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Oklahoma softball: Sooners open 2022 season No. 1 and in defense of national title

By Chip Rouse

Jun 10, 2021; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners pose with the championship trophy after the game against the Florida State Seminoles during game three of the NCAA Womens College World Series Championship Series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 10, 2021; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners pose with the championship trophy after the game against the Florida State Seminoles during game three of the NCAA Womens College World Series Championship Series at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Spring has sprung. Well, not really, but Oklahoma softball opens its 2022 season on Thursday, which means spring can’t be that far behind.

The reigning national champions are on the West Coast for four games beginning in Santa Barbara against the UC Santa Barbara Lady Gauchos.

Over the weekend, Oklahoma will participate in the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, California. The Sooners will play two games on Friday, against Loyola Marymount and Mississippi. On Saturday OU will take on No. 3 UCLA, and on Sunday it will be the Sooners against UC San Diego.

The Sooners are coming off a 2021 season in which they went 56-4 and won the Women’s College World Series defeating Florida State. They begin the 2021 campaign loaded with talent at virtually every position on the diamond and ranked a unanimous No. 1 in both the ESPN/USA Softball preseason poll and the NFCA preseason rankings.

Patty Gasso returns for her 26th season at the helm of the Oklahoma softball program. The Sooners lose a couple of top pitchers (left-hander Giselle Juarez and right-hander Shannon Saile) from last year’s roster but return all but one starter (OF Nicole Mendes) from the regular lineup that led all NCAA Division I teams in scoring (10.6 runs per game) and collective batting average (.405), on-base percentage (.490). slugging percentage (.778) and home runs per game (2.68).

Four OU players were among the top-25 hitters in the country based on batting average.

Among the returning Sooner players are USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Jocelyn Alo, who led the country in home runs (34), slugging percentage (1.109) and finished seventh in batting average (.475).

Alo, in her fifth season at OU, is just eight home runs away from breaking the all-time collegiate record for career home runs, which is currently held by another Oklahoma Sooners, Lauren Chamberlain (95 from 2012-15). She will primarily serve as the team’s designated hitter but could also be used in the outfield and at first base this season.

Sophomore Jayda Coleman, an NFCA Freshman of the Year finalist last season, returns in center field. Coleman was second on the team a year ago in on-base percentage. She will be flanked in the outfield by junior Mackenzie Donihoo in left field and junior Rylie Boone, who replaces Mendes in right field.

The Sooners return the entire starting infield from last year’s national championship team, which is anchored up the middle by arguably the best shortstop-second base combination in Division I collegiate softball.

Second baseman Tiare Jennings, the reigning NFCA Freshman of the Year, set a new NCAA freshman record with 92 runs batted in last season and ranked second in the nation with 27 home runs. Senior shortstop Grace Lyons is perhaps best known for her defensive skills — one of the reasons Oklahoma led the nation in fielding percentage a season ago — but she also wields some offensive pop as well. Lyons hit .392 in 2021 with 14 home runs and drove in 52 runs.

The corner infield spots are held down by Jana Johns at third base and Taylon Snow at first base. Both are transfers who are in their second season at OU.

Behind the plate for the Sooners is junior Kinzie Hansen, who also plays some at first base. Hansen was fifth in the country a year ago with 24 home runs. She is an excellent defensive catcher. In the 2021 season, she threw out five runners stealing and allowed just three stolen bases all season.

Sophomore Nicole May takes over the role as OU’s No. 1 starter in the circle after a strong freshman year. She was 15-2 last season with a 2.37 ERA. The Sooners picked by North Texas transfer Hope Trautwein, a two-time Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. Joining May and Trautwein in the starting rotation is freshman Jordyn Bahl, the consensus No. 1 player in the 2021 recruiting class.

Pitching has been a strong suit in recent seasons for Oklahoma, and it appears that will continue in the 2022 season.

In addition to a starting lineup that verges on an embarrassment of riches for Gasso and the Big 12 preseason favorite for a 10th consecutive year, Oklahoma also landed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, featuring five recruits ranked in the top 20 nationally.

Play ball!

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