1 Oklahoma
Wichita State
April 7 / 6 p.m. CT / Wilkins Stadium; Wichita, Kan.
MIDWEEK STORYLINES
• The No. 1 Oklahoma softball team travels to Wichita, Kan., to take on RV/NR Wichita State in a midweek matchup at Wilkins Stadium at 6 p.m. CT.
• The game can be seen via ESPN+ (subscription required) with Jamie Bredbenner and Jamie Hull on the call. All the weekend action can also be heard on The Franchise 2 in Oklahoma, 1560 AM and 103.3 FM, with OU play-by- play announcer Chris Plank calling the action. Fans outside of Oklahoma can listen live on the TuneIn app.
• OU is the only unbeaten team in the country. With a 28-0 mark in 2021 and wins in their final seven games of 2020, the Sooners hold a NCAA-best win streak of 35 games.
• Oklahoma's 28-0 start is the best unbeaten streak to start a season in program history.
LAST TIME THEY MET
• The Sooners hold a 50-7 win margin over the Shockers, including a 14-4 record in Wichita.
• The teams last met March 4, 2020 in Norman, a 8-5 victory in Oklahoma's favor. The Sooners hit three home
runs in the game to complete the comeback win after going down four runs in the first inning.
• The last meeting at Wilkins Stadium came on April 24, 2019, an 8-0 run-rule shutout by the Sooners. The game marked consecutive win No. 32 for OU at the time, setting a program record for consecutive victories. The team pushed the win streak to 41 before dropping a game.
• The Sooner offense was propelled by three home runs in the 2019 midweek contest at WSU. Jocelyn Alo hit two and also doubled to finish 3-for-3 on the day with five RBIs and two runs. Senior Sydney Romero hit the third OU home run, her then-50th career blast.
ALL THE NUMBERS
• Oklahoma's offense leads the country in...
• Home runs: 91 (28 better than second-place Arkansas' 63)
• Home runs per game: 3.25 avg.
• Batting average: .457
• On base percentage: .533
• Slugging percentage: .894
• Runs: 338 (12.07 per game avg.)
• OU is outscoring opponents 338-39 on the season, scoring an average of 12.07 runs per game to opponents 1.39 clip.
• OU has scored 10-plus runs in one inning five times in 2021.
• 13 Sooners have hit a home run this season, with 10 players blasting at least two.
• OU holds three of the top four individual batting averages in the country among players who have started at least 20 games:
• 1st - Alo: .566
• 2nd - Jennings: .527
• 4th - Coleman: .513
• Three of the top four home run hitters in the country reside in Norman.
• 1st - Alo: 22
• 3rd - Jennings: 16
• T4th - Hansen: 15
• As a team, OU has hit at least one home run in 27 of its 28 games this season and has hit at least two in 25 of the 28 contests.
• Oklahoma has hit two-plus home runs in one inning 21 times this season, including three or more seven times and four-plus in one inning four times.
• The Sooners have hit back-to-back home runs nine times in 2021 and back-to-back-to-back blasts three times.
• Oklahoma has won by run rule in 20 of its 28 games.
• The Oklahoma defense holds third in the country with a .985 fielding percentage.
• OU's pitching staff is tied for first in the country with 14 shutouts. The staff ranks eighth with a 1.45 ERA.
• Oklahoma holds the top two single-game run totals of 2021 with 33 in its victory over New Mexico Feb. 27 and 29 in its season opener over UTEP.
• Oklahoma set an NCAA single-game home run record with 13 in the season opener versus UTEP, a 29-0 (5 inn.) run-rule victory. The team tied the NCAA record for homers in an inning with five in the first and fifth innings of the game.
• Freshman Tiare Jennings and junior Grace Lyons tied the school record for home runs in a game with three a piece against the Miners in the season opener.
• Oklahoma registered a program-best 28 hits in its 33-4 victory over New Mexico on Feb. 27 in Phoenix.
CONFERENCE PLAY CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND
• The top-ranked Sooners are 6-0 through two Big 12 conference series. OU swept Iowa State March 26-28 in Ames before a three-game sweep of Kansas in Norman April 1-3.
• Oklahoma has won 49 consecutive Big 12 regular season games, with its last loss coming against Baylor on April 23, 2017. The streak is the longest in program history.
• OU is undefeated in their last 56 conference series (52-0-4 in that span) and have not lost a conference series since 2011.
• Winner of the last eight regular season Big 12 championships, the Oklahoma softball team topped the 2021 Big 12 Preseason Coaches' Poll and looks to make it nine straight regular season titles in 2021.
• OU has finished first in the Big 12 over the past eight seasons with a combined record of 134-13. Prior to OU's current run of eight straight regular season titles, no team had ever won more than two consecutive.
• Overall, the Sooners have 18 Big 12 titles with 12 regular season crowns and six Big 12 tournament championships, all under head coach Patty Gasso. OU claimed the last completed tournament championship in 2018 for the second year in a row (tournament was not finished in 2019 due to inclement weather).
• In 2019, the last year Big 12 conference softball contests were played due to the cancellation of the 2020 season prior to conference play, the Sooners became the first program to finish Big 12 play undefeated in back- to-back seasons.
AMAZING ALO
• Senior utility player Jocelyn Alo leads the country with 22 home runs in OU's 28 games. The Hawaii native has hit a homer in 20 of OU's 28 games, including two grand slams and two multi-HR games.
• Alo has moved up the OU record book for career home runs to second in program history with 76. The NCAA HR record holder Lauren Chamberlain ranks first in program and NCAA history with 95. Alo's 76 blasts is already good for a share of 12th all-time in NCAA history.
• The slugger tied the NCAA record for consecutive games with a home run at seven from March 7 vs. Sam Houston through OU's first matchup with Iowa State on March 26.
