A Quick Look at our Opponents for Opening Weekend at Love's Field

[TropicalSooner]

Opening Weekend is here and we will welcome 3 teams to Love's Field for our first weekend of games at our new house!!
Miami of Ohio from Oxford OH is the lucky team that gets first crack at the Sooners in Love's Field
Following the game with the Redhawks will be a game with the Liberty Flames Friday evening, then a game with the Ragin' Cajuns of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Saturday followed by another game with Liberty, and then a final game with Louisiana on Sunday. Weather looks beautiful; upper 60's on Friday, upper 70's on Saturday and Sunday with lots of Sunshine.

First up:
Miami Redhawks

The Redhawks, members of the MAC, make a payback visit to Norman since we went to Oxford, OH last year. Their record currently stands at 9-2 with the two losses coming at the hands of Ole Miss and Clemson. But when we pull back the curtain to see where the wins came from, we see the likes of Evansville, Elon, Austin Peay and so on. As a team, the Redhawks are smacking the ball around pretty good hitting for a .334 team ave with 34 HRs (compared to our 22), striking out 53 times but picking up 62 free bases. They have 14 SB out of 16 att. However, their defense is a bit suspect with 14 errors for a fldg % of .950.
Offense--all but one starter is hitting over .300 with LF Jenna Golemblewski leading the way at .419. Three more players are hitting over .350. As a team, their OB% is .447 and SLG% is .742. Again, one must consider the level of pitching their offense has taken advantage of.
Pitching--The Redhawks only have 3 pitchers on staff and 6th yr Transfer (Ill) Addy Jarvis seems to be their number one at 4-0 w 3.20 era, 26 K's to 11 FB's over 35 IP. The other two are 5th yr xfr (Rutgers) Ashley Hitchcock, 3-1 w 5.06 era and freshman Madilyn Reeves, 2-1 w 5.48 era. Their stats are not particularly impressive.
The Redhawks come to Norman with a lot of hope and a really good record, but should not be an even match for the Sooners as I expect opening game to be a big win for the Sooners.
Senior and Pitching leader Nicole May gets the call to open Love's field as she should. She's the Matriarch of the staff and has earned that honor. There will be plenty of opportunities for the other pitchers this weekend, but this game is special and so is May. It's the perfect fit.

Liberty Flames

I wonder if Coaches Gasso/Rocha will throw Karlie Keeney against her old teammates. Ha! Might be fun to see, but they've taken batting practice against her for 4 years so I'm not expecting that kind of match up. The Flames, members of C-USA, currently stand at 7-7 and have played a fairly aggressive schedule losing to teams like Oregon, Clemson, Missouri, Notre Dame, and UCF. The wins though, have a bit less lustrous, against teams like St. Francis, St. Johns, Penn, Morgan St. etc. The Flames are not showing a lot of power, with a team BA of .255, 11 HRs, and striking out 61 times to only 31 free bases.
Offense--RF Rachel Roupe (.450) and 2B Brooke Roberts (.318) are the only two in the starting lineup hitting over .270. As a team, their OB% is only .315 and SLG% .430. They have 12 SBs in 15 att. Their defense is unremarkable with 14 errors for a fld% of .960.
Pitching--Elena Escobar at 3-0 and 0.86 era is by far the best of the 5 person pitching staff. she has 33 SO's to 7 FB's over 32.2 IP. I think Kaylan Yoder, 2-2 3.61 era would be their number 2 with 30 K's and 13 FBs. Tyler Oubre at 1-2 and 2.02 could see some time in the circle as well.
This seems like a good spot for Deal to come in and show what she can do against a team that wound up in Regionals last year and helped show UCLA the door. But without Keeney on their staff anymore, this Liberty team will not be the same team we saw last year.

