National And Big 12 Honors For Sooners Parker And Pendley

Coming off a dominant outing of Texas in Austin, freshman pitcher Paige Parker has been named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week, the NFCA National Pitcher of the Week and the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week. In addition, senior Shelby Pendley was chosen as the Big 12 Player of the Week.

Parker carried No. 5/5 Oklahoma (36-5, 9-0 Big 12) to a three-game sweep at Texas last weekend, dominating the Longhorns in the circle. Parker went 2-0 with a save and struck out 21 batters without giving up a run. She allowed just four walks and six hits in 16.1 innings of work to improve her season record to 18-3 on the year.

"It's truly an honor to receive this award and I couldn't do it without my teammates," Parker said. "They're always there backing me up no matter what. Executing the game plan that Coach [Melyssa] Lombardi and I had talked about went really well for me, and we focused on hitting all my spots and getting all my pitches working. That was a big part of it and my defense was stellar behind me."

In the series opener, Parker shined in the circle in her first Red River Rivalry matchup. She struck out nine batters and allowed just three hits while throwing her seventh shutout of the season. Texas leadoff hitter Devon Tunning was 2-3, but Parker held the rest of the UT lineup to one hit in 21 at-bats. Parker retired eight straight batters from the first to third innings, and during the game only one batter reached second base. She struck out a batter in six of the seven innings, including two in the first, fourth and fifth frames.

In game two of Friday's doubleheader, Parker came on in relief to get her third save of the year. With the Sooners ahead 2-1 in the fifth, Texas got the tying run to third but Parker got a strikeout to keep the lead intact. She struck out five in total and gave up just one hit with no runs and no walks allowed.

Saturday, she pitched 7.0 innings of relief and struck out seven while allowing just two walks and two hits as OU recorded its 15th shutout of the year.

Parker joins former Sooner Keilani Ricketts (2010) as the only freshmen in program history to be named a National Player of the Week. In addition, with five Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors this season, Parker now trails only Texas' Cat Osterman (7) for the most awards in one season for a freshman.

“Paige got thrown into the fire early in the season as a freshman, and to see her growth throughout these last couple of months has been tremendous," OU head coach Patty Gasso said.

"Her passion for learning and becoming great has been infectious and a joy to watch. For her to have the kind of success she did this weekend against a strong, tough-hitting team like Texas is just a tribute to her hard work and her commitment to helping this team find ways to win. I'm very proud of her, especially as a freshman, to receive such a prestigious award.”

For the second straight week, Pendley hit four home runs as she continued her ascent up the all-time home run list. She also led the Sooners, winners of 12 straight, in average, runs, hits and doubles.

Pendley got the week started in a 10-1 win over Arkansas by homering twice. She hit a solo homer in the first and fourth innings to record her 14th career multi-homer game.

In the series opener at Texas, Pendley hit a two-run home run in the first inning and later added an RBI single in the seventh as she finished 3-5 with two runs scored. In game two of Friday's doubleheader, Pendley went 2-2 with a double and a walk and scored the game-winning run in the fifth inning.

In the finale, Pendley added the exclamation point on the series sweep as she hit a solo home run to right center. It was the 81st of her career and her 62nd as a Sooner, giving her sole possession of second place in Big 12 and school annals. She also has the fourth-most homers in a season in OU history with 21.

It's the second Big 12 Player of the Week award for Pendley this season and the sixth of her career, which ties her with former Sooner Amber Flores for the third-most in Big 12 history.