Utah Valley at #5 Oklahoma
Sat., May 2 (6:30 pm CT) - Sun., May 3 (2 pm CT) 
Norman, Okla.  |  Marita Hynes Field
TV Sat.: Fox Sports Southwest+/Fox College Sports Atlantic
TV Sun.: Fox College Sports Central
Live Stats  |  Live Audio (Sun. Only)  |  UVU Series Notes
 

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OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University softball team will travel to Norman, Oklahoma, to play a pair of games at No. 5 Oklahoma this weekend. The Wolverines and Sooners will open the two-game set Saturday at 5:30 p.m. MT (6:30 p.m. CT) while Sunday's series finale is slated for 1 p.m. MT (2 p.m. CT).
 
Both games will be televised nationally by Sooner Sports TV, as Saturday's contest will air live on both Fox Sports Southwest+ and Fox College Sports Atlantic while Sunday's will be shown on Fox College Sports Central. For a complete listing of where those channels can be found on your cable or satellite provider visit SoonerSports.tv.
 
Live stats as well as live audio (Sunday only) will also be available for the pair of games by visiting SoonerSports.com.
 
UVU (16-36, 3-12 WAC) will enter the two-game set at the fifth-ranked Sooners looking to snap a current seven-game skid. The Wolverines dropped all three contests in their last two Western Athletic Conference series to Grand Canyon and Missouri-Kansas City, as well as a midweek non-conference contest at Idaho State. In its final home and conference series of the season last weekend, Utah Valley lost both ends of a Friday doubleheader, 11-7 and 17-3, before falling in the series finale by a score of 9-7.  
 
The Wolverines slugged out five home runs in the three-game WAC series against UMKC and sophomore Brittney Vansway led the way by going 5-for-10 (.500) with two homers, a double and five RBIs. Fellow sophomore Brianna Gatlin and Morgan Smith too each hit an even .500 last weekend as they both went 4-for-8. Smith also became UVU's all-time leader in career triples with a bases clearing triple in the series finale against the Kangaroos. Smith passed former coach Rachel Hartgrove and speedster Meghan Yocom to become the program's all-time three-bag leader with 10.
 
With the WAC regular season coming to a close last week, UVU has earned the five seed for next week's WAC Tournament and will open play against the fourth-seeded Seattle U Redhawks on Thursday, May 7 at 11 a.m. MT in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The winner of that contest will advance to play the host and top-seeded New Mexico State Aggies while the loser will face either No. 2 UMKC or No. 3 CSU Bakersfield in an elimination game.
 
Gatlin leads UVU on the season with a .349 batting average, while freshman Jaylen Watson is tops on the team in home runs (11), slugging (.630), on-base percentage (.433) and walks (26). Sophomore Bailey Moore paces the Wolverine pitching staff with a 10-18 record, a 5.19 ERA and eight complete games. Moore also leads the entire WAC in innings pitched (171.1), appearances (43) and games started (28).
 
About Oklahoma
The fifth-ranked Sooners are 43-7 on the season and in first place in the Big 12 with a 14-2 league record. OU went 3-1 last week and clinched a share of its fourth straight Big 12 title after taking two out of three from Kansas on the road. Oklahoma has won seven of its last eight ballgames after defeating North Texas in Denton, Texas, on Thursday prior to Saturday's opening game against UVU.
 
The Sooners are led offensively by the one-two punch of seniors Shelby Pendley and Lauren Chamberlain. The USSSA Pride recently selected both as the top two picks of the National Pro Fastpitch draft and each are finalists for the 2015 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. Pendley paces the team with a .447 average, 23 home runs and 63 RBIs while Chamberlain is right behind her with a .402 average, 19 homers and 58 runs driven in. With a grand slam on Thursday at North Texas, Chamberlain became the NCAA all-time home run leader with 91 long balls in her career. Freshman pitcher Paige Parker leads the Sooners with a 23-5 record and a 1.51 ERA. She was recently tabbed the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for the sixth time on the season.
 
This weekend's games will mark just the third and fourth all-time meetings between the Wolverines and Sooners. OU leads the series 2-0 after taking both prior meetings as part of the OU Worth Invitational in Norman in 2006.
 
Up Next for the Wolverines
UVU will close its regular season at BYU on Tuesday, May 5. The Wolverines will then board a flight the next morning to head to the WAC Softball Championships that will begin on May 7 in Las Cruces.