Date: May 20, 2016
Location: Norman, Okla.
Stadium: Marita Hynes Field
Television: ESPN
Talent: Jenn Hildreth and Carol Bruggeman
Listen: Listen
Live Stats: Stats
 
Regional Schedule
Friday
Game 1: Tulsa vs. Ole Miss – 5:30 p.m.
Game 2: Wichita State vs. No. 3 Oklahoma – 8:00 p.m.
 
Saturday
Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner – 1:30 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 4:00 p.m.
Game 5: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser – 6:30 p.m.
 
Sunday
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 3:30 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser – 6:00 p.m.
 
Scouting No. 3 Oklahoma: After winning its fifth straight Big 12 Championship, the Oklahoma Sooner softball team is the No. 3 overall seed and will be the host for the Norman Regional. The third seed is the highest since they were the No. 1 overall seed in 2013.
 
Every year for the past 10 years, the Sooners have been a national seed. Entering the tournament, the Sooners are riding a nation leading 22-game winning streak. The Sooners record is 47-7 overall and 17-1 in Big 12 play.
 
All-time, the Sooners are 45-7 against Wichita State and have won the last 32 meetings, which is Oklahoma's longest active streak against an opponent.
 
Both teams met earlier this year, with the Sooners defeating the Shockers 10-1 in five innings.
 
Scouting Tulsa: The Tulsa softball team will be making its eighth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament when the Golden Hurricane face off with Ole Miss in the first game of the Norman Regional.
 
The Golden Hurricane have a record of 35-19 overall and earned an automatic bid after defeating No. 24 USF, 4-0, in the American Athletic Conference Championship game.
 
All of Tulsa's tournament appearances have come recently, going in, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
 
This season, the Shockers faced off with the Golden Hurricane twice, with Wichita State winning both meetings, by scores of 11-3 and 7-5.
 
Scouting Ole Miss: For the first time in school history, the Rebels will be attending the NCAA Tournament for softball. The Rebels will play Tulsa in the first round on ESPN3.
 
The Rebels set a school record for wins this season with 39, and also tied a school record for SEC wins. Ole Miss also finished the season with nine wins against top-50 RPI teams.
 
Ole Miss is one out of the 11 teams from the SEC to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament, with eight schools from the SEC earning national seeds.
 
Wichita State has not faced Ole Miss this season.
 
Marita Hynes Field:
Marita Hynes Field at the OU Softball Complex has been one of the sparkling gems of the sport since it opened its doors in 1998. Nearly every postseason game in the home of the 2000 and 2013 national champion has been sold out.
 
Shockers News and Notes:
2016: For the first time in Kristi Bredbenner's career at Wichita State, the Shockers won the regular season title and the Missouri Valley tournament title in the same year. This is their 2nd regular season title in three years and second conference tournament championship all-time.
 
Wichita State finished the regular season winning 12 of their last 13 games, with a 12 game winning streak being the second longest in school history.
 
The Shockers have every single starter batting over .300 on the season, for a team batting average of .311.
 
This is just the third NCAA appearance for the Shockers, with previous appearances in 1989 (automatic bid) and 2005 (at-large bid).
 
Both Cacy Williams and Paige Luellen are in a race to set the new Wichita State single season RBI record. Both players have 49, with the previous record being 48. Luellen has also set the Wichita State record for walks in a season, with 43.
 
But does she get on base?
Paige Luellen had reached base in the first 28 games for the Shockers this season, but ended her 33 game on-base streak at Kansas on March 29.
 
2015 In Review: Wichita State finished the 2015 season with an overall record of 34-23 and a 16-11 record in the Missouri Valley Conference giving the Shockers a fourth place finish.
 
Eight of Nine Starters Returning: Wichita State is returning every starter from the 2015 team except catcher Melanie Jaegers, who was a big contributor for the Shockers, hitting .282 and starting all 57 games. Among the position starters returning for Wichita State is Cacy Williams (first base/right field), Liz Broyles (second base), Kelli Spring (shortstop), Mackenzie Wright (third base), Brittany Fortner (left field), Ashley Johnson (center field) and Macklin Hitz (first base). Overall, these returners combined for a batting average of .328 while collecting 202 of the team's 272 RBIs and also hitting 35 of the team's 44 homeruns.
 
2015 All-MVC: The trio of returners, Fortner, Wright and Williams, along with Jaegers who graduated were all named 2015 First Team All-MVC, while Malone, Broyles and Spring were named Second Team All-MVC.
 
Fortner's Historic Season: Fortner finished her junior season with a .416 batting average (second in team history for a single season, tied for the Valley lead), 74 hits (tied the all-time hits record in a season in team history, led the Valley), 47 runs scored (led the Valley, third in team history for a single season), 45 RBIs (third in the Valley, third all-time in a single season in team history), 18 doubles (tied for second in the Valley, set the all-time team mark for doubles in a single season this season), 121 total bases (second in the Valley, second all-time in a single season in WSU SB history), a .502 OB% (second in the Valley) and 0.82 runs scored per game (led the Valley)
 
Climbing the ranks: After collecting two doubles against Drake in the conference championship game, Brittany Fortner has taken over first place all-time in the Shocker record book and in the Missouri Valley record book with 58 doubles.
 
Williams is also tied for seventh in doubles (34).
 
Williams is in fourth place with 134 runs scored needing just six more to jump into the top three.
 
Fortner is also tied for third in hits (217), eighth in homeruns (22), tied for fourth in RBI (117), second in total bases (345) and fifth in walks (82).
 
After two home runs, Williams is in first place all-time in home runs (39) and first in RBI (134).
 
Missouri Valley favorites: Wichita State was picked as the 2016 MVC preseason favorite, as voted on by the Valley coaches. The Shockers collected 84 points and three first-place votes to make this the second year in a row that the Shockers have been the Missouri Valley favorites.
 
2016 Preseason All-MVC: After being named to the All-MVC First Team a season ago, Fortner, Wright and Williams have all been selected for the preseason All-MVC First Team.