• Alo and Chamberlain share the OU single-season HR record at 30 home runs, Chamberlain doing so twice ('12, '13) and Alo hitting the 30 mark her freshman season in 2018.
• More of Alo's eye-popping numbers:
• First in the country with 22 home runs.
• Averaging 0.78 home runs per game and a home run ever 3.45 at-bats
• Has homered in eight of OU's last 12 games and 20 of OU's 28.
• Ranks first out of players that have played at least 20 games with a .566 batting average.
• NCAA-leading 1.513 slugging percentage.
• Last Saturday's game versus Kansas ended her 40-game hit streak dating back to Feb. 21, 2020 vs. Texas A&M. The streak goes down as the third best consecutive game hitting streak in NCAA history, falling just three games shy of the record.
NO LET UP IN OU LINEUP
• Along with Alo's astronomical offensive output, plenty of other Sooners are showing their power at the plate in 2021 to help OU pace the country in every major offensive category.
• Five Sooners who have registered at least 40 AB are hitting .500 or better:
• Jocelyn Alo - .566
• Mackenzie Donihoo - .537
• Tiare Jennings - .527
• Jayda Coleman - .513
• Kinzie Hansen - .500
• A look at freshman Tiare Jennings' offensive numbers:
• Third in the country with 16 home runs, first out of all NCAA freshmen and one of just three freshmen with 10-plus home runs.
• Fourth in the country in hits with 48.
• Second in the country in batting average (out of players that have played 20 or more games): .527
• A look at freshman Jayda Coleman's offensive numbers:
• Fourth in the country in batting average (out of players that have played 20 or more games): .513
• Fourth on the team in hits with 40
• Career-best 14-game consecutive hit streak
• Leads the team with 12 stolen bases, eight better than second place.
• A look at sophomore Kinzie Hansen's offensive numbers: • Tied for fourth in the country with 15 home runs.
• Third on the team with 41 hits.
• Tied for ninth in the country in batting average: .500
• Has homered in 12 of OU's 28 games
• A look at junior Grace Lyons' offensive numbers:
• Tied for 20th in the country with 11 home runs
• Ranks fifth on the team in hits with 37
• A look at sophomore Mackenzie Donihoo's offensive numbers:
• Tied for fifth on the team with five home runs
• All five of her career home runs have come in 2021
• Ranks second on the team in batting average out of players with at least 40 at-bats: .537
• Has had an unparalleled turnaround in the batter's box after hitting .145 as a freshman in 2020.
• Has stolen four bags in 2021, good for a share of second on the team
JUAREZ, SAILE LEAD SEVEN-DEEP CIRCLE
• Not to be outshined by OU's hitters, the seven-deep Oklahoma pitching staff has put together a solid start to the season, pitching shutouts in 15 of OU's 28 games.
• The staff has put together two combined perfect games this season plus a no-hitter. Redshirt senior Giselle Juarez, redshirt sophomore Brooke Vestal and freshman Nicole May pitched a perfect game vs. Portland State (2/28). Three OU pitchers, Vestal, freshman Alanna Thiede and sophomore Olivia Rains, combined for OU's second perfect game of the season vs. Sam Houston, March 7. Juarez, Rains and Shannon Saile combined to throw a no-hitter versus New Mexico Feb. 26, an 8-0 run-rule OU victory.
• The staff holds a 1.45 ERA and has allowed 39 runs in 28 games to go with 211 strikeouts and 77 hits allowed to 47 walks.
• Redshirt senior Shannon Saile ranks fourth in the country with a 0.41 ERA, giving up her only two earned runs of 2021 March 27 at Iowa State. Saile boasts 61 strikeouts in 34.0 innings of work to go with eight wins and two saves. Opponents are batting just .085 against the Land O'Lakes, Fla., native.
• Redshirt senior LHP Giselle Juarez paces OU with 71 strikeouts on the year in 55.0 IP to go with a team-best 10 wins.
• Freshman Nicole May has impressed in her first season of collegiate competition, striking out 49 in 35.1 innings pitched and collecting nine wins. May holds a 1.58 ERA.
• Sophomores Olivia Rains (13.2), Macy McAdoo (7.2), Alanna Thiede (8.2) and Brooke Vestal (4.2) have all seen action for the Sooners.
UNANIMOUS NO. 1
• This week (4/6) marked the fourth consecutive week that Oklahoma has been the unanimous choice for No. 1 in the country in the the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll. The team received 19 of the 20 possible first place votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 for the second straight week after being unanimous in the poll for two straight weeks.
• OU overtook the top spot in the country in both polls after their Week Three performance in Phoenix, Ariz., and have held the No. 1 ranking for six consecutive weeks since.
• The Sooners' No. 1 ranking in each poll on March 2 marked the first time since the final week of the 2019 regular season that OU has sat atop both polls.
#LAUNCHPAD
• The Sooner Club recently launched a fun, new and creative way to support OU student-athletes and the OU Softball and Baseball stadium projects by offering fans the opportunity to join the #LaunchPad. The #LaunchPad is all about #homers. Pledge to donate your own customized dollar amount for every #homer that OU Softball and/or OU Baseball hit in 2021!
• All donations are 100% tax deductible and will be directed to help fund the facility project of your choice - the new 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 and/or baseball for the 2021 season.
• Include if you'd like to make a gift for every home run hit in the 2021 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. (Monthly Payment Dates: Thursday, April 1, 2021; Monday, May 3, 2021; Tuesday, June 1, 2021; Thursday, July 1, 2021)
For updates and more information on Oklahoma softball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Softball) and like Oklahoma Softball on Facebook.
April 07, 2021 at 05:25AM
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Sooners Set for Midweek with Shockers - University of Oklahoma - Soonersports.com
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