Sooner Softball Tops Preseason Poll

The Oklahoma softball team is the Big 12 preseason favorite entering the 2011 season.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:09 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Jan 19, 2011 8:45 AM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

NORMAN, Oklahoma—The Oklahoma Sooner softball squadis the No. 1 raned team in this year’s preseason Big 12 conference poll.

Softball coaches around theBig 12cast their vote and Oklahoma received seven first-place votes and 79 points for first place while Missouri came in second with two first place votes and 71 points.

Oklahoma returns 10 letter winners from last year’s 47-12 team that went as far as NCAA tournament super regional last season.

One key for the Sooners is the return of Keilani Rickets, a sophomore pitcher who went 32-10 last year with a 1.24 ERA. The San Jose Calif. threw 29 complete games including 14 shutouts and struckout346. Her strikeout total is the second best in a single season at Oklahoma.

The only other first place vote went to Texas who tallied 69 points. Rounding out the votes were fourth place Texas A&M followed by Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Iowa State and Kansas.

Oklahoma will take the field for the first time this season in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe Ariz. February 10 at 7:30 p.m. against Cal State Bakersfield.