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Oklahoma softball: Sooners host No. 13 Arkansas in Super Regionals

By Chip Rouse

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 22: General View of Easton Stadium during the game between the UCLA Bruins Softball team and the USA Softball team on April 22, 2008 at Easton Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 22: General View of Easton Stadium during the game between the UCLA Bruins Softball team and the USA Softball team on April 22, 2008 at Easton Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma softball is just two wins away from making its 12th appearance in the Women’s College World Series and seventh in the last eight seasons.

The two-time defending national champions and No. 4 seed in this year’s NCAA Softball Championship, Oklahoma hosts No. 13 Arkansas this weekend in one of eight Super Regionals that will determine the eight-team field for this year’s WCWS in Oklahoma City.

The best-of-three Norman Super Regional gets underway at OU’s Marita Hynes Field on Friday afternoon, with a single game Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday.

The Sooners advanced to the Super Regional round by delivering three consecutive shutouts in rolling over Boston University 9-0, in-state rival Tulsa 8-0 and Missouri 7-0 in the championship final.

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Arkansas (42-15), made quick work of DePaul and Wichita State twice in winning the Fayetteville Regional and earning it way to its first ever Super Regional.

The Razorbacks are led by a pair of freshmen. Hannah McEwen leads Arkansas in hitting with a .341 batting average to go with 12 home runs and 56 runs batted in. Freshman Mary Haff, a finalist for the NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) National Freshman of the Year) has a 29-6 record in 30 games as a starter, with a 1.35 ERA and 246 strikeouts (by contrast, OU’s ace in the circle, senior Paige Parker, has a 28-2 record and 179 strikeouts).

OU has two national award finalists. Parker is one of four finalists for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year, and Jocelyn Alo, who leads the nation with 26 home runs, is one of the three finalists, along with Haff of Arkansas, for Freshman of the Year.

Oklahoma and Arkansas have played 25 times all-time, and the Sooners have won 23 of the 25, including the last nine. Moreover, OU is 13-1 against the Razorbacks in games played in Norman.

Their is a personal connection between these two programs. Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel, who is in her third season at Arkansas, was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma under Sooner head coach Patty Gasso in 2007 and 2008.

This is the Sooners 25th consecutive appearance in the NCAA postseason, including all 24 under Gasso.

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