Oklahoma softball: Sooners dominate Big 12 postseason awards

Oklahoma softball head coach Patty Gasso is the 2022