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Feb. 14, 2013

Ranked No. 1 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll and No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA poll, the University of Oklahoma softball team continues the 2013 season this weekend at the Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego, Calif. The Sooners will play five games in three days beginning with a matchup against UC Riverside at 5:45 p.m. CT.

The Sooners then take on San Diego State, which is
receiving votes in the USA Poll, at 8p.m. On Saturday OU faces No. 22/24 Kentucky and No. 16/18 Washington in back-to-back games at 3:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m., respectively, before closing out the event on Sunday at 11 a.m. vs. Notre Dame.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The Sooners are 26-14 all-time against this weekend's opponents.

UC Riverside (2-3) opened the season at the Fresno State Kickoff and defeated Southern Miss before falling to Fresno State. After a win over Sacramento State, the Highlanders dropped a pair to UTEP. The Sooners are 2-0 against UC
Riverside, winning a pair of games during the 2003 season.

Like Oklahoma, San Diego State (3-2) opened the year at the Kajikawa Classic. The Aztecs beat Creighton before losing to Stephen F. Austin. They won a pair of games over Northwestern (whom Oklahoma also beat, 7-4) and Western Michigan, but lost to No. 13/14 Arizona in their final game. The Sooners are 8-1 all-time against SDSU and have won four straight, including three in a row via shutout. Last season, Keilani Ricketts shut out the Aztecs, 5-0.

No. 22/24 Kentucky (4-2) was also at the Kajikawa Classic and shared common opponents with OU in Oregon State and Stanford, winning both as the Sooners did. The Wildcats' losses came to No. 4 Arizona State and unranked Portland State. Oklahoma has never lost to Kentucky, owning a 4-0 record in the series. The teams last met in 2006.

No. 16/18 Washington (4-2) took home the Paradise Softball Classic title in Hawaii over the opening weekend. The Huskies lost early in the tournament to both UAB and Hawaii, but bounced back to win the rematch against each team. Washington leads the all-time series 9-8, including a 7-5 record in neutral site games. OU won the last meeting in 2011.

Notre Dame went 2-2 at the Charlotte Fast Pitch Classic. The Fighting Irish defeated Charlotte and Presbyterian but dropped both decisions to Wisconsin. The all-time series between OU and ND is tied at 4-4, with all eight games being played on a neutral field. The Fighting Irish have won two straight, but the teams haven't faced one another since the 2011 season.

SOONERS TOP ESPN.COM/USA SOFTBALL POLL
Coming off a season-opening 5-0 weekend at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., the Oklahoma softball team is No. 1 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

Ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll, the Sooners grabbed 12 of the 20 first-place votes to leapfrog former No. 1 Alabama, 492-487.

OU also earned the distinction on being No. 1 in week 15 of the 2007 season. The team has also been ranked No. 1 by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, garnering the top spot in the final poll after its 2000 national championship.

Oklahoma stayed No. 2 in the NFCA Poll, though it did cut into Alabama's lead. After five first-place votes and trailing by 20 points to the Crimson Tide in the preseason poll, the Sooners have 10 first-place votes and a nine-point deficit this week.

SOONERS SWEEP NATIONAL, BIG 12 HONORS
Standout performances by senior pitcher Keilani Ricketts and sophomore infielder Lauren Chamberlain gave the OU softball team a clean sweep of the major national and Big 12 awards, it was announced Monday.

Ricketts was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week and the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, while Lauren Chamberlain was crowned as the Big 12 Player of the Week.

It's the third time Ricketts has been the NFCA Player of the Week after winning in 2011 and 2012. She was also named the USA Softball Player of the Week on Feb. 23, 2010 and becomes the first Sooner to win the award more than once.

Chamberlain has been named Big 12 Player of the Week four times in her career, more than any player in the league dating back to last season. Since Chamberlain joined OU, no other player has won Player of Week honors more than twice.

SOONERS OPEN WITH SWEEP AT KAJIKAWA
Oklahoma opened the 2013 season with a perfect 5-0 mark at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. It's the second year in a row, and 10th time overall, that the Sooners have started 5-0 under Patty Gasso.

The Sooners defeated No. 21 Stanford, 6-0, behind a no-hitter from Keilani Ricketts and back-to-back-to-back home runs in the first inning from Jessica Shults, Ricketts and Shelby Pendley.

Lauren Chamberlain provided the punch in a 14-2, five inning win over Oregon State. She hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs. OU scored 11 runs in the fourth inning.

Ricketts came back and fired another no-hitter to propel OU past No. 5 Oregon, 12-0, in five innings. The Sooners then run-ruled New Mexico, 11-1, in five innings before besting Northwestern, 7-4, behind two home runs from Georgia Casey.

NOTES FROM KAJIKAWA
As a team, the Sooners hit .316 with a .500 on-base percentage and .684 slugging. Opponents hit just .130 with a .202 OBP and .194 slugging ... Oklahoma hit 13 homers over the weekend. OU's opponents had 14 hits ... The Sooners opponents' ERA stands at 11.67, giving up 45 earned runs in 27.0 innings. OU's ERA comes in at an impressive 1.69 ... Four Sooners pitchers combined to strike out 55 batters in 29 innings ... The Sooners drew 37 walks and struck out 27 times ... The Sooners were 17-40 (.425) with runners in scoring position and 7-10 (.700) with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs.

