Softball Set for Showdown with No. 3 Oklahoma

April 17, 2007

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#7 BAYLOR (39-9, 9-0) TRAVELS TO #3 OKLAHOMA (43-5, 8-3)

APRIL 18, 2007 - 5:00 PM (DH)

MARITA HYNES FIELD

NORMAN, OKLA.

THE SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18

No. 7 Baylor at No. 3 Oklahoma (DH), 5:00 p.m.

LIVE COVERAGE

Radio: ESPN Radio 1660 AM

Live Video: None

Live Audio: www.BaylorBears.com

Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com

Television: None

THE SERIES

Baylor vs. Oklahoma: Oklahoma leads 27-6

Waco, Texas: Oklahoma leads 7-3

Norman, Okla.: Oklahoma leads 10-3

Neutral: Oklahoma leads 10-0

Positioning in the race for the Big 12 Conference regular-season title is on the line as the No. 7 Baylor (39-9) softball team returns to action this week on Wednesday, April 18, at 5:00 p.m. as the Lady Bears face No. 3 Oklahoma (43-5, 8-3) in a key, Big 12 Conference doubleheader at Marita Hynes Field.

Baylor enters the doubleheader riding a 13-game winning streak, one game shy of tying the school mark of 14 straight wins set during the 2004 season. During the streak, the Baylor offense has hit at an impressive .324 clip while the pitching staff has been dominant in the circle, posting a perfect 13-0 record and 1.75 ERA while holding opponents to a .204 average.

Ashley Monceaux continues to lead the way for the Lady Bears as the senior currently leads the team with a .416 average, 13 home runs and 50 RBI. Baylor third baseman Brette Reagan has caught fire as of late as well as the sophomore is hitting .369 on the season with seven home runs and 36 RBI.

Lisa Ferguson continues to lead the Lady Bears in the circle, posting an 18-4 record and 1.84 ERA on the year. Kirsten Shortridge will likely also see significant time in the twinbill as the freshman enters with a record of 13-3 on the season with a 2.00 ERA.

Oklahoma, which is coming off a split at Missouri last weekend, leads the all-time series, 27-6, after the teams split a doubleheader last season in Waco. The action between the Lady Bears and the Sooners can be heard on ESPN Radio 1660 AM in the Waco area as well as on the official website for Baylor Athletics, www.baylorbears.com.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma is coming off a split of Missouri this past weekend. The Sooners handed the Tigers their first loss in Big 12 play as OU won game two of the doubleheader, 8-3. However, the Sooners were unable to pull off a sweep as Mizzou won game one, 5-1. Lauren Eckermann recorded her second loss of the season in game one, but came in for the final 5.1 innings in game two to get her 27th win of the year.

Oklahoma's team batting average leads the Big 12 with a .342 average while the Sooners are still leading the country with 7.44 runs scored per game. Oklahoma also has two of the top hitters in the country in Norrelle Dickson and Samantha Ricketts. Dickson is third in the country with a .500 batting average while Ricketts ranks second among all NCAA players with 69 RBI this season.

The Sooners will continue to rely on the arm of ace Lauren Eckermann who owns a 27-2 mark and a 1.48 overall ERA this season. The junior has made an appearance in all 11 Big 12 games and has started seven of them.

The Sooners lead the all-time series, 27-6; however, the teams have split the last eight meetings after the two teams split last season in Waco.

QUICK NOTES

• Baylor is No. 13 in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and No. 7 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25.

• Baylor's appearance in both polls marks the 52nd consecutive week the Lady Bears have appeared in the NFCA Top 25 and the 52nd consecutive week the team has appeared in the USA Softball Top 25.

• Baylor is 176-10 over the past six seasons when scoring at least four runs.

• Baylor is 146-18 over the past five seasons when collecting at least eight hits.

• Baylor is 209-20 over the past five seasons when out-hitting its opponent.

• Baylor is 96-19 over the past four seasons at Getterman Stadium, including a 25-1 mark at home this season.

• For the first time in school history, Baylor swept the national player of the week honors after taking two-of-three from No. 2 Arizona. Alex Colyer was named USA Softball National Player of the Week while Lisa Ferguson was named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week. Both earned Big 12 Conference player of the week honors as well.

• Ashley Monceaux was selected as one of the top 25 finalists for USA Softball National Player of the Year. Baylor's Chelsi Lake and Brette Reagan were selected to the pre-season watch list.

• With Brette Reagan winning Big 12 Conference Co-Player of the Week honors last week, Baylor has had five players earn Big 12 Conference Pitcher or Player of the Week honors this season, the most in school history.

• For the first time in history, live, streaming audio will be available for every Baylor softball game. Sign-up for audio is free and fans can listen to every Baylor softball game by visiting www.baylorbears.com.

LISA FERGUSON NEARS BAYLOR CAREER WIN MARK

With a win in the series opener against Oklahoma State, Baylor senior Lisa Ferguson moved within one victory of the Baylor career win mark as the right-hander now owns a career record of 74-33 in three-plus seasons.

Ferguson, who currently ranks in a tie for second on the Baylor career list, is one win shy of tying Stacey Allison (1996-99) for the most career wins in school history with 75.

The senior has been a force in the circle this year, posting an 18-4 record and 1.81 ERA on the year. In all but four innings this season, the right-hander has been in complete control. In games (26-of-30 appearances) in which she did not allow an inning of four or more runs, she has posted an 18-1 record and 0.85 ERA.

