WEEKEND BASICS
• No. 1 Oklahoma meets No. 9/8 Texas this weekend in a rematch of the 2022 WCWS Championship Series. The teams meet Friday night in Oklahoma City at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex before the final two games of the series in Norman on Saturday and Sunday.
• Friday's game in OKC is set for 6 p.m. start and can be seen via ESPN+ with Chad McKee handling play-by-play duties and OU alums Erin Miller and Nicole Mendes joining him on the call.
• Saturday and Sunday's games will be shown to a national TV audience on ESPN2 with ESPN's crew of Beth Mowins, Michele Smith and Amanda Scarborough calling the action. Both games are schedule for an 11 a.m. first pitch.
• All three games can be heard via 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma or nationwide on The Varsity app.
• Oklahoma (30-1, 3-0 Big 12) continues its chase towards an unprecedented 11th consecutive Big 12 regular season title. The program holds a conference record of 164-15 the past 10 seasons and has not lost a Big 12 series since 2011.
• OU has won 27 of the last 28 games over Texas, including 10 straight series.
LAST TIME OUT
• The Sooners opened conference play with a three-game sweep of Iowa State, beating the Cyclones by scores of 3-0, 13-3 (5 innings) and 10-0 (5).
• Grace Lyons led the charge, batting .625 with a pair of homers and four RBIs. On the weekend, seven Sooners hit home runs, including six different players going yard in game two.
• In the circle, OU's pitching staff continued to show its dominance, allowing just three runs on four hits on the weekend. In Friday's game one, Alex Storako tossed a one-hitter before Jordy Bahl followed suit in her complete-game one-hitter on Saturday.
• OU pushed its win streak to 47 straight over ISU dating back to 2006 and its conference series streak to 49 straight.
SECOND HOME
• The Sooners will make the familiar trip to USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex on Friday, traveling less than 30 miles from Marita Hynes Field to the historic stadium.
• OU is 135-50 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex under head coach Patty Gasso, including a 56-10 mark since 2016 to go with four national titles and 29-4 mark since 2021.
• OU has already played five games at HOF Complex in 2023, sweeping the third annual Omni Hall of Fame Classic on March 17-19. OU has gone undefeated in the Classic since its inaugural edition in 2021, compiling a 14-0 record in the span.
• With over 8,500 tickets sold for Friday night's game vs. Texas—a sellout of HOF Complex's upper and lower bowls—the final attendance tally is expected to break the NCAA single game regular season attendance record of 5,724 set on March 14, 2000 at Bulldog Diamond in Fresno for a doubleheader matchup between Fresno State and Arizona.
SEASON STORYLINES
• The Sooners have collected 10 ranked wins on the season, including a win over then-No. 1 UCLA at the Mary Nutter Classic and a home victory over No. 6 FSU. The Sooners are currently second in the NCAA RPI after being No. 1 the previous two weeks. Additionally, OU currently holds the No. 8 strength of schedule in the country.
• OU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 278-27 on the season, surrendering an average of 0.8 runs/game. The pitching staff has been exceptional, tossing shutouts in 19 of OU's 31 games to lead the country in shutouts.
• Junior Nicole May and sophomore Jordy Bahl combined on the staff's first no-hitter of the season on Feb. 18 vs. Army before Alex Storako threw an individual no-no vs. No. 17/16 Kentucky on March 3 and Bahl completed a perfect game last Friday vs. SELA.
• May leads the pitching staff with a 0.39 ERA and 82 strikeouts, while all four pitchers hold ERAs under 2.00, including two in May and Storako (0.80) with earned run averages under 1.00.
• As a team, OU is batting a nation-best .391 with 57 home runs. Seven Sooners have hit six or more home runs, paced by Jayda Coleman and Alyssa Brito's eight. Brito leads the team with 32 RBIs while Jennings (31) and Jocelyn Erickson (30) are hot on her trail.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
• GAMEDAY GUIDE
• No. 1 OU hosts No. 9/8 Texas in OKC on Friday night at USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex for game one of the three game series before the final two matchups will be held at Marita Hynes Field in Norman. All three games are sold out.
• Fans attending Friday night's game are encouraged to help Stripe the Stadium with those in even sections tasked to wear crimson, while fans in the odd sections are asked to wear white. Friday's game will also be a celebration for Educators Appreciation Day.
• To ensure easy access into the game, be sure to download your digital tickets to your wallet on your phone before you arrive on campus. For each access to manage your mobile tickets, download the latest version of the Oklahoma Sooners app today
• Paid parking is available beginning at 2 p.m. in the main lot in front of USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium for $20.
