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May 10, 2012

NORMAN, Okla. --No. 4 Oklahoma (42-8, 16-5 Big 12) travels to Ames, Iowa this weekend as it looks to capture the program’s ninth Big 12 title in a three-game series with Iowa State. The Sooners enter the final weekend with a magic number of two as they hold a two-game lead on Missouri in the Big 12 title race.

OU and ISU begin play on Friday at 4 p.m. before continuing on Saturday at 2 p.m. and closing out the series Sunday at 12 p.m. Missouri hosts a three-game series with Oklahoma State beginning Friday.

OU enters the game first in the Big 12 with a record of 16-5 while Missouri sits in second with a record of 14-7. Texas and Texas A&M are the only other Big 12 teams with a mathematical chance to share the Big 12 crown with a season-ending conference record of 16-8.

Oklahoma’s pitching staff sport the nation’s second-best ERA, 1.20, while the team is the Big 12’s second best hitting team with a cumulative batting average of .312. Iowa State is eighth in the Big 12 with a batting average of .246 while its pitching staff rates ninth with an ERA of 7.10.

OU leads the Big 12 and is fourth nationally with 77 home runs and has six players with at least five home runs led by Big 12 leader Lauren Chamberlain who broke the OU single season record for home runs with 22 this season, a number that ranks third nationally. The freshman also leads the Big 12 in runs batted in (58), total bases (127) and slugging percentage (.852). Keilani Ricketts leads the Sooners with a batting average of .398 and leads the Big 12 with an on base percentage of .554.

In the circle, the Sooners are led by the one-two punch of Ricketts (26-6) and Michelle Gascoigne (15-1). The two rank second (1.14) and fourth (1.27), respectively, among Big 12 pitchers for ERA in all games while ranking third (1.49) and second (1.48), respectively, in conference only games. Ricketts ranks second nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (10.8), fourth in hits allowed per seven innings (3.84) and eighth in ERA.

The Cyclones are led at the plate by Erica Miller who holds a batting average of .381 and 56 hits. Tori Torrescano leads ISU with 13 of the the team’s 34 home runs this season.

In the circle, Torrescano (8-25) is the Cyclones’ most experience pitcher with an ERA of 5.99 in 159.0 innings of action. Taylor Smith (4-5) is second for ISU on the pitching list with an ERA of 5.75 in 56.0 innings of work.

The Series
• Oklahoma leads the overall series between the two teams, 59-28, and have won the last 12 meetings.
• Oklahoma leads the series, 25-8, when played in Ames.
• The Sooners won both meetings last year in Norman with scores of 13-0 in five innings and 4-1.

GET OUTTA OF HERE
The Big 12 leader in home runs with 77, the Sooners have hit multiple home runs on 21 occasions this season and at least three in 11 different games.

Oklahoma is 20-1 in its 21 games with multiple home runs and have hit 34 in its 21 Big 12 games.

Six players have hit at least five home runs with freshman Lauren Chamberlain leading the way with a Big 12 leading 22. With two home runs against Oklahoma State, the first-year Sooner broke the OU single season record for home runs and is two away from the Big 12 season record.

The Oklahoma team single season record for home runs in a season is 85 set by the 2000 team.

BIG 12 SERIES
After capturing the Texas series, Oklahoma is now 7-0 in its Big 12 series this season and is the only Big 12 team to win all of its series.

BIG 12 CHASE
OU leads the Big 12 title chase heading into the weekend with a conference record of 16-5 and just three games remaining against Iowa State in Big 12 play.

Oklahoma’s magic number is two with either an Oklahoma win or a Missouri loss dropping the number closer to zero.

Only four teams are mathematically able to have at least a share of a tie of the Big 12 title - Oklahoma (16-5), Texas A&M (16-8), Missouri (14-7) and Texas (15-8).

Missouri hosts Oklahoma State in a three-game series this weekend while Texas hosts Baylor in one game on Sunday. Texas A&M’s conference season is complete.

GASSO HITS 1,000 WINS
Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Gasso hit a major coaching milestone as she hit the 1,000-win mark as her No. 7 Sooners defeated Virginia, 9-1, at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. Gasso now stands at 859-277-2 at Oklahoma and 1,019-338-3.

Counting just NCAA Division I wins, Gasso entered the 2012 season 29th all time and has already moved up two spots to 27th.

CHAMBERLAIN CHASING
The Big 12 leader in home runs with 22, Lauren Chamberlain broke the OU single-season record in last week’s win over Oklahoma State.

Chamberlain is now just two away from the Big 12 single season home run record of 24 held by three different players from league teams. The freshman ranks second nationally in home runs per game (0.44) and third overall with her 22 home runs.

HITS PARADE
Oklahoma has registered at least seven hits 38 games this season and have hit double digits in the category on 10 different occasions including twice at the Judi Garman Classic with a season-high 19 hits against DePaul before collecting 18 against Virginia.

OU is 36-2 in the games it records at least seven hits with the only losses coming to Georgia when the Sooners out hit the Bulldogs, 7-4, but fell 3-2, and on April 6 when OU fell to Texas Tech, 5-4, despite collecting seven hits. Oklahoma is 4-5 in the seven games below seven hits.

OU has six starters hitting at least .331 and eight players with at least 28 hits.

SLUGGING AWAY
The Big 12’s top team in slugging with a .536 clip, OU owns three of the top four spots on the Big 12’s individual slugging percentage list.

Lauren Chamberlain leads all Big 12 batters with a percentage of .852 while Keilani Ricketts is second with .837. Jessica Shults sits in fourth, slugging .727.

Nationally, the OU ranks eighth in slugging with Chamberlain 14th and Ricketts 15th. OU joins UTEP as the only school to have two players in the top 25 nationally in slugging percentage.

RICKETTS SETS CAREER STRIKEOUTS RECORD
Keilani Ricketts needed just one appearance in the 2012 to capture the Oklahoma career strikeouts record. The junior pitcher entered the season with 798 strikeouts in her first two seasons and Norman and struck out 16 in her season debut versus UNLV to surpass the previous record of 805 set by Jill Most from 1994-97. Ricketts ended the opening weekend at the Sportco Kick-Off Classic with 36 strikeouts and 834 on her career.

With 323 strikeouts on the season, the fifth most in a season by an OU player, Ricketts now has 1,121 career strikeouts and is fourth in Big 12 history in the category (page 7). The junior is 31 strikeouts from moving up to third on the Big 12 career list. Cat Osterman of Texas (2002-03, 2005-06) holds the Big 12 career record in the category with 2,265 career strikeouts.

PERFECTION
After racking up four one hitters this season, Keilani Ricketts was due for a no hitter. Against Kansas on March 30, she did that and then some with her first career perfect game in OU’s 8-0 five-inning win.

Ricketts became eighth pitcher in Oklahoma history to accomplish the feat and joined classmate Michelle Gascoigne, who hit perfection last season against Appalachian State.

FIFTY FOUR STRAIGHT
When Kansas scored two runs on April 1, it marked the first time since OU’s 4-2 win over Iowa on March 4 that Keilani Ricketts had given up a run, a streak that lasted 54 straight innings.

In her last 10 starts, Ricketts has allowed just 44 hits and has struck out 90 batters.

RACKING UP THE Ks
Keilani Ricketts didn’t stop racking up the Ks after reaching the OU career plateau. After striking out 13 Texas batters on May 4, the junior now has 18 double-digit strikeout games on the season.

Ricketts has racked up 55 career games with at least 10 strikeouts and has eight games with at least 15 strikeouts including one game this season, 16 at UNLV, and the school record, 19 last season versus Iona.