Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Softball At Oklahoma
April 19, 2003 | Cowgirl Softball
Oklahoma State enters the first round of Bedlam with a 15-game winning streak on the line. The Cowgirls are in the driver's seat in the conference race, leading the Big 12 with a 6-0 record, their best start since posting a 10-0 mark in 1994.
The Cowgirls got all they could handle from Texas Tech over the weekend, squeaking by with one-run wins in both contests. Lauren Bay was the hero on Saturday, fanning 17 Red Raiders and blasting a home run in the bottom of the seventh for the win. On Sunday, it was Alliya Anderson who earned the game-winning RBI in the ninth.
Oklahoma has won 23 of its last 25 contests, with the losses coming to conference foes Nebraska and Missouri. The Sooners had won 18 straight before dropping the second game of the series at Nebraska.
HEAD COACH MARGARET REBENAR
Margaret Rebenar is in her 24th season season as a softball coach at Oklahoma State and second as a head coach. She brings a 56-29 record as a head coach into Wednesday's game. She was inducted into the NFCA/Easton "300 win" club in 2000 and guided the Cowgirls to a regional championship and a College World Series appearance in 1998. Under her guidance, 22 players have earned All-American status 28 times, including Olympians Michele Smith and Melanie Roche.
SERIES WITH OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma State leads the overall series with Oklahoma 67-51 but the Sooners have won the last 13 meetings dating back to 1998. The Cowgirls came close to snapping the streak last year, losing both contests by one run. In Stillwater, OSU gave up five runs in the seventh inning to give the Sooners a 6-5 win. Round two took place in Norman and it took OU 10 innings to put away the Cowgirls 5-4.
SCOUTING REPORT ON OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma enters Wednesday's match-up at 30-5 overall and third in the Big 12 with a 6-2 record. OU ranks second in the conference with a .291 team batting average and Leah Gulla and Erin Evans rank second and third individually. Gulla leads the Sooners with a .393 batting average and eight doubles. Gulla shares lead in the home run race with Kelli Braitsch with eight long balls. Evans is second on the squad, batting .361 and leading the team with nine stolen bases. Heather Scaglione and Braitsch round out the Sooners batting over .300. At 20-2 Kami Keiter has seen the bulk of the time in the circle for the Sooners. The sophomore has a 0.75 ERA and is averaging 6.3 strikeouts per game. Keiter leads the league in wins (20), innings pitched (150.1), appearances (28), games started (21) and complete games (16).
OKLAHOMA STATE IN THE POLLS
The Cowgirls are currently ranked in both the NFCA Coaches and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 polls. The Cowgirls entered the NFCA poll for the first time the week of March 11th ranked 23rd after defeating Northwestern and Stanford to capture the title at the Speedline Invitational. The Cowgirls climbed to 18 last week after starting out conference play 4-0. Oklahoma State is currently ranked 16th for the second consecutive week in the ESPN.com poll, after debuting at 23 in the inaugural listing earlier this spring.
BIG 12 RANKINGS
Oklahoma State's pitching staff currently ranks second in the Big 12 with a 0.95 ERA behind Texas (0.72). Lauren Bay appears in several statistical categories, for both pitching and hitting. At the plate she ranks seventh in the conference with a .345 batting average. In the circle Bay leads the pack with a 0.39 ERA in 142 innings and 272 Ks. Sarah Seagraves ranks eighth, carrying the only perfect record (9-0) on a 1.36 earned run average. As a team the Cowgirls have the second-best fielding percentage (.974), once again trailing Texas (.976).
