Notes on the Softball World Series Championship

Notes on the Softball World Series Championship

 

*  With the win Tuesday night over Tennessee for its second NCAA softball title, Oklahoma becomes only the fifth team to win multiple titles, joining UCLA (11), Arizona (8), Arizona State (2) and Texas A&M (2). OU finished the year with a .324 team batting average and a 1.16 ERA, becoming the first team in Division I history to rank No. 1 in both categories at the end of the season.

*  The Sooners’ .934 winning percentage is the fifth-best in NCAA history behind 1992 UCLA (.964), 1994 Arizona (.955), 1998 Arizona (.944) and 2001 Arizona (.942). The Sooners outscored their WCS opponents 32-8 and outscored their NCAA postseason foes 91-16. Oklahoma outscored their opponents by 402 runs this season. The next highest Division One differential belonged to Tennessee (+297).

*  Oklahoma set single-season school records in runs scored (476), runs batted in (443), slugging percentage (.582), fewest errors (34) and winning percentage (.934).

*  OU posted a perfect 55-0 record this season when scoring at least three runs.

*  The Sooners finished the WCWS with a .299 batting average. Nebraska ranked No. 2 at .238. Similarly, OU’s 1.11 ERA was significantly better than Tennessee’s 2.15, which was second best. The Sooners also paced the eight-team field with a .982 fielding percentage.

*  Oklahoma senior Keilani Ricketts, who was named WCWS Most Outstanding Player, drove in all four of OU’s runs in the final game. She sent a three-run home run to right field in the third inning, her 15th of the season and the 50th of her career. Ricketts drove in another run in the seventh inning on a groundout for her 60th RBI of the season.

*  OU’s Lauren Chamberlain singled in the third inning to extend her career-long hitting streak to 16 games. Chamberlain also hit a triple in the seventh inning. She finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs and walked twice. She led the WCWS with 22 total bases in her five games (Ricketts finished second with 15 and nobody else on any squad had more than nine).

*  Oklahoma senior pitcher Michelle Gascoigne improved to 19-3 on the season and posted a nation-best 0.88 ERA. In the final game she gave up just three hits and struck out 12 in the complete game effort. It was the sixth time this season Gascoigne did not walk a batter.

*  Tennessee senior pitcher Ivy Renfroe (22-5) faced 12 batters in 2.1 innings of work as the starter. She allowed three runs (all earned) on three hits while walking two batters and striking out two.

*  Lady Vols junior Ellen Renfroe pitched 4.2 innings in relief, allowing one run on four hits while striking out five.

*  The final game’s attendance of 8,527 set a Session 8 record and brought this year's total to 70,683. The average attendance of 8,835 set a WCWS record, breaking last year's standard of 8,440 per session.

 

Softball World Series Central