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Oct. 24, 2012

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma softball team closes out the fall season on Thursday, Nov. 1, when it faces its toughest to date, the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) All-Stars. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Marita Hynes Field.

The exhibition contest is part of the 2012 NPF Back to School Tour, which includes 21 stops across 16 states with games against 22 different schools in a 40-day span. The All-Stars' trip to Norman is the final stop on the tour.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for youth (high school students and younger) and $4 for senior citizens. Children under three years of age will be admitted free of charge, as will Oklahoma students with a valid school I.D.

The Sooners and All-Stars met last season in a matchup that saw the Crimson and Cream prevail 2-0 behind a two-run, fifth-inning home run from current junior Brittany Williams. The OU win was the first by any school in the two-year, 42-game history of the Back to School Tour.

This year's NPF roster is highlighted by former Olympians Andrea Duran, Kelly Kretschman, Caitlin Lowe and Jenn Salling.

The 2006 PAC-10 Player of the Year, Duran won a silver medal with Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and was a part of UCLA's back-to-back national championship teams in 2003 and 2004.

A four-time All-American at Alabama, Kretschman won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, in addition to joining Duran as a silver medalist in Beijing. She has been a three-time NPF Champion in her seven seasons in the league.

Lowe graduated from Arizona where she was a two-time national champion and the Women's College World Series' Most Outstanding Player in 2009. A four-time All-American, she was teammates along with Duran and Kretschman at the Beijing Games in 2008.

Salling has spent the last four seasons as a member of the Canadian National Team and the Canadian Olympic Team. She was a three-time All-American at Washington as the Huskies captured the 2009 national championship.

In addition to the Olympians, another familiar face for fans will be Hillary Bach, a native of Tulsa, Okla., and graduate of Holland Hall - the same prep school as current OU freshmen Paris and Jules Townsend.

Bach played collegiately at Arizona State where she was named to the PAC-10 All-Freshman Team in 2009 and was honorable mention all-conference in 2010.