BAYLOR STREAKING

Baylor enters the doubleheader with the Sooners riding a 13-game winning streak. During the streak, the Baylor offense has hit at an impressive .324 clip while the pitching staff has been dominant in the circle, posting a perfect 13-0 record and 1.75 ERA while holding opponents to a .204 average.

Brette Reagan has led the attack during the 13-game streak, posting a .444 batting average with four home runs and 18 RBI. Kirsten Shortridge has also been hot at the plate, posting a .500 average with six runs scored. During the streak, four players are currently batting over .365 as four players have scored at least 10 runs in the last 13 games.

In the circle, Lisa Ferguson and Shortridge have combined for a perfect 11-0 record as the duo has combined to strike out 61 batters while holding opponents to a .201 batting average.

The 13-game streak matches the second longest in school history and is one shy of the school record 14-game winning streak set during the 2004 season.

Chelsi Lake BREAKS CAREER HOME RUN MILESTONE

With a home run at the Bank of Hawai'i Invitational, Chelsi Lake moved into first place, surpassing former Baylor star Kelly Osburn (2003-06),in the Baylor career home run category. Lake has now hit 42 career home runs as the senior already holds the Baylor single-season home run mark with 18 round-trippers in 2006.

The career milestone is just one of a number of Baylor marks Lake will likely pass during the 2007 campaign as the senior already holds the Lady Bears career record with 173 RBI. In addition, Lake is just two total bases shy of surpassing Osburn's career total bases mark of 395 and recently broke Osburn's career doubles mark of 43 with a double in the victory over Oklahoma State.

Ashley Monceaux AND BAYLOR CONTINUE TO PRODUCE

Over the past few years, the Baylor offense has had tremendous success at the plate and this year has been no different. So far this season, Baylor has posted a .321 batting average on the year and currently ranks second in the league in the category. In addition, the Lady Bears have hit 45 home runs on the season and have posted an impressive .485 slugging percentage.

Leading the way for Baylor has been senior Ashley Monceaux. Monceaux leads the Lady Bears with a .405 batting average, 13 home runs and 50 RBI. The senior first baseman has posted an almost unbelievable .796 slugging percentage and 109 total bases as she ranks among the top ten in the conference in eight different categories.

As a team, Baylor currently features six players batting over .300 on the season, including freshman Kirsten Shortridge (.385), Nicole Wesley (.329) and Tiffany Wesley (.321).

BAYLOR SOFTBALL IN THE NATIONAL POLLS

The Baylor softball team is currently ranked No. 7 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll. In addition, Baylor earned a No. 13 ranking in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25.

Baylor is one of four Big 12 Conference school ranked in both polls as Texas A&M (No. 5, No. 5), Oklahoma (No. 4, No. 3) and Texas (No. 19, No. 11) join the Lady Bears in the polls.

Tennessee, after opening the year No. 2 in the national polls, has moved to No. 1 in the rankings in both polls.

Baylor's appearance in both polls marks the 52nd consecutive week the Lady Bears have appeared in the NFCA Top 25 and the 52nd consecutive week the team has appeared in the USA Softball Top 25. The last time Baylor failed to appear in either poll was March 16, 2004. Within the Big 12 Conference, only Texas A&M and Oklahoma have currently appeared in the national polls for more consecutive weeks.

BAYLOR LADY BEARS IN THE CAREER CHARTS

Several Lady Bears are aiming to continue making their way up the career charts in 2007. Below is a list of Lady Bears who currently rank in the top ten in one of the career categories:

BATTING RECORDS

RUNS: Chelsi Lake (99, 7th)

HITS: Chelsi Lake (205, 7th)

MULTIPLE-HIT GAMES: Chelsi Lake (51, 7th)

DOUBLES: Chelsi Lake (44, 1st)

TRIPLES: Chelsi Lake (t-10th, 4)

HOME RUNS: Chelsi Lake (1st, 42); Ashley Monceaux (5th, 21); Brette Reagan (7th, 19)

TOTAL BASES: Chelsi Lake (393, 2nd)

SACRIFICE FLIES: Chelsi Lake (t-1st, 9)

PITCHING RECORDS

APPEARANCES: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 158); Ashley Monceaux (10th, 29)

GAMES STARTED: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 109)

RELIEF APPEARANCES: Lisa Ferguson (2nd, 49)

WINS: Lisa Ferguson (t-2nd, 74)

LOSSES: Lisa Ferguson (5th, 33); Brittany Turner (t-8th, 5)

DECISIONS: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 107)

COMPLETE GAMES: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 57)

SHUTOUTS: Lisa Ferguson (2nd, 27)

SAVES: Lisa Ferguson (1st, 18)

INNINGS PITCHED: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 726.0); Kirsten Shortridge (9th, 113.0); Ashley Monceaux (10th, 103.1)

STRIKEOUTS: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 556); Ashley Monceaux (10th, 76); Kirsten Shortridge (9th, 96)

UP NEXT...

Baylor continues its road swing as the Lady Bears travel to Ames, Iowa, to face Iowa State in the start of a two-game series on Saturday, April 21, at 2:00 p.m.

Softball Set for Showdown with No. 3 Oklahoma

Players Mentioned

Alex Colyer

Lisa Ferguson

Chelsi Lake

Ashley Monceaux

Kelly Osburn

Brette Reagan

Kirsten Shortridge

Brittany Turner

Nicole Wesley

Tiffany Wesley

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Softball Set for Showdown with No. 3 Oklahoma

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Players Mentioned

Alex Colyer

Lisa Ferguson

Chelsi Lake

Ashley Monceaux

Kelly Osburn

Brette Reagan

Kirsten Shortridge

Brittany Turner

Nicole Wesley

Tiffany Wesley

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