• Free parking is available for all fans at Remington Park. A free shuttle will run from Remington to the stadium from 4 - 6 p.m. on a loop up until the game begins. The shuttle will begin running again at the conclusion of the game until 30 minutes postgame. There is also a paved foot path that runs from Remington up to the softball stadium.
• Gates open 90 minutes prior to first pitch
• All seats are reserved and stadium re-entry is allowed. USA Softball does enforce a Clear Bag Policy.
• For games two and three in Norman: Due to the Medieval Fair ongoing in Norman this weekend, parking in the paved and grass lots directly south of Marita Hynes Field will be staffed by security who will be enforcing gameday parking only.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT
• Texas: OU holds a 53-25 all-time advantage over its Red River rival and has won 27 of the last 28 games dating back to 2014, including 10 straight conference series over the Horns.
• The teams most recently met in the 2022 Women's College World Series Championship Series where OU claimed its second straight and sixth overall national title in a two-game sweep of UT by scores of 16-0 and 10-5. OU and Texas met six times in 2022 with OU besting the Horns in five of six contests. Texas snapped OU's 40-game win streak and NCAA DI record 38-0 start to the season in Austin on April 16.
• OU is 22-8 all-time versus Texas in Norman and 11-4 in games played in OKC. The Sooners have won 10 straight in Norman and seven straight in OKC.
LYONS NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Oklahoma shortstop Grace Lyons was named Big 12 Player of the Week for her performance throughout OU's series sweep at Iowa State.
• Lyons has found her groove since returning from illness March 17. The redshirt senior led OU to the three-game sweep over Iowa State, hitting .625 with a pair of home runs and four runs batted in.
• The Peoria, Ariz., product totaled 11 bases and four runs scored on the weekend, hitting home runs in back to back games in Saturday's doubleheader and leading the league in on-base (.667) and slugging percentage (1.375).
• Lyons has hit all four of her home runs on the season in the past eight games after returning from a seven-game absence. On the year, she's batting .410 with nine extra-base hits and 18 RBIs, helping OU to a 30-1 record and 22-game win streak.
• The honor marked the super senior's second career conference weekly award and first since April 12, 2022.
HOMER HAPPY
• As OU paced the country in home runs each of the past two seasons (NCAA-record 161 in 2021; 155 in 2022), the Sooners are off to another scorching pace in 2023, having blasted 57 so far in the early season, good for third in the country.
• In 2023, the Sooners have homered in 26 of 31 games, including 14 games with multiple home runs. OU hit single-season high six blasts vs. No. 1/1 UCLA (Feb. 26), No. 17/16 Kentucky (March 3) and at Iowa State (March 25). The Sooners have hit two-plus in 14 games, three-plus in seven games and six three times in a game this season.
• Individually, 13 Sooners have already hit a long ball in 2023 out of the 16 active non-pitchers on the roster. Of those 13, nine have multiple homers, including eight with three-plus and seven with five or more, paced by Jayda Coleman and Alyssa Brito's eight a piece.
• Brito, Coleman and Kinzie Hansen all have multi-homer games on the season (one a piece).
• Additionally, OU has hit five homers in one inning once this year (vs. Kentucky, 3/3), hit four in an inning twice, three-plus in three, and two-plus in six.
• The Sooners have hit back-to-back blasts five times this season and three consecutive once.
OUT OF THIS WORLD OFFENSE
• Since 2021, Oklahoma has paced the country offensively in several categories. OU led the nation in home runs in 2021 (161) and 2022 (155) and sit in the top three with 57 in the early 2023 season. Their 2021 mark broke an 11-year NCAA record for single-season home runs.
• In OU's recent span of offensive domination, the team has led the country in batting average for three straight seasons: 2021 – NCAA-record .405; 2022 – .371; 2023 – .391
• Additionally, the team has paced the country in runs, runs per game and slugging each of the past three seasons. The 2021 team's 638 runs, 10.63 runs/game and .778 SLG % all stand as NCAA records.
• In 2023, OU paces the country with:
• 8.97 runs/game
• .391 batting average
• .715 slugging percentage
• .478 on-base percentage
• 2.29 doubles per game
ELITE IN THE CIRCLE
• OU's pitching staff has been equally as dominant as the offense the past three seasons. The staff has led the country in shutouts the last two seasons (23 in 2021, school-record 33 in 2022) and are first in 2023 with 19 in OU's 31 games.
• The Sooner arms led the country in ERA a season ago with an exceptional 1.05 mark and are off to a dominant start in 2023, ranking third with a 1.00 earned run average.
• The staff has three no-hitters under their belt already in 2023 and one perfect game. Nicole May and Jordy Bahl combined to no-hit Army on Feb. 18 before Alex Storako threw her second career individual no-no vs. Kentucky on March 3 and Bahl completed a perfect contest March 10 vs. SELA. These come a year after the staff had six no-hitters and two perfect games a season ago.
