Game on: USF Set to Take on Oklahoma in First Game of the Women's College World Series

Time to bring the heat.

This is it, it's game one of the Women's College World Series.  The USF Bulls, 50-12, are making their first ever trip to the series in the program's history and the team wants to make some noise in Oklahoma City.  In the first game, the Bulls will have to square off against Oklahoma (50-8)  and the player of the year in Keilani Ricketts (game begins at 1PM).

One of the biggest challenges in this game for the Bulls will be facing off against national player of the year, 6-2 junior LHP Keilani Ricketts.  Ricketts is an impressive 33-7 on the season and leads an Oklahoma pitching staff that has the nation's lowest ERA.  Ricketts also  leads the team with a .401 batting average as well, showing her raw power on both sides of the field.  The USF offense will be hard pressed in this game to get anything going (not many have been able to against the Sooners all season because of Ricketts).  Look for USF to get runners on with small ball, bunts, slap hitting, and try to press runs in against Ricketts. 

Nevins will be facing off against an Oklahoma batting order that is among the best in the nation in batting average, posing another challenge in  the game.  As Greg Auman pointed out, the Sooners have 95 home runs as a team, compared to the 27 home runs for the Bulls so Nevins is in for a tough fight in this game, but they also possess a skilled batting order that can get on base and not just with power.  Freshman infielder Georgia Casey (5-5) is batting .376 on the season, freshman infielder Lauren Chamberlain (5-9) is batting .352, sophomore center fielder Destinee Martinez (5-3) is batting .340, junior catcher Jessica Shults (5-9) is batting .382 and junior outfielder Briana Turang (5-6) is batting .364 on the season.  Up and down this Sooner batting order there is no break, showing how strong this team is.  Nevins has shown throughout the season, when the pressure rises, so does she and she will need to be at her very best in order to get through this Sooners batting order.

So what can we expect from this game?  Most "experts" see the Bulls struggling in this game and Coach Eriksen is using this as the underdog motivation.  The team is confident, they have the skill, and will be ready for this game.  Look for a really low scoring game and the Bulls have proven more than once they can shock the world.