The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Softball preview: Women's College World Series vs. UCLA
06.03.2006 | Softball
No. 3 seed Texas (55-8) vs. No. 1 seed UCLA (49-8) [Elimination game]
2006 NCAA Softball Women's College World Series
Saturday, June 3, 2006 - 8 p.m. Central
Don Porter ASA Hall of Fame Stadium - Oklahoma City, Okla.
Radio: KVET Radio (1300 AM) in Central Texas (KVET's Sports Director Craig Way handles play-by-play along with Dave Garrett, while Chris Riley is color analyst.)
TV: ESPN (Beth Mowins and Tracy Warren, play-by-play; Stacey Nuveman and Lisa Fernandez, color analysts; Holly Rowe, field reporter)
Texas in the WCWS
Texas (55-8) saw its six-game win streak - with all wins in the NCAA Championship - snapped Friday night with a 2-0 setback to No. 2 seed Arizona in the winner's bracket/second round ... Texas is the No. 3 overall seed in the 2006 NCAA Championships ... Texas is 1-1 in the WCWS and faces No. 1 seed UCLA (49-8) Saturday night in an elimination game (8 p.m. Central) on ESPN ... The Bruins sent Alabama home on Saturday afternoon with a 4-1 victory in elimination bracket action ... In WCWS play to date, the Longhorns posted a 2-0 win over No. 6 seed Arizona State on Thursday, behind a one-hit, 18-strikeout effort from National Player of the Year Cat Osterman ... Texas and Arizona then met for the fourth time this year, with U of A getting just one hit (a single) off Osterman but using two stolen bases, that single and a UT outfield error to score two runs in the sixth inning for the win. Texas had four hits - two by senior 2B Chez Sievers (single, double), as Arizona's Alicia Hollowell picked up her first ever win over the Longhorns. Osterman (38-3), who had beaten Arizona five straight times, fanned 13, walked two and hit two in taking the hard-luck loss.
Head coach Connie Clark's Longhorns went to the WCWS in 1998 (0-2), in 2003 (2-2, tied for 3rd) and in 2005 (2-2, finishing 3rd nationally) ... the Longhorns are making their seventh appearance in the NCAA Championship, the second in a row and fourth in the last five years ... Texas has a 26-13 (.667) overall record in NCAA postseason play ... this includes a 21-6 (.778) record in regional/super regional action and a 5-7 mark in the Women's College World Series.
This year, the Longhorns are 6-1 in NCAA Championship play - going 3-0 at the Regionals (defeating UTSA 4-0, Indiana 3-0 and Utah 3-0) before sweeping No. 13 seed Washington in the Super Regionals (1-0, 9-1(6)), with all games in Austin.
Texas Leaders in NCAA Play to Date
All-America senior lefthander Cat Osterman (38-3, 0.38 ERA) has hurled all 47 innings of work to date in NCAA Championship play ... Osterman yielded just three runs - one earned, two unearned - in UT's six NCAA games, giving up one run in UT's 9-1 win over Washington in the Super Regionals second game and two in the 2-0 loss to Arizona Friday night.
Osterman has struck out 71.4 percent of the batters she has faced in NCAA play (154 batters, striking out 110), has seven complete games, five shutouts, and has allowed just 11 hits (nine singles, two doubles) while walking six.
Offensively, senior CF Tina Boutelle leads the NCAA hit attack with a .429 average (9-21), and is tied for the team-high in RBI (4), runs (5), total bases (13) and is second in slugging percentage (.619) ... Boutelle also is 4-for-5 in stolen bases, a team high (including 1-1 in the WCWS) ... Boutelle had an eight-game hitting streak (which had been the longest on the squad) snapped against Arizona when she went 0-3 at the plate ... She is followed offensively in NCAA games by junior C Megan Willis (.350, 7-for-20, 3 RBI), senior RF Amber Hall (.333, 7-21, 4 doubles, 4 RBI), sophomore SS Desiree Williams (.250, 5-20, five runs scored).... As a team in NCAA play, the Longhorns are 14-for-18 in stolen bases ... That includes a two-for-three effort against ASU in the WCWS opener.