• All four of OU's pitchers hold ERA's less than 2.00, led by May's second-nationally 0.39 average and Storako's eighth-ranked 0.80. The other two OU arms: Kierston Deal – 1.29 and Jordy Bahl – 1.66.
• The quartet has fanned a combined 250 batters in 2023 to go with 51 walks. May leads the group with 82 K's to Bahl's 74 and Storako's 73. The four have allowed opponents to bat just .149 against them and surrendered 27 runs, an average of 0.8/game. In OU's 12 games that they've allowed a run across, the staff has limited the damage with no opponent scoring more than four runs in 2023 (done thrice).
COLE WORLD
• Oklahoma centerfielder Jayda Coleman has showcased her versatility for the Sooners since she stepped on campus as a freshman in 2021 and her productivity from the leadoff spot for OU has been pivotal to the Sooners success.
• Coleman has started every game for the Sooners since 2021, 153 straight, and batted leadoff in 72 of those 153, including 36 straight contests and 47 of OU's last 48 games. In those 72 games when Coleman has started in the leadoff position, OU is 70-2.
• The triple threat has shown her power in 2023 with eight home runs, nine doubles and a triple, her home run count is tied for the team lead. For comparison, Coleman hit nine homers as a freshman in 2021 and eight total last season.
• Of Coleman's 25 career home runs, seven of those have been leadoff blasts. Additionally, three have been in the first at-bats of the game.
• The two-time NFCA First Team All-American paces OU in hits (39), batting average (.500), SLG% (.949), OB% (.639) and stolen bases (11-11). She ranks in the top-10 nationally in on-base (No. 2), batting (5th) and slugging (8th) percentages.
MORE NOTES & NUMBERS
• OU currently holds the nation's longest active win streak at 22 games.
• Oklahoma has won 145 of its last 153 games (.947 win %) dating back to the start of the 2021 season.
• Of those 153 games, 94 have been run-rule victories (61%).
• Of OU's 10 games against top-25 competition, four have been run-rule wins. Furthermore, in those 10 ranked victories, the Sooners have outscored opponents 86-12.
• OU's defense ranks first in the country with an exceptional .991 fielding percentage, committing just six errors on the season. The defense has turned 11 double plays already in 2023.
• Oklahoma has outhit its opponent in 29 of 31 games on the season, and in the one game they didn't outhit the opposition (vs. Texas A&M, 2/24), the Sooners won 8-0 in run-rule fashion in five innings (five hits to A&M's six). The other game the hits were tied with OU winning 2-1 over Northwestern.
• The Sooners have been dominant across all innings in 2023, but specifically the second inning, outscoring teams 78-0 in the second. The team has not surrendered runs in each the second, sixth or extra innings on the season.
• OU has been an exceptional two-out hitting team in 2023 with 112 of 278 (40.3%) runs coming with a pair of outs.
CONFERENCE DOMINANCE
• OU finished the Big 12 regular season 17-1 en route to winning its 14th regular season crown and 10th consecutive in 2022 and goes for its 11th in a row in 2023, starting conference play 3-0.
• The Sooners have won 79 of their last 81 Big 12 regular season games. Their streak of 57 consecutive that ended in Stillwater with a narrow loss to the Cowgirls in 2021 was the longest in conference and program history.
• OU has won 49 consecutive conference series (41 sweeps), is unbeaten in their last 67 (63-0-4 in that span) and have not lost a conference series since 2011.
• OU has finished first in the Big 12 over the past 10 seasons with a combined record of 164-15. Prior to OU's current run of 10 straight regular season titles, no team had ever won more than two consecutive.
• Overall, the Sooners have 21 Big 12 titles with 14 regular season crowns and seven Big 12 tournament championships, all under head coach Patty Gasso.
BACK ON TOP
• The Sooners streak of being the top-ranked team for 31 consecutive coaches polls dating back to March 2, 2021 was snapped Feb. 21 after a narrow 4-3 loss at Baylor. Oklahoma quickly regained the top spot after a 14-0 thrashing of then-No. 1 UCLA. OU has been the No. 1 team in both major rankings for 36 of the last 37 polls dating back to March 2, 2021.
• OU also continues a streak of being the only program ranked every week in the 28-year existence of the NFCA's poll, 415 straight polls.
• Oklahoma was chosen as the unanimous No. 1 in both the 2023 USA Today/NFCA Division I Preseason Coaches Poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Preseason Top 25.
• Oklahoma's No. 1 spot in the NFCA poll marked the fourth time the Sooners entered a season in the top spot (2017, '18, '22, '23) and the third time OU has been the unanimous choice in the coaches poll, joining the 2017 and 2022 squads.
