Oklahoma softball: Sooner veteran Lynnsie Elam makes the most of her opportunities
By Chip Rouse
We’ve often heard about athletes getting locked into a zone in their respective sport, a time when they seemingly can do no wrong. Oklahoma softball player Lynnsie Elam has taken that to the highest — or should we say, farthest — level.
In case you’ve been too busy to notice, the reigning national champion Sooner softball team is doing what it does this season. That is, get up (in the batter’s box), get on and get in — multiple times over and often in one swing — and then, when in the field, taking away all opportunity for their opponent to do the same.
The Sooners are ranked No. 1 for good reason. First of all, they are 26-0 this season and the only remaining team in NCAA Division I softball. Oklahoma isn’t just beating its opponents; the Sooners are wreaking a path of destruction that is both swift and decisive.
Out of Oklahoma’s 26 wins in as many games this season, 22 have been by run rule and 15 by shutout. The Sooners are outscoring their opponents 259-24. The Sooners lead the nation in scoring (9.9 per game), batting average (.390), on-base percentage (.506), slugging percentage (.800) and home runs (70 total, 2.7 per game).
To perfectly complement one of the most lethal lineups in college softball, the Oklahoma pitching staff owns the second-best earned run average at this point in the season (0.73).
Super senior Lynnsie Elam has seen and been part of many big moments in her now five seasons as a member of head coach Patty Gasso’s Sooner roster. Since Elam has been at OU, the Sooners have compiled an overall record of 216-19 and an incredible 51-1 against Big 12 opponents. They have been Big 12 champions every season and been to the Women’s College World Series three times (the event was cancelled in the 2020 COVID year) won it all last year and were national runners-up the year before that.
In Oklahoma’s past two games — a 20-0 win over Iowa on Sunday and a 9-1 victory over No. 8 Kentucky on Tuesday — the Sooners added to their nation-leading home run total, stroking a dozen four-baggers. Five of those long balls belonged to Elam, and she did so in five consecutive plate appearances.
The Big 12 Co-Player of the Week and three-time Academic All-Big 12 First-Team selection has been filling in at the catcher position in recent games for injured starter Kinzie Hansen, but it doesn’t seem to matter what position Elam plays or where she is in the lineup, she always manages to come through for the team.
Even when Elam isn’t playing every game, Gasso says she serves as a role model for how to handle the situation. She makes the most of her opportunities, her head coach says, and that’s what her goal is in every at bat.
Elam has nine home runs this season and has batted in 24 runs. Even with those impressive numbers a little more than a third of the way through the season, she ranks fourth on the team in both categories. That is just another example of how potent this Sooner lineup is. There is not an easy out anywhere, one through nine.
The Chickasha, Oklahoma, native (about a half-hour’s drive from Norman) does rank second in the Big 12 currently in slugging percentage (1.048). But that is still only second best on her own team. OU’s Jocelyn Alo, the new NCAA career home-run leader, has a slugging percentage of 1.317.
Elam is inching close to her career high for home runs in a season. She blasted 12 round-trippers last season and drove in a career-best 44 runs.
Something tells me this veteran Sooner softball player is saving the best for last. And that can only mean good things for OU.