Sievers Leading Offense
In the two WCWS games, senior 2B Chez Sievers is swinging a hot bat, going 3-for-5 at the plate - a .600 clip.. She also has a walk and one run scored .. . Senior RF Amber Hall (2-6, .333, 1 RBI), junior C Megan Willis (2-6, .333) follow... As a team, the Longhorns are 10 for 47 at the plate (.213) in the WCWS.
Texas Against the 2006 WCWS Field
The Longhorns have faced all seven other WCWS teams ... After a 1-1 start in the WCWS, UT's all-time record against the WCWS field is 19-22 (.459), which includes a 4-2 record this year ... This year, Texas played Arizona four times, going 2-2 against the Wildcats, and also beat Northwestern once and ASU once (Friday)... UT's all-time record against the other seven World Series squads includes: 2-1 vs. Alabama; 7-9 vs. Arizona, 5-4 vs. Arizona State; 1-0 vs. Northwestern, 1-1 vs. Oregon State, 1-0 vs. Tennessee and 2-7 vs. UCLA..
Osterman Aiming for NCAA Marks
With the NCAA career strikeout mark now officially hers (she has 2,256 career K's), Cat Osterman now has the chance to move into the top 20 in other categories ... she is on pace to become the new career leader in strikeouts per seven innings; already holding the single season strikeout ratio mark (K's per seven innings) of 15.2 set in 2005, Osterman's career total is 1,092.2 innings pitched (13th-most innings ever) with NCAA-record 2,243 K's ... that averages to 14.4 strikeouts-per-seven innings ... the current record is 11.6, held by Sarah Pauly of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2002-05).
Osterman is currently 10th all-time with a .855 winning percentage (136-23) and is No. 4 all-time in career wins (136).
Texas Streaks and Trends
- UT's extra-base hit efforts are strong in the NCAA Championship... In the seven-game total for the NCAAs, the Longhorns have gone 43-for-172 (.250), with 44.1 percent of the hits for extra-bases (19 of 43). In the 2-0 win over ASU Thursday, four of the six Longhorn hits went for extra bases (3 doubles, one HR)... One of Texas' four hits vs. Arizona was for extra-bases (a double) ... Eight of UT's 20 hits in the three-game NCAA Regionals were for extra-bases (1 HR, 7 doubles)... In the Super Regionals, Texas had 13 hits in two games - with six of them for extra-bases (3 doubles, 3 HR's).
- In the last two seasons, Texas is a combined 76-0 when leading after five innings - no team has made a late-inning comeback against the Horns since 2004.
- Chez Sievers went 2-for-3 against Arizona and has collected four hits in her last six at bats. Sievers was the lone player in the game to record an extra-base hit with her two-out double in the top of the first. It marked her 10th double of the season and 13th extra-base hit.
- Senior lefty Cat Osterman, a three-time USA Softball Player of the Year, recorded her 14th one-hit game of the season Friday night in the 2-0 loss to Arizona... It marked Osterman's first loss this season when giving up one hit.
- Osterman has 37 double-digit strikeout games to date this year, and 21 times she has had 15-plus strikeouts.
- Texas is now 19-5 this year against teams ranked in the Top 25.
- Senior CF Tina Boutelle enters Saturday's WCWS play with a chance to break two Longhorn stolen bases records - for single season thefts and career thefts... Boutelle is tied for the UT single season record for stolen basses (with 25)... She shares that record with Erin Mahoney (25-26 in 2002) ... Going 25-for-27 this year in stolen base attempts, Boutelle also had 61 career base thefts - and that ties the Texas career stolen bases record as well .. She co-owns that record with former All-American second baseman Lindsay Gardner, who went 61-for-80 in SB's in her career from 2000-03.
