Following a successful home opener last weekend the Sooners are back on the road. OU will be taking its #1 ranking to Starkville, Mississippi for the Bulldog invitational where they’ll face Southern Louisiana, Omaha, and the host team Mississippi State. Oklahoma enters the weekend with a 17-1 record and riding a nine-game winning streak.
Weekend Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Time | TV | Result |
| March 10 | Southeastern Louisiana | 12:30 PM | SoonerSports.tv | — |
| March 10 | Mississippi State | 6:00 PM | SECN+ | — |
| March 11 | Mississippi State | 3:00 PM | SECN | — |
| March 12 | Omaha | 10:30 AM | SoonerSports.tv | — |
Tuning In
Friday and Sunday’s games vs. SELU and Omaha can be seen via an “In the Booth” camera on SoonerSports.tv. Friday’s 6 p.m. matchup vs. MSU will stream on SEC Network+ and Saturday’s game vs. the Bulldogs will be televised on SEC Network. All games can be heard on the radio via 107.7 The Franchise or The Franchise 2 (103.3 FM, 1560 AM) in Oklahoma and nationwide on The Varsity app.
What We Learned Last Weekend
- The Bats Are Still Hot. Despite a slow start to last weekend, Oklahoma still registered 39 runs across the four games, ultimately winning two of them by run-rule.
- Kinzie Hansen is a difference maker. Since rejoining Oklahoma’s line up, Hansen has had back-to-back weekends where she went yard twice in one game. On the season she’s batting .304 with four home runs, 16 RBIs, and 8 runs scored.
- We don’t talk about Nicole May enough. For all that pitchers Jordy Bahl and Alex Storako are to this program, Nicole May is sitting on a 5-0 record with a 0.00 ERA.
Notes & Storylines
- The Sooners have already collected six ranked wins on the season, including a win over then-No. 1 UCLA at the Mary Nutter Classic. OU meets 11 teams ranked in the preseason coaches top 25, including three of the preseason top five in UCLA, Oklahoma State and Florida State.
- OU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 162-14 on the season, surrendering an average of under one run per game. The pitching staff has been exceptional, tossing shutouts in 12 of OU’s 18 games. 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. Kentucky last Friday.
- May leads the pitching staff with a perfect 0.00 ERA and 55 strikeouts, while three of OU’s four pitchers hold ERAs under 1.00.
- As a team, OU is batting a nation-best .391 with 31 home runs. Freshman Jocelyn Erickson has impressed in her initial season in the Crimson and Cream, leading the team with 25 RBIs and is tied with Jayda Coleman for the team lead in home runs with five.
- The Sooners have homered in 14 of 18 games, including seven games with multiple home runs.
- 11 Sooners have hit a home run in 2023. Of those, eight have multi-homer games, including seven with three-plus and three with four or more, paced by Jayda Coleman and Jocelyn Erickson’s five a piece.
- OU has hit five homers in one inning once this year (vs. Kentucky, 3/3), hit four in an inning twice, three-plus in two, and two-plus in three.
- The Sooners have hit back-to-back blasts three times this season and three consecutive once.
Against The Field
Southeastern Louisiana: OU holds a 3-0 all-time record over SELU, last meeting in 2004 with the Sooners beating the Lions 5-4 in Baton Rouge.
Mississippi State: The Sooners and Bulldogs have met five times with OU holding an undefeated 5-0 mark. This weekend will be the first matchups in Starkville as four of the previous five meetings have come on a neutral field. Aside from the teams’ first meeting in Ruston, La., in 1983, every ensuing matchup has come in a season that Oklahoma has won the national title (2000, ’17, ’21 and ’22).
Omaha: The Sooners and Mavericks have met four times in program history, with OU holding a 4-0 lead. The teams last met twice in Norman almost six years to the date of this weekend’s matchup. OU run-ruled Omaha by scores of 8-0 and 9-1 each in five innings on March 10, 2017.
Heavy Hitters
- SELU’s Bailey Krolczyk is batting .411 on the season and has 3 home runs and 13 RBI. Lexi Johnson has blasted 4 home runs with 25 RBI. She leads the team in both categories.
- Chloe Malau’ulu leads Mississippi State with five home runs. She is batting .316 on the season and has 21 RBIs and 19 runs scored.
- Omaha’s Rachel Weber is batting .333 with 3 home runs and 15 RBI.
- Jocelyn Erickson is batting .568 on the season with 5 home runs and 25 RBI.
From The Circle
- KK Ladner has a 5-1 record and a 0.77 ERA for SELU.
- MSU’s Josey Marron has a 7-0 record with a 1.20 ERA and 61 strikeouts.
- Sydney Nuismer is 5-1 on the season and has a 3.64 ERA.
- Oklahoma’s Nicole May is 5-0 on the season with a 0.00 ERA and has registered a team-high 55 strikeouts.
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