Oklahoma Softball Weekend Preview | Kansas

M. HofeldApril 27, 2023 No Comments

The Sooners are playing in their final home stand of the regular season this weekend with an opportunity to clinch the Big 12 title. The Sooners are hosting Kansas and a sweep would give them the outright crown. Should the Sooners only take two games from the Jayhawks then they would still be guaranteed at least share of the Big 12 title.

Series Schedule

DateOpponentTimeTVResult
April 28Kansas 1:00 PMESPN+
April 29Kansas2:00 PMESPN+
April 30Kansas 1:00 PMESPN+

Tuning In

All three games can be seen via ESPN+ and can be heard via 107.7 The Franchise (FRI/SUN), 1560 The Franchise 2 (SAT) in Oklahoma or nationwide on The Varsity Network app with Chris Plank calling the action.

What We Learned Last Weekend

Oklahoma’s pitching staff is on a different level than they were earlier in the season. The Sooners have been dominant all season but Jordy Bahl avenged her, and the team’s, only loss of the season with a 10-strikeout performance to open the series against Baylor on Friday night. To put that in perspective, the Bears only managed 10 hits for the entire three-game series as they were swept without ever having a runner cross home plate. It was OU’s second conference sweep in which they didn’t allow their opponent to score (Texas Tech).

Notes & Storylines

  • OU is on a nation-best 34-game win streak dating back to the Sooners only loss of the season, Feb. 19 at Baylor in a non-conference matchup in Waco.
  • The Sooners hold a conference record of 173-15 the past 10 seasons and has not lost a Big 12 series since 2011, winning 52 consecutive conference series.
  • OU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 355-35 on the season, surrendering an average of 0.81 runs/game.
  • As a team, OU is batting a nation-best .372 with 80 home runs.
  • OU is outscoring conference foes 77-9 while hitting 24 home runs and surrendering just four homers.
  • OU has finished first in the Big 12 over the past 10 seasons with a combined record of 173-15. 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.

Against Kansas

The Sooners hold a 75-44 all-time mark over the Jayhawks, including a run of 16 straight wins. In Norman, OU leads 39-14. The Sooners swept the Jayhawks a season ago in Lawrence by final scores of 7-0, 19-0 (5) and 9-1.

Heavy Hitters

  • Olivia Bruno leads Kansas with 8 home runs and is batting .255 with 24 RBI.
  • Oklahoma’s Haley Lee is betting .409 and has knocked a team best 12 home runs with 38 RBI.

From The Circle

  • KU’s Lizzy Ludwig has a 1.53 ERA (4th in the Big 12) with 37 strikeouts.
  • Nicole May leads OU’s pitching staff with a 0.45 ERA and is tied with Jordy Bahl with 13 wins on the season (13-0) which is second behind Alex Storako’s 14-0 record.

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