RICKETTS THROWS BACK-TO-BACK NO-HITTERS
Keilani Ricketts started the 2013 season with no-hitters against No. 21 Stanford and No. 5 Oregon.

In a 6-0 win over the Cardinal, she struck out 14 batters and yielded just five baserunners. In fact, no balls put in play reached the outfield.

Ricketts then threw her second no-hitter in as many games as she shut down the Ducks, 12-0, in five innings. In earning career win No. 100, she allowed just two baserunners and struck out 10 batters.

She now has three career no-hitters, becoming the fifth pitcher in OU history to reach that figure. Ricketts also joins Lauren Eckermann as the only Sooners to throw no-hitters on consecutive days. Eckermann accomplished the feat on March 3-4, 2007 against Temple and Wichita State, respectively.

CHAMBERLAIN DOMINATES ON OPENING WEEKEND
Putting sophomore slugger Lauren Chamberlain into the leadoff position has paid immediate dividends for the Sooner offense.

At the Kajikawa Classic, Chamberlain was 7-11 (.636) with 12 runs, 4 home runs, 12 RBI, 6 walks and 3 hit by pitch. She had a .800 on-base percentage and 1.727 slugging percentage.
She currently leads the Big 12 in home runs, walks, runs scored, RBI, OBP and slugging.

Chamberlain actually reached base in her first 10 plate appearances. She was 5-5 with four walks and a hit by pitch before striking out in her third plate appearance against Oregon. Of her five hits, four were home runs.

1. Stanford: HBP, HR, IBB, 1B
2. Oregon State: HR, BB, BB, HR
3. Oregon: BB, HR, KS, 2B
4. New Mexico: HBP, 1B, F7, BB
5. Northwestern: BB, HBP, 1B, F8, ROE

Between hits, walks, hit by pitches and a reach on error, Chamberlain has reached safely in 18 of her 21 plate appearances so far this season.

SAME OLD SHULTS
Jessica Shults' first at-bat of the 2013 season resulted in a three-run home run against Stanford. That's nothing new for the senior, though. She has led off three of her four seasons as a Sooner with a home run:
2/13/2010 Florida Atlantic Grand Slam
2/10/2011 Cal State Bakersfield Strikeout Looking
2/10/2012 Cal State Bakersfield 3-Run Home Run
2/08/2013 Oregon 3-Run Home Run

HOME RUN BARRAGE
Shults' three-run blast against against Stanford set the tone for the Oklahoma offense as she was followed by a solo shot by senior Keilani Ricketts and another solo bomb by Shelby Pendley for back-to-back-to-back home runs in the season's first inning.

On the weekend, the Sooners hit at least two home runs in every contest and finished with 13 in five games, an average of 2.6 per game.

A year ago, the Sooners set the Big 12 record with 102 home runs. This season, the team is on pace to hit 143 home runs, which would be the second-most all-time behind the 158 hit by Hawaii in 2010.

SUCCESS WITH THE BASES LOADED
In their opening weekend, the Sooners loaded the bases 21 times, scoring 18 runs in those situation. The feat is even more remarkable as the Sooners only accumulated four hits to score the runs.

Oklahoma scored 10 times without putting the ball in play as it drew nine bases-loaded walks and one hit by pitch. For good measure, OU also had a grand slam, a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly.

SOONERS ADD TRANSFER PENDLEY
Shelby Pendley, an infielder who spent her freshman season at the University of Arizona, has transferred to the Oklahoma softball program.

An All-Pac-12 First Team honoree, Pendley started all 57 games at shortstop and led the Wildcats in slugging percentage (.703) and home runs (19). She also finished second on the squad with a .331 batting average, 55 runs batted in, 121 total bases and 39 runs scored.

Her home run total put her 13th nationally and two off the Arizona freshman record. She joins an Oklahoma lineup that ranked second in the country with 1.59 home runs per game and set school and conference records with 102 homers on the year. She also ranked 30th in the nation with 55 RBI, hit seven doubles and reached base at a .413 clip.

POWER SURGE
With the addition of Shelby Pendley, the potent Sooners' lineup becomes even more powerful.

As was noted by ESPN's Graham Hays, the combination of Lauren Chamberlain (30 home runs in 2012), Jessica Shults (20), Keilani Ricketts (17), Georgia Casey (10) and Pendley (19 at Arizona) combined to hit 96 home runs a year ago.

That figure for those five alone was higher than 281 of the other 282 teams in Division I College Softball a year ago.

GASSO INDUCTED INTO NFCA HALL OF FAME
Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso added another honor to an already impressive career in November when she was one of three members inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the 2012 NFCA Convention in Orlando, Fla.

Gasso joined North Carolina's Donna Papa and former Palomar head coach Mark Eldridge as members of the 2012 class.