Oklahoma softball: Sooners sweep Big 12 weekly awards

Jun 10, 2021; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners infielder Jana Johns (20) throws the ball to first base against the Florida State Seminoles during the first inning 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 infielder Jana Johns (20) throws the ball to first base against the Florida State Seminoles during the first inning 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

For the second time in three weeks, a pair of Oklahoma softball players have swept Big 12 weekly honors.

Redshirt senior Jana Johns is the Big 12 Player of the Week and freshman Jordy Bahl has been named Pitcher of the Week in the conference. Both Sooners had a big past weekend as top-ranked Oklahoma won all five of its games in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City (Palm Springs), California, to improve to a perfect 15-0 for the season.

Johns slugged four home runs in three of the Sooners five wins this past weekend, including a pair in Oklahoma’s 9-8, 10-inning win over No. 17 Tennessee. For the five games, the OU third baseman from Calhoun, Georgia, went 6 for 14 at the plate (.429) with nine RBI, five runs scored and a 1.357 slugging percentage.

This was Johns’ first Big 12 weekly award in her two seasons at Oklahoma.

Bahl, the 2020-21 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year and the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2021 class, recorded two wins over the weekend. The freshman right-hander opened the weekend with a six-inning perfect game in OU’s 10-0 win over Cal State Fullerton. It was the first the first individual perfect game by an OU pitcher since 2019 and the first by a Sooner freshman since 2015.

Bahl was also the winning pitcher in the Sooners win over Tennesse, going a season -high eight innings and striking out 16 Tennessee batters. She made three total appearances during the weekend. In 17 1/3 innings pitched, the Papillion, Nebraska, native allowed a total of six runs (four earned) on seven hits while striking out 31 hitters in the three games and giving up just four walks.

Oklahoma is off this weekend but is back in action on Monday, March 7 when the Sooners host Minnesota in the season home opener at Marita Hynes Field. OU travels to Honolulu, Hawaii, later in the week where it will participate in the Rainbow Wahine Classic March 10-12 along with Baylor, California and Hawaii.

This is the third week in a row that an Oklahoma player or players have received Big 12 honors and the second time for OU freshman Bahl. Tiare Jennings was Player of the Week and Bahl Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 15. Jocelyn Alo was Player of the Week last week.