The set begins on Friday, April 5, at 5:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU followed by a 7 p.m. start Saturday on ESPN. Sunday's 1 p.m. finale will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network. All three games of the series can be heard on 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2 with games one and two also airing on 107.7 FM The Franchise.
Oklahoma owns a 57-25 advantage over Texas in the all-time series and a 20-11 mark in Austin with all 82 games played in the Gasso era. OU has won seven straight games vs. the Longhorns, its last loss occurring on April 16, 2022 in Austin.
OU owns a three-game lead in the Big 12 standings over both Texas and Oklahoma State. The Sooners stand as the league's lone unbeaten team in league play at 12-0 and are winners of 39 consecutive conference games - the last loss coming at Texas.
SCOUTING THE LONGHORNS
Texas enters the series with a 29-5 record including a 9-3 mark in Big 12 play, ranked in the top-five nationally by both ESPN.com/USA Softball and the NFCA polls. The Longhorns dropped two-of-three games in Stillwater last weekend and were outscored 9-2 across the three pitcher's duels.
The Longhorn lineup bats .377 entering the weekend, second in the NCAA to OU, and boasts four everyday players with averages of .400 or better. Senior infielder Joley Mitchell leads the club with a .450 average and has added five home runs, nine doubles and 23 RBIs. Sophomore catcher Reese Atwood owns a team-best 12 home runs and 52 runs batted in while hitting .400, redshirt-sophomore Ashton Maloney bats .424 and freshman outfielder Kayden Henry is hitting .404 with six homers, eight doubles and 22 RBIs. Henry has stolen 17 bags on 20 tries while Mitchell is 11-for-12 on the basepaths.
Each of Texas' five pitchers have recorded ERA marks below 1.90 through the team's first 34 games. Freshman right-hander Teagan Kavan leads the staff in strikeouts (70), innings pitched (68.1) and wins (11) while pitching to a 1.84 ERA in her debut season. Righty Citlaly Gutierrez is 6-0 with a 1.17 ERA and a 28:6 K:BB ratio across 47.2 innings and fellow right-hander Max Morgan has thrown 50.0 frames to the tune of a 1.26 ERA, striking out 20 and walking nine with an 8-0 record. As a staff, Texas has logged a 1.41 ERA and a .173 batting average against across 213.0 innings with 13 shutouts, 161 strikeouts and just 42 walks.
COLEMAN NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior centerfielder Jayda Coleman was named both NFCA National Player of the Week and Big 12 Player of the Week following a near-perfect week at the top of the Sooners' order, announced by the organization and conference Tuesday.
Coleman reached base in a ridiculous 13 of her 14 plate appearances as top-ranked Oklahoma swept then-No. 24/RV Kansas in Lawrence last weekend, homering three times and drawing seven walks. She went 6-for-7 (.857) and scored eight runs, recording multi-hit efforts in all three games. The OU leadoff hitter slashed .857/.929/2.143 for an OPS mark of 3.072, leading the NCAA in both on-base percentage and slugging.
OU has won Big 12 Player of the Week in four consecutive weeks with four different players earning the honor each week. The Sooners are the only program to have won player-of-the-week honors in four straight weeks and have now done so in back-to-back seasons.
The Big 12 honor is Coleman's fourth career player-of-the-week nod and her first of 2024. Oklahoma has now earned 110 Big 12 Player of the Week honors under head coach Patty Gasso.
COLE WORLD
Jayda Coleman carries a 22-game on-base streak into the weekend and has slashed .587/.720/1.217 for a 1.937 OPS across the stretch. Over her last 22 contests she has scored 34 runs and driven in 19 while producing 27 hits, eight home runs and five doubles. Her plate discipline has been nothing short of incredible during her 22-game stretch, striking out just once in 76 plate appearances (1.3%) and walking 26 times (34.2%).
LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners' one-through-four batters each provided multi-hit efforts as Oklahoma earned its fourth-straight Big 12 sweep with a 7-3 win over No. 24/RV Kansas in Lawrence on Saturday afternoon.
Oklahoma saw seniors Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, Alyssa Brito and Kinzie Hansen combine to go 10-for-16 with three home runs, accounting for all seven runs in the win over the Jayhawks. OU's win on Saturday coupled with a Texas loss in Stillwater improved the Sooners' Big 12 first-place lead to 3.0 games.
Coleman (2-for-2, 3 BB, 3 R, HR, RBI) reached in each of her five trips to the plate for the second-straight game. She closed an incredible series that saw her go 6-for-7 (.857) and reach in 13 of her 14 plate appearances, scoring eight times and drawing seven walks. Jennings and Brito each went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, two RBIs and a home run while Hansen added a 2-for-4 day at the dish.
Oklahoma drew eight walks to go with its 11 base hits in the win, capping a series that saw the lineup work 23 free passes to reach base at a .509 clip. OU outscored Kansas 30-4 in the series and out-hit its opponent 35-8.
LEADERBOARDS
The Sooners enter the week ranked highly across the national leaderboards in multiple statistical categories. OU leads the nation in batting average (.394), OPS (1.227), fielding percentage (.985) and on-base percentage (.495) and is top-three in slugging percentage (2nd, .733), home runs (2nd, 78), runs per game (2nd, 9.20), shutouts (2nd, 16) and ERA (3rd, 1.40). Senior infielders Tiare Jennings (1.000) and Alyssa Brito (.931) rank fourth and eighth nationally in slugging percentage.
