PDA

View Full Version : SOONER SOFTBALL



soonerbred
5/18/2007, 03:47 PM
Sooners win a tough one over Colgate 5-2

They will play the winner of UMASS vs. Long Island tomorrow morning at 11am - to be broadcast on 1520am.

Jay C. Upchurch
5/18/2007, 04:02 PM
No. 1 OU Softball Survives with 5-2 Win over Colgate
Samantha Ricketts breaks Big 12 and OU RBI single season record with game-winning three-run homer

AMHERST, Mass. — The No. 1 Oklahoma softball team (53-6) won its opening game of the NCAA Tournament for the 10th straight season as the Sooners, a No. 3 national seed, survived with a 5-2 win over Colgate (25-23) Friday afternoon in 40-degree temperatures and drizzling rain at the UMass Softball Complex.

Sophomore Samantha Ricketts, the nation’s RBI leader, recorded the game-winning homer, a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth that gave OU the 5-2 lead. Ricketts’ home run broke the Big 12 and OU single season RBI record as she now owns 80 RBI this season. She entered the game sharing the record with former Sooner Lisa Carey who recorded 77 in 2000. Ricketts now owns 18 homers on the year and trails the OU single season record by two. That record is shared by Carey (2000) and Lynette Velazquez (1999).

Despite Ricketts’ homer, neither team did much offensively. Oklahoma owned three hits to Colgate’s two. Traci Dickenson and Mariee Mena were the only other Sooners to record hits in the game.

The Sooners opened the game in steady rain, but it didn’t slow Colgate as leadoff batter Kortney Hannah reached first on a dropped pop up by pitcher Lauren Eckermann. An out later, Ashley Rowe roped a two-run homer over the left field fence to take the early 2-0 lead.

However, the Co-Big 12 Pitcher of the Year settled after giving up the home run. Eckermann retired the next nine batters before walking a Raider in the fourth. The junior improved to 35-3 on the season and only gave up one earned run on two hits while walking one and striking out eight.

Nine-hole hitter Traci Dickenson sparked the Sooner offense in the bottom of the third as she pounded a one-out solo home run just past the center field wall to score OU’s first run of the game. It marked Dickenson’s 14th home run of the season.

Oklahoma loaded the bases following that after two walks and a hit by pitch as Susan Ogden stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. The designated player earned her 36th RBI of the season as she walked with a full count to tie the game up at 2-2. The Sooners couldn’t get any more runs across the plate in the third as Jamie Fox fouled out to the left fielder to end the bottom of the frame.

The Sooners got the offense going again in the fifth as Mariee Mena broke out of a hitting slump as she hit a one-out single up the middle as she got her first hit in her last 17 at bats. Amber Flores reached first on a fielder’s choice after a fielding error by the Colgate shortstop made Mena safe at second. Ricketts followed that with her three-run blast, the eventual game-winner that cleared both fences at the UMass Softball Complex.

The win advanced the Sooners to an 11 a.m. (CST) Saturday game against the winner of UMass and Long Island, who began their first game of the tournament at 3:30 p.m. (CST).

OU SID Report