NORMAN, Okla.—The Wildcats have arguably their toughest weekend of competition on the horizon as they head to face the national runner-up, Oklahoma Sooners, in the Courtyard Marriott Tournament this weekend. The team will face the fifth-ranked Sooners as well as North Texas and Northwestern, who are each receiving votes in the NFCA coaches' poll. ACU is coming off a sweep of Prairie View A&M in their home opener that featured a wild comeback win in the first game and a dominant 13-1 win in the second. The Wildcats will look to compete with some of the nation's fiercest competition to prepare them for conference play.
Courtyard Marriott Tournament Schedule
2/28 vs North Texas 12:30 p.m.
2/28 vs Oklahoma 5:30 p.m.
2/29 at Northwestern 10 a.m.
2/29 vs TBD
3/1 vs TBD
Tournament Format
The Wildcats will play each participating team once before the teams are seeded for a mini tournament. Saturday afternoon will feature the 1-seed vs the 4-seed followed by the 2-seed vs the 3-seed. Sunday the two losing team will face one another to determine third place followed by a championship game between the two winning teams.
ACU Storylines
- Senior
Caroline Adair is coming off a career performance against PVAMU. She hit the grand slam to send the first game to extra innings (her first career homerun) and then hit her third triple of the season in game two.
-
Alivia Sinnott continues to pitch at a high level for the Wildcats. She pitched a no-hitter and a one-hitter in two of her three starts in the Mardi Grad Mambo and had another complete game win in the Prairie View doubleheader.
-
Samantha Bradley has played solidly all season long both in the circle and at the plate. After being forced from the game early against Prairie View, she reentered the game and pitched a dominant three additional innings.
- ACU continues to play fast and aggressive as they are racking up stolen bases. In the Prairie View series the team stole seven total bases with
Lacy Johnson stealing three.
The competition
The Wildcats will begin the week with a familiar foe in North Texas. The two teams met earlier this season in Denton with the Mean Green earning the win. ACU managed just three hits for the game and left all four base runners on, falling 6-0. UNT is now 13-2 on the season with their only losses coming to McNeese and Texas.
Oklahoma is coming off of a national runner-up campaign and the Sooners are currently ranked fifth in the NFCA coaches' poll. The team has dropped just three games on the season, falling to Long Beach State, No. 2 Washington, and Wisconsin. The Sooners are coming off two consecutive losses but will now return home looking to open their home schedule in style.
Northwestern began the season ranked in the NFCA coaches' poll but has dropped out after falling to 5-9 to open the season. The Wildcats have faced some of the toughest competition on their season so far with six of their nine losses coming to ranked opponents. The team did earn a big win over No. 5 Florida State at the ESPN Clearwater/St. Pete Tournament, but have fallen to each ranked opponent since that time.
How to follow along
Games against Oklahoma will be streamed on Soonersports.TV and are pay-per-view. To follow along with in game updates follow along on Twitter @ACU_Softball.