• Additionally, it's the 12th straight year the Sooners have started in the NFCA's top 10, good for the nation's longest active streak. OU has been ranked in the top five 10 of the past 11 years, the most over that stretch.
• Overall, the Sooners are tied with Arizona for second with 23 top-10 appearances in the NFCA preseason poll, trailing only UCLA's 24. Oklahoma, UCLA and Washington are the only programs to be ranked in every NFCA preseason poll, which dates to 1995.
25TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARITA HYNES FIELD
• 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of historic Marita Hynes Field in Norman. The iconic field that has housed the nation's premier program opened its gates in 1998 and the Sooners have since gone 535-62-1 (.893).
• The field, named for former softball coach and senior woman administrator Marita Hynes on April 24, 2004, has a current capacity of 1,378 with standing room for over 2,000. The largest crowd to ever watch an OU softball game at the venue was May 4, 2019, with 2,076 in attendance for Bedlam vs. Oklahoma State.
• Oklahoma has gone undefeated on its home field four seasons since 1998, including each of the past two years. The Sooners last home loss was Feb. 29, 2020, a narrow 4-3 decision to North Texas. Over the past five seasons, OU holds a 102-2 mark at MHF.
• 2023 is anticipated to be the final season played at Marita Hynes as OU looks to open the state-of-the-art Love's Field in 2024.
HOME RUN U
• Oklahoma is officially Home Run University. With Jocelyn Alo's record-breaking career homer No. 96 (122 career total), two Sooners sit atop the NCAA record books for career home runs in Alo and 2015 alum Lauren Chamberlain.
• In addition to Alo and Chamberlain, 2015 alum Shelby Pendley sits at 10th all-time with 84 career blasts.
• More evidence of the Sooners staking claim to HRU is the past two seasons when OU has lit up the record books:
• 2021 saw the Sooners set NCAA records for home runs (161), runs scored (638), runs per game (10.63) and homers per game (2.68), among other records.
• Jocelyn Alo hit 34 blasts in 2021 and 2022 for second all-time in single-season NCAA history, just three shy of Laura Espinoza's (Arizona) 37 in 1995. Alo's 2018 along with Chamberlain's 2012 and '13 where each hit 30 homers a piece all rank in the all-time top-10.
• Current junior Tiare Jennings nearly matched Alo and Chamberlain's record (30) for freshman homers in 2021, hitting 27 to come within three of the NCAA frosh record. She followed suit in 2022 with 29 round-trippers.
• Jennings looks to continue the legacy at Oklahoma with two more seasons in the Crimson & Cream and already holding the No. 5 spot in the OU record book with 62 career homers. The two-time unanimous All-American is just three blasts shy of third place in program history.
• Senior captain Grace Lyons has come into her own offensively, hitting a career single-season best 23 blasts last year and has hit four in 2023 to bring her career total to 53, good for a tie of seventh in the OU record book.
CHAMPIONSHIP MINDSET SERIES STREAMING NOW
• The University of Oklahoma Athletics Department and its multimedia rightsholder, LEARFIELD, launched in January "Championship Mindset" – a brand-new original content series exclusively featuring Oklahoma softball.
• As the 2023 OU softball team prepares its competitive journey to a third straight national championship, the five-part series delivers authentic, behind-the-scenes access for fans.
• "Championship Mindset" will feature never-before-seen interviews with the team's coaches and student-athletes, giving fans a special and unique look into the legacy that is Oklahoma softball.
• All five episodes can be viewed on ESPN+, YouTube and on a dedicated page within SoonerSports.com, including snippets on Oklahoma softball's official social platforms.
• Four episodes have been released, with at least one more episode to be released later this season.
• LEARFIELD's dedicated content team, LEARFIELD Studios, produced and directed the series in complete collaboration with Oklahoma's athletics administration.
THE TROPHY CLUB
• The Oklahoma softball program has announced the launch of its restructured booster club under a new name, The Trophy Club.
• The Trophy Club replaces the former Diamond Club as the program's premier booster initiative to continue to enhance the student-athlete experience at Oklahoma, both on and off the field.
• Softball fans can join now and take part in exclusive events, including the annual golf tournament, coaches luncheon and more.
For membership details and how donations will be utilized, visit The Trophy Club landing page on SoonerSports.com.
• Gifts to the Trophy Club and Oklahoma softball will be utilized for: resources for the development of our student-athletes, facility upgrades to enhance recruiting and student-athlete experiences and improved quality of travel to increase academic participation by our student-athletes.
For updates and more information on Oklahoma softball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Softball) and like Oklahoma Softball on Facebook.
