The Texas Tech Softball team opens Big 12 Conference play by hosting No. 6 Oklahoma in a three-game series at Rocky Johnson Field beginning with a single game at 6 p.m. Friday.

The series continues with a 4 p.m. first pitch Saturday afternoon and then a 12 p.m. start on Sunday.

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The Red Raiders (16-17) are in the midst of an 11-game stretch against four top 25-ranked opponents. The No. 6 Sooners are the highest-ranked team Tech has faced since the then top-ranked Sooners came to Lubbock in 2013 for a three-game series.

Texas Tech will be looking for its first win over a ranked opponent since the Red Raiders closed the 2013 season with a 6-4 victory over No. 15 Baylor on May 4. Tech is 0-9 against top-25 foes since that game.

Texas Tech will look to snap a seven-game losing streak to Oklahoma this weekend as the Sooners head to the South Plains leading the overall series over the Red Raiders, 36-7, all-time, including a 13-1 mark in games played in Lubbock. Oklahoma has swept each of the past two series with the Red Raiders as Tech has not defeated the Sooners since April 6, 2012, when the Red Raiders edged Oklahoma, 5-4, in Norman.

Oklahoma has been ranked in the top 25 in every game against the Red Raiders since the two schools both joined the Big 12 Conference prior to the 1996 season. The Sooners, the only current Big 12 opponent to face Tech while ranked in every game, have been ranked inside the top 10 of the national polls in 31 of the 43 all-time games against the Red Raiders.

The Red Raiders will see plenty of left-handeder freshman southpaw pitcher Paige Parker (11-3, 1.60 ERA) Texas Tech is 5-1 so far this year against left-handed starters.

Offensively, Kierra Miles has been among Texas Tech's leaders at the plate the past few weeks as she has posted four multiple-hit performances in the past five games and six in the last eight contests as well.

As a team, the Red Raiders are hitting .455 over their last nine home games, and have hit 13 home runs and scored 77 runs. They are 6-3 at Rocky Johnson Field this season.

In the pitching circle, senior Cara Custer, meanwhile, heads into the Oklahoma series having tossed a complete game in each of her last five starts.

The Red Raiders continue Big 12 Conference play next weekend on the road, traveling to No. 13 Baylor for a three-game series that runs April 2-4 at Getterman Stadium in Waco.

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