Record ....................................................................... 54-10 Big 12 Record (Finish) ......................................... 19-5 (1st) Non-Conference Record............................................... 35-5 Home Record............................................................... 23-3 Away Record ............................................................... 12-2 Neutral Record ............................................................ 19-5 19th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance 9th Big 12 Championship 7th Women’s College World Series Appearance USA Softball Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts Honda Softball Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts NFCA All-Americans Lauren Chamberlain, first team Keilani Ricketts, first team Jessica Shults, first team NFCA All-Central Region Lauren Chamberlain, first team Keilani Ricketts, first team Jessica Shults, first team Georgia Casey, second team NFCA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year Patty Gasso, Melyssa Lombardi, Tripp MacKay WCWS All-Tournament Team Lauren Chamberlain Destinee Martinez Keilani Ricketts Jessica Shults Brianna Turang Big 12 Coach of the Year Patty Gasso Big 12 Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts Big 12 Freshman of the Year Lauren Chamberlain All-Big 12 Georgia Casey, first team Lauren Chamberlain, first team Keilani Ricketts, first team Jessica Shults, first team Destinee Martinez, second team Academic All-Big 12 Kirsten Allen, first team Michelle Gascoigne, first team Javen Henson, first team Brianna Turang, first team Ali Vandever, second team NFCA Player of the Week Keilani Ricketts, Feb. 27 Big 12 Player of the Week Lauren Chamberlain, March 13 Georgia Casey, March 20 Lauren Chamberlain, April 3 Keilani Ricketts, May 8 Lauren Chamberlain, May 15 Big 12 Pitcher of the Week Keilani Ricketts, March 6 Keilani Ricketts, March 20 Keilani Ricketts, March 27 Keilani Ricketts, April 3 Keilani Ricketts, April 24 Keilani Ricketts, May 1
SOONERS SMASH HOME RUN RECORDS Led by a Big 12-record 30 home runs by freshman Lauren Chamberlain, the Sooners set school and conference records with 102 home runs on the season. The previous best in OU history was 85 set in 2000, while the conference mark was held by the 2010 Texas squad that hit 88 homers. The mark goes down as the 13th-highest total in NCAA Division I history and just the 17th time a team reached the century mark. The all-time record is held by Hawaii, which hit 158 in 2010. GASSO CLAIMS 1000TH CAREER WIN With a 9-1 victory over Virginia on March 16, Patty Gasso recorded the 1,000th win of her illustrious career. Following the season, Coach Gasso’s record stands at 1,032338-3 overall and 871-279-2 at Oklahoma. OU, UA RANKED IN EVERY NFCA POLL The Sooners have been ranked in the NFCA poll since its inception, which spans 257 weeks. Oklahoma and Arizona are the only programs who have been ranked every week the poll has been released. RICKETTS SETS STRIKEOUT RECORDS Keilani Ricketts needed just one appearance in 2012 to capture the Oklahoma career strikeouts record. The junior pitcher entered the season with 798 strikeouts in her first two seasons in Norman and struck out 16 in her season debut versus UNLV to surpass the previous record of 805 set by Jill Most from 1994-97. Ricketts finished the season with 457 strikeouts, breaking her own OU record of 452 which she set in 2011. CHAMBERLAIN GOES DEEP Freshman Lauren Chamberlain exploded onto the scene in 2012, earning first-team All-America honors and setting school and conference records for home runs. She blasted 30 home runs on the season, easily surpassing the OU record of 20 set by Lynette Velazquez in 1999 and matched by Lisa Carey in 2000. Chamberlain also took down Meagan May’s Big 12 record of 24 homers hit in 2010. The figure ranks fifth all-time in the NCAA record books, and the mark still belongs to Arizona’s Laura Espinoza who hit 37 blasts in 1995. RICKETTS’ PERFECT GAME VS. KANSAS One season after teammate Michelle Gacoigne threw a perfect game against Appalachian State, Keilani Ricketts joined the exclusive club and threw the first perfect game, and no-hitter, of her career on March 30 against Kansas. Ricketts struck out 10 batters and didn’t allow a baserunner in a five-inning, 8-0 win. It was the eighth perfect game in school history. SEVENTEEN-STRAIGHT WINS Oklahoma won 17 straight games from Feb. 29 to March 25. It was the longest winning streak since OU won 23
games in a row in 2007. The streak in 2012 began with a 6-1 win over North Texas and culminated in a 1-0 loss to No. 15 Baylor. During their run, the Sooners outscored their opponents 124-11. Under Patty Gasso, OU has 18 winning streaks of at least 10 games, including three of at least 23 games and six of at least 15. RICKETTS NAMED USA SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR Keilani Ricketts was named the 2012 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year by the Amateur Softball Association at the opening banquet for the Women’s College World Series. Ricketts became the first player in Oklahoma history to earn the honor and was just the second to be named a finalist, following in the footsteps of her sister Samantha in 2007.
SEASON RECAP
2012 SEASON BREAKDOWN
The award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women’s collegiate softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country. TRIO EARNS ALL-AMERICA HONORS Juniors Keilani Ricketts and Jessica Shults and freshman Lauren Chamberlain were all named to the 2012 Louisville Slugger National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America First Teams. Ricketts also earned first team honors as a sophomore after being named to the second team in her debut season, while Shults was named to the second team each of the last two seasons. FOUR SOONERS EARN NFCA ALL-REGION HONORS Four members of the Oklahoma Softball program were named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Central Region teams. Lauren Chamberlain, Keilani Ricketts and Jessica Shults were named to the region’s first team while Georgia Casey was named to the second team. Oklahoma has now had 50 players receive NFCA All-Region honors in the program’s history. SOONERS TAKE THREE OF FIVE BIG 12 AWARDS Oklahoma took three of the five Big 12 yearly awards as junior Keilani Ricketts was named the unanimous Big 12 Player of the Year, Lauren Chamberlain the unanimous Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Patty Gasso was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the fifth time in her career. Ricketts is the eighth player in Oklahoma history to earn the Big 12 Player of the Year award while Chamberlain is the third to earn the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award. Gasso had previously been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2009. OU had previously won all three awards in the same year once in 1999. In addition to the three awards, the Sooners placed four athletes on the All-Big 12 first team as freshman Georgia Casey and junior Jessica Shults joined Ricketts and Chamberlain on the team. Sophomore outfielder Destinee Martinez was named All-Big 12 second team.