Tag: Grace Lyons

Oklahoma Sooners dominate in season opening blowout of UC Santa Barbara

The Oklahoma Sooners used a nine-run first inning and a combined perfect game to open the season with a 14-0 win over UC-Santa Barbara.

The Oklahoma Sooners started the 2022 softball season off with a bang in their season opener against UC Santa Barbara, picking up the 14-0 run-rule win.

On the backs of an offense that exploded for nine runs in the top of the first, the Sooners picked up right where they left off from their historic national championship run in 2021. Last season, the Sooners set an NCAA record for home runs and they wasted little time hitting the long ball in this one.

Second baseman Tiare Jennings got Oklahoma going in the top of the first with a lead off home run to give the Sooners a 1-0 lead. The Sooners erupted in their first at bat of the season with nine runs, including a grand slam from 2021’s national player of the year Jocelyn Alo to cap off the explosive inning.

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Jennings’ lead-off home run would be the game winner as three Sooners pitchers combined for the perfect game victory over UCSB. True freshman Jordy Bahl got her first start of the season for the Sooners and led the way with 2.2 innings pitched and four strikeouts. She retired all eight batters she faced before giving way to sophomore Nicole May, who struck out the only batter she faced. Hope Trautwein took over in the bottom of the fourth and closed out the game for the Sooners, striking out three of the six batters she faced in her two innings of work.

The Sooners would get another home run from Jennings and Kinzie Hanson hit her first of the season to help Oklahoma erupt for their first win of the season.

On the afternoon, nine players recorded a hit and nine players drove in a runner for Oklahoma. Jennings, Alo, Hansen, and shortstop Grace Lyons combined to go 7 for 13 with four home runs, seven RBIs, and 10 runs scored.

The Sooners quest to defend their 2021 national title got off to a great start with the offensive explosion and the pitching dominance. If the Oklahoma Sooners continue to get performances like this from their pitching staff, they’ll be incredibly difficult to beat all year.

The Sooners will next compete in the Mark Campbell Invitational where they’ll face Loyola Marymount and Mississippi State on Friday, before a pivotal early-season matchup with UCLA on Saturday. They’ll close out the weekend against UC-San Diego on Sunday.

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Oklahoma Sooners unanimous No. 1 in USA Softball preseason top 25

As they get set to defend their 2021 national championship, the Oklahoma Sooners were voted unanimously the preseason No. 1 by USA Softball.

The Oklahoma Sooners are the team to beat on the softball diamond in 2022. Of that there is no dispute. After being voted the unanimous No. 1 team in the country in D1 Softball’s preseason poll last week, the Sooners were also unanimously voted the preseason No. 1 team in the country by USA Softball.

According to the University of Oklahoma, it’s the second time in program history that they were the unanimous No. 1. It was also the third time the Sooners have been voted the No. 1 team overall.

Bringing back the National Player of the Year in Jocelyn Alo, the Sooners hope to replicate their 2021 that saw them set a new all-time mark for home runs in a season. In addition to Alo, the Sooners return four other All-Americans: Tiare Jennings, Jayda Coleman, Kinzie Hansen, and Grace Lyons.

Head coach Patty Gasso will be going for her sixth national championship, all with the Sooners. With all the returning firepower the Sooners have on offense, they’ll have a shot to be back-to-back national champions like they did in 2016 and 2017.

The Oklahoma Sooners were also selected as the preseason No. 1 by the Big 12 coaches and are the favorites to win the conference yet again.

The Sooners will open their season Feb. 10 in Southern California against UC-Santa Barbara.

Contact/Follow usย @SoonersWireย on Twitter, and like our page onย Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Oklahoma softball takes four of five Big 12 yearly awards, numerous players named to all-conference teams

No. 1 Oklahoma softball took four of the five yearly conference awards on Wednesday including numerous players being named all-conference.

Oklahoma softball is preparing to attempt to follow up their Big 12 regular season title with a victory in the annual conference tournament later this week. When they do so, they’ll be taking some hardware there with them as the Sooners took four of the five yearly Big 12 honors on Wednesday.

Head coach Patty Gasso was named Coach of the Year after leading the team to an absurd 42-2 record and the mantle as the widely-viewed best team in the country essentially all year long. She was an easy choice winning the award for the ninth straight year.

Senior outfielder Jocelyn Alo picked up the Big 12 Player of the Year selection after leading the country in home runs with 26. She’s the 14th Sooner to win the award.

Freshman infielder Tiare Jennings earned the Freshman of the Year choice unanimously after leading the country with 72 RBIs and being just behind Alo with 23 home runs.

Lastly, junior infielder Grace Lyons was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year as one of the elite defensive shortstops in the country on an Oklahoma team that is one of the top defensive teams in the sport.

Joining Alo, Jennings and Lyons on the All-Big 12 first team is senior pitcher Shannon Saile and freshman outfielder Jayda Coleman. Senior pitcher Giselle Juarez, senior catcher Lynnsie Elam and sophomore infielder Mackenzie Donihoo were named to the All-Big 12 second team.

Coleman, Jennings and freshman pitcher Nicole May were selected to the All-Big 12 freshman team as well to round out the plethora of honors for the Sooners.

This team had a tremendous year so all of these awards really come as no surprise. But, as they would all surely agree, they don’t mean nearly as much as finishing off the year with a championship would.

The Sooners will begin postseason play in the conference tournament on Friday in Oklahoma City against Baylor at 2:00 p.m. CT.

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Sooners News: Oklahoma Softball off to hot start in El Paso

The Oklahoma Sooners softball team ran up the score over the weekend. They outscored the opposition 70-2 overall.

The Oklahoma Sooners softball season got into full swing at a fast and furious pace. On Thursday, the team set an NCAA record by driving 13 balls out of the yard. Yes, you read that correctly. The Sooners hit 13 home runs on opening day as they blasted UTEP 29-0. They weren’t done by any stretch of the imagination.

In the second game on the first day of the season, OU would take on Abilene Christian. In this game, they would defeat ACU 9-0 to increase their run differential to 38 runs. These ladies were coming to send a message that they were hungry.

On Friday, they were back on the field to play ACU once again with Giselle Juarez in the circle for the Sooners. She pitched three innings, striking out five and allowing only one baserunner on a walk. Oklahoma allowed just one hit as they cruised to an 11-0 victory, outscoring ACU on the weekend 20-0.

In the final game of the Miner Invitational in El Paso, Oklahoma would take on UTEP once again. Freshman Nicole May would be in the circle looking for her first win on the season. The Sooners once again put 20+ runs on the board as they defeated the Miners 21-2, giving up their first runs on the season.

Senior Jocelyn Alo is moving up the ranks in Oklahoma history. She launched her 57th career home run to move her into fourth in OU history. She finished with one home run and four RBIs in two at bats.

Oklahoma scored 70 runs on the weekend and blasted a total of 24 home runs during the two-day stretch. Freshman Tiare Jennings and junior Grace Lyons were the story of the weekend. Jennings is batting .923 through four games with five home runs and 12 RBIs. Lyons drove six balls out of the ballpark with an identical 12 RBIs in the early going.