Jayda Coleman enters the weekend leading the Big 12 in batting average (.466), runs scored (45) and walks drawn (30) while landing second in on-base percentage (.589 and third in OPS (1.407). Jennings leads the league in OPS (1.520), slugging (1.000), doubles (11) and home runs (15) while ranking second in RBIs (47) and third in hits (45). Brito ranks second in OPS (1.435), slugging (.931), runs scored (43) and home runs (14). Rylie Boone is second in the league with a .455 batting average and ranks sixth with eight doubles. Cydney Sanders enters the week third in slugging (.875), fourth in OPS (1.396) and home runs (11) and fifth in walks drawn (24).
In the circle, the Sooners boast four pitchers in the league's top-eight ERA leaders with Karlie Keeney (3rd, 1.11), Kierston Deal (5th, 1.22), Kelly Maxwell (7th, 1.59) and Nicole May (8th, 1.68) anchoring one of the nation's top staffs. Maxwell leads the conference with a .161 opponent average while ranking fourth in wins (10) and seventh in strikeouts (69)
LET'S GO POLLING
The Sooners remain the unanimous top team in the country this week, earning all 32 available first-place votes in the NFCA/USA Today coaches poll and adding all 25 available first-place votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
BIG 12 STANDINGS
Oklahoma enters the fifth week of conference play as the lone unbeaten team in the Big 12 at 12-0. The Sooners are a full 3.0 games ahead of second-place Texas and Oklahoma State while holding a three-game advantage on fourth-place Kansas.
OU has an opportunity to gain ground on Texas in Austin this weekend while Oklahoma State visits Houston.
TIARE'S ON A TEAR
Senior shortstop Tiare Jennings rides a six-game hitting streak entering the series and has homered in each of her last four games. Should she homer on Friday, Jennings would become just the 26th player in NCAA history to hit a home run in five consecutive games.
Jennings is 12-for-22 (.545) over her hitting streak with 10 runs scored, five home runs, two doubles and 10 RBIs.
ALL ABOUT ALYNAH
Red-hot Sooner senior Alynah Torres has reached base in each of her last 18 games, going 21-for-42 (.500) with 15 RBIs during that stretch. Torres slashes .500/.571/.976 for a 1.547 OPS with six home runs and a pair of doubles during her last 18 games and has walked seven times with just one strikeout.
RUNS, RUNS AND MORE RUNS
The Oklahoma lineup continues to roll in 2024, leading the nation in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS while ranking second in runs per game, slugging percentage and home runs entering the weekend.
OU plates 9.20 runs a game and slashes .394/.495/.733 for a 1.227 OPS, blasting 78 home runs. The Sooners' incredible plate discipline sees them strike out in just 8.0% of their trips while walking at a 16.7% clip. As a club, OU owns a .521 weighted on-base average (wOBA).
Seven everyday players are batting .403 or better while every position player with at least 15 starts is batting above .325. A whopping 10 Sooners with at least 70 plate appearances boast an OPS mark above 1.000, nine have driven in 20 or more runs and seven have already left the yard at least five times.
CHAMPS IN THE CLUTCH
Oklahoma's lineup has produced the second-most runs per game across the NCAA at 9.20 this season. A key factor in the order's success has been the club's penchant for hitting with runners in scoring position. OU slashes .399/.493/.749 for a 1.242 OPS with RISP, producing a .513 wOBA in those situations.
Alyssa Brito is 17-for-33 (.515) with RISP this spring, producing a 1.716 OPS. Tiare Jennings has blasted six home runs and six doubles while registering a 1.569 OPS with runners in scoring position.
FRESHMEN PHENOMS
Not to be lost in the success of the Oklahoma upperclassmen this season, freshmen Ella Parker, Kasidi Pickering and Maya Bland have provided immediate impact to the program as key players in their debut season.
Parker is fifth among her teammates in hitting at .415, reaching base at a .515 clip and slugging .720 for a 1.234 OPS. She adds seven doubles, six home runs and 34 RBIs and has walked in 17.5% of her trips to the plate.
Pickering slashes .403/.505/.623 for a 1.129 OPS entering the week. She has collected five doubles and four homers to go with 25 RBIs while logging strong defense in both outfield corners.
Bland has been the Sooners' top option as a runner off the bench, stealing eight bags on nine tries (88.9%) with 17 runs scored. She has gone 4-for-12 (.333) at the plate with a pair of doubles and four RBIs, adding a spark off the bench.
COACH GASSO REACHES 400
Patty Gasso became the first Big 12 head coach, in any sport, to earn her 400th conference win with the Sooners' 11-1 win over Texas Tech on March 17.
The conference's all-time league wins leader is 406-87 (.824) in Big 12 games over her illustrious career, earning 15 regular season championships and eight postseason titles.
ONE LAST RIDE IN THE BIG 12
The Sooners are in their final season of Big 12 competition with a 406-87 (.824) league record since the conference began in 1996, winners of 11 consecutive conference championships. They are 133-4 (.971) in Big 12 play since the beginning of the 2016 season and have not lost a conference series since 2011.
OU won both the regular season and conference tournament championships last season while going 18-0 in Big 12 play. The program has won 23 Big 12 titles (15 regular season and eight Big 12 tournament championships), all under head coach Patty Gasso.
Oklahoma will join the SEC on July 1, 2024.
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