has seen Alynah Torres slash .526/.609/1.053 for a 1.662 OPS alongside six home runs, two doubles and 17 RBIs. She has reached base in 18 of those 19 games, drawing eight walks and striking out just once in 46 plate appearances.

LAST TIME OUT

Oklahoma took both games of Saturday's split doubleheader behind seven home runs, earning a series sweep over No. 19/22 Baylor at Love's Field to remain unbeaten in Big 12 play.

OU run-ruled Baylor 12-3 in front of a stadium-record 4,520 fans in game one before taking the doubleheader and series finale 7-4. Ella Parker provided the "walk-off" run-rule win in game one with an opposite-field grand slam, Alyssa Brito homered in both games and six multi-hit performances were delivered by the Sooner lineup between the two games.

A total attendance of 17,469 saw Oklahoma sweep Baylor over the three-game series, establishing a new program record for the largest attendance of a single series.

LEADERBOARDS

The Sooners enter the week ranked highly across the national leaderboards in multiple statistical categories. OU leads the nation in batting average (.394), OPS (1.226) and on-base percentage (.493) and is top-three in slugging percentage (2nd, .733), home runs (2nd, 68), runs per game (2nd, 9.12), shutouts (2nd, 15) and fielding percentage (3rd, .983) while ranking fifth in ERA (1.39). Senior infielders Tiare Jennings (.966) and Alyssa Brito (.943) rank fourth and seventh nationally in slugging percentage.

Jennings leads the Big 12 in OPS (1.480), slugging percentage (.966) and doubles (11) while sharing the league lead in home runs (12) with Brito and Texas' Reese Atwood. She also ranks second in RBIs (41) across the conference. Brito is second in OPS (1.457), slugging (.943) and runs scored (37), sharing the latter mark with senior outfielder Jayda Coleman. Fifth-year outfielder Rylie Boone lands fourth across the Big 12 in batting average (.463) and is tied for fifth with eight doubles.

In the circle, Nicole May and Kelly Maxwell rank second and fifth with 10 and nine wins respectively. Graduate right-hander Karlie Keeney owns the fourth-best ERA mark in the conference at 1.19 while Kierston Deal (1.31), Maxwell (1.66) and May (1.83) join her in the top-10 at sixth, eighth and ninth respectively.

LET'S GO POLLING

The Sooners reclaimed their title as the unanimous top team in the country this week, earning all 32 available first-place votes in the NFCA/USA Today coaches poll and adding all 25 available first-place votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

BIG 12 STANDINGS

Oklahoma enters the fourth week of conference play as the lone unbeaten team in the Big 12 at 9-0. The Sooners are a full game ahead of second-place Texas and stand two games up on Oklahoma State and Kansas. OU has an opportunity to gain ground on KU in Lawrence this weekend while Texas visits OSU for a critical top-10 series.

FRESHMEN PHENOMS

Not to be lost in the success of the Oklahoma upperclassmen this season, freshmen Ella Parker, Kasidi Pickering and Maya Bland have provided immediate impact to the program as key players in their debut season.

Parker is third among her teammates in hitting at .436, reaching base at a .526 clip and slugging .756 for a 1.282 OPS. She adds seven doubles, six home runs and 33 RBIs and has walked in 16.5% of her trips to the plate.

Pickering slashes .397/.483/.630 for a 1.113 OPS entering the week. She has collected five doubles and four homers to go with 22 RBIs while logging strong defense in both outfield corners.

Bland has been the Sooners' top option as a runner off the bench, stealing eight bags on nine tries (88.9%) with 17 runs scored. She has gone 4-for-9 (.444) at the plate with a pair of doubles and four RBIs, adding a spark off the bench.

RED-HOT RYLIE

Senior outfielder Rylie Boone enters the weekend on an absolute tear, having reached base safely in each of her last eight games. Across that stretch, Boone is 13-for-21 (.619) with five multi-hit games, two doubles and six RBIs. The Sooner sparkplug has scored seven runs over her last eight games.

RUNS, RUNS AND MORE RUNS

The Oklahoma lineup continues to roll in 2024, leading the nation in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS while ranking second in runs per game, slugging percentage and home runs entering the weekend.

OU plates 9.12 runs a game and slashes .394/.493/.733 for a 1.226 OPS, blasting 68 home runs. The Sooners' incredible plate discipline sees them strike out in just 8.2% of their trips while walking at a 16.3% clip. As a club, OU owns a .518 weighted on-base average (wOBA).

Six everyday players are batting .417 or better while every position player with at least 15 starts is batting above .330. Nine everyday Sooners boast an OPS mark above 1.100, seven have driven in 20 or more runs and seven have already left the yard at least five times.

CHAMPS IN THE CLUTCH

Oklahoma's lineup has produced the second-most runs per game across the NCAA at 9.12 this season. A key factor in the order's success has been the club's penchant for hitting with runners in scoring position. OU slashes .410/.503/.797 for a 1.299 OPS with RISP, producing a .528 wOBA in those situations.

Alyssa Brito is 16-for-29 (.552) with RISP this spring, producing a 1.873 OPS. Tiare Jennings has blasted six home runs and six doubles while registering a 1.720 OPS with runners in scoring position.

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