Softball Hosts Houston at Love's Field

NORMAN – The No. 2-ranked Oklahoma softball team hosts Houston this weekend for a three-game Big 12 series beginning Friday, April 19 at Love's Field.

Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT with a 6 p.m. start Saturday and a 1 p.m. Sunday finale.

The series will be broadcast on ESPN+ with radio coverage on 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2 and 107.7 FM The Franchise.

Oklahoma and Houston meet for the first time as conference opponents this weekend. The Sooners hold a 14-1 advantage in the all-time series, winners of 13 straight meetings following a 2-1 loss in Houston on March 6, 2004. OU is 2-0 against the Cougars in Norman.

Houston is led by former Oklahoma Softball standout Kristin Vesely ('06), currently in her eighth season as the Cougars' head coach. Vesely graduated as OU's all-time hits leader with 293 over her four-year career and batted .440 or better in each of her final two campaigns.

OU looks to maintain its 1.0-game lead over Texas in the Big 12 standings this weekend.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS

Houston enters the series with a 23-20 record on the year with a 3-15 mark in Big 12 play. UH has lost each of its last seven conference games and is 2-7 over its last nine, suffering back-to-back sweeps at the hands of Oklahoma State and UCF.

The Cougar lineup averages 6.81 runs per game on a .311 average and an .899 team OPS, featuring four players batting .350 or better. Kennedy Thomas is the leading hitter at .388, adding 13 stolen bases on 14 tries and a stellar 5:23 K:BB ratio at the plate. Jazmyn Rollin paces the order in home runs (9) and doubles (8) while batting .352. Former Sooner Turiya Coleman leads Houston in OPS (1.099) on a .364 average while two-way standout Shelby Smith bats .386 with three home runs.

UH's pitching staff registers a 5.87 ERA entering the series and has seen opponents bat .302 on the year. Left-hander Shelby Smith (10-9, 5.05 ERA) leads the staff with 113.2 innings pitched and 42 strikeouts while righties Paris Lehman (5-5, 5.59 ERA) and Tamya Waiters (4-3, 5.92 ERA) have combined to cover just over 100.0 frames.

LAST TIME OUT

Sophomore left-hander Kierston Deal fired her first career no-hitter as Oklahoma run-ruled Tulsa 8-0 in six innings on Tuesday evening at Hall of Fame Stadium.

The Sooners recorded their second no-hitter of the season with the blanking of Tulsa allowing just two baserunners on a hit batsman and a catcher's interference.

Deal provided a brilliant effort while improving to 9-1 on the season, retiring 16 of 18 batters faced with four strikeouts. The left-hander put away the first 11 she faced before back-to-back reached with two away in the fourth.

She recorded a strikeout to end the threat, then went 1-2-3 in both the fifth and sixth to close things out. Sooner right fielder Rylie Boone and third baseman Alyssa Brito each made terrific diving grabs to rob the Golden Hurricane of hits, supporting their starter's strong effort.

Jayda Coleman went 1-for-4 with a first-inning leadoff single to extend her on-base streak to 30 games. Cydney Sanders reached in all three of her trips while Alyssa Brito's 2-for-3 night accounted for the lone Sooner multi-hit effort.

Oklahoma recorded its 19th shutout and 23rd run-rule win of the season. The Sooners close their midweek schedule 6-0 and wrap up their regular season non-conference slate with a 24-1 record.

TIA TIME

Senior shortstop Tiare Jennings is within striking distance of two significant career milestones, entering the weekend three RBIs away from her 300th run batted in and nine hits away from also reaching her 300th.

With two RBIs, Jennings would tie Stacey Nuveman for sixth on the NCAA all-time list while two hits draws her even with Houston head coach Kristin Vesely for fourth on Oklahoma's career list. Jennings would become just the fifth player in NCAA history to record 300 RBIs in her career. Jenny Dalton is the NCAA's all-time leader in RBIs with 328, putting Jennings 31 RBIs away from tying the national career record.

Jennings is one home run away from hitting her 90th, which would also tie Nuveman for sixth on the national all-time list.

BIG 12 STANDINGS

Oklahoma enters the seventh week of conference play holding a 1.0-game lead over Texas and is 2.0 games ahead of third-place Oklahoma State. Kansas sits 4.0 games back of the Sooners in fourth place.

OU hosts last-place Houston this weekend, Oklahoma State welcomes Texas Tech to Stillwater and Texas visits Kansas.

COLE WORLD

Jayda Coleman carries a 30-game on-base streak into the weekend and has slashed .485/.637/1.000 for a 1.637 OPS across the stretch. Over her last 30 contests she has scored 38 runs and driven in 26 while producing 33 hits, 10 home runs and five doubles. Her plate discipline has been nothing short of incredible during her 29-game stretch, striking out just once in 104 plate appearances (1.0%) and walking 31 times (29.8%).

SHE'S DEALING

Sophomore left-hander Kierston Deal has enjoyed a phenomenal stretch over her last 10 starts, establishing herself as one of the Big 12's top young talents in the circle. Deal has won nine of her last 10 starts, going 9-0 with a miniscule 0.49 ERA across 43.0 innings in that span. She has struck out 43 while walking just nine, holding opponents to a .117 average and a meager three extra-base hits.

LEADERBOARDS

The Sooners enter the week ranked highly across the national leaderboards in multiple statistical categories. OU leads the nation in batting average (.379), shutouts (18), fielding percentage (.985) and on-base percentage (.483), is top-three in slugging percentage (2nd, .692), OPS (2nd, 1.174), runs per game (2nd, 8.45) and home runs (3rd, 85) and is fourth in ERA (1.65). Senior outfielder Jayda Coleman is fifth in the NCAA in on-base percentage (.565) and seventh in runs scored (49).

Tiare Jennings enters the week leading the Big 12 in OPS (1.409), slugging percentage (.909) and home runs (16) while landing second in RBIs (51), third in doubles (12) and fifth in hits (50). Jayda Coleman is second among her conference counterparts in on-base percentage (.565), runs scored (49) and is third in OPS (1.348). Alyssa Brito owns the second-best slugging percentage (.884) and OPS (1.381), checks in third in home runs (15) and runs scored (47) and is fourth in RBIs (44) and hits (51) across the league. Cydney Sanders adds the Big 12's No. 4 mark in OPS (1.291) while Rylie Boone is third in hitting (.443).

In the circle, the Sooners boast three pitchers in the league's top-five ERA leaders with Kierston Deal (2nd, 1.32), Karlie Keeney (4th, 1.62) and Kelly Maxwell (5th, 1.72) anchoring one of the nation's top staffs. Maxwell is second across the conference with a .160 opponent average and wins (13) and is third in strikeouts (96).

LET'S GO POLLING

The Sooners slid back to No. 2 in the NFCA coaches poll this week, earning eight first-place votes, snapping their 21-week reign at the top of the poll. OU held at No. 2 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

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