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns

The Ragin' Cajuns, members of the Sun Belt Conf, was supposed to be a different deal. Beginning of the year, I thought they might be one of the teams that might bite us you know where. Now I'm not so sure. They started the year off just fine against Chattanooga, New Mexico, and the first game against Cal, but the second Cal game turned into sort of a donnybrook in a rainstorm that Cal won in 8 innings and that led into losing a Tuesday DH at Miss St that made me ask a SEC fan " I thought Louisiana was a 'going Jessy' this year?" to which they responded "nah, they're just as inconsistent as they've ever been."
They now stand at 7-9 on the year and the losses keep mounting, albeit to good teams: Baylor (2 out of 3), Stanford (x2), Texas (x2) [they're supposed to lose those games tho, right?] The team BA is at .273 with a total of only 9 HRs, their OB% is a meager .364 and the SLG% is .410 and more than likely all due to the much better pitching they have had to face.
Offense--Only two players are hitting over .260-- LF Maddie Hayden .429 and CF Mihyia Davis .408. As a team, they've struck out 69 times to 57 FBs. They have 12 SB's out of 17 att, and they have 25 (!) errors for a fldg % of .946.
Pitching--The Cajuns have a total of 5 pitchers on staff. Jr Lexi Delbrey transferred in from Fla but hasn't seemed to have made a big impact. Sam Landry 2-5 w 2.43 era is better than her record suggests and has 32 K's to 21 FBs over 40.1 IP and their number 2 appears to be Chloe Riassetto 3-2 w 2.84 era and has 13 K's w 6 BBs over 24.2 IP. Sam Ryan 0-0 w 3.50 era and Denali Loeker 0-1 and 4.20 era round out the pitching staff.
I think Maxwell gets one start with the Cajuns, and perhaps Monti gets the other one on Sunday.
Just because the Ragin' Cajuns have an upside down W/L record, we can't afford to take them lightly. Ranked around 20 or so early in the season, their record does reflect a really difficult schedule to date and I still feel they can be a challenge. I think they will try to test our defense with their short game, although their SB record doesn't indicate really strong baserunning. Still, Hansen and/or Ludlum need to be aware of their willingness to try anything to score and steal a win.

This is the last weekend before we start conference play. Some things I'd like to see (not that I will) from the team this weekend is for consistency at the plate. Be more disciplined and find your pitch--don't flail at pitches out of the zone. While I want to also see more solid hits, HRs, doubles, walks are not a bad thing either. When we get the bases loaded, find a way to bring somebody home. I love Ludlums approach: See Ball. Hit Ball. Take this to heart.
From the pitchers, fewer free passes. Cut down on the walks....pleeeeaseee. An increase in strike outs would make me "feel better" but of course, just get the outs, no matter how they come.

We should have one, maybe three run rules / shut outs, and a couple of wins over ULL. But I'll take the wins in any form they come.

Coach has messed with my mind as far a lineups go this year, so I can only laugh at the folly that my projected lineups have become.....but you know, they are fun anyway.

First Game Opening Day----Save the Lineup Card!!!
Here's my guess:
CF Coleman
3B Brito
SS Jennings
LF Pickering
C Hansen
DH Parker
1B Sanders
2B Hodge
RF Boone

SP May


This will be an incredible scene as we open the new stadium and I fully expect a grateful, tearful, and emotional Coach Gasso to come out of the dugout and take her place in the 3rd Base Coaches Box in front of 4,200 screaming Sooner Fans.
I really hope she gets a standing ovation as she takes her place on the field.

[OUBeliever56A]

"TropicalSooner"

I am sorry I posted an article about the same thing a few minutes after your post. I guess I was working too long on my post. I did not mean to 'walk' on your thoughts.

OUBeliever56A

[Oklahombre]

"TropicalSooner"

I am sorry I posted an article about the same thing a few minutes after your post. I guess I was working too long on my post. I did not mean to 'walk' on your thoughts.

OUBeliever56A

I liked both of them...

[TropicalSooner]

"TropicalSooner"

I am sorry I posted an article about the same thing a few minutes after your post. I guess I was working too long on my post. I did not mean to 'walk' on your thoughts.

OUBeliever56A

Oh my goodness! Please, no apology needed.
I think we arrived at the same conclusion--but we have different ways in expressing it. I thoroughly enjoy all of your previews and post game analyses and always look forward to them regardless if I am able to post anything or not.
Most of us (well, at least me) live vicariously through you being physically at the games and providing such rich information for us to read and enjoy.
You didn't walk on my thoughts at all.

[inconnu]

We ALL have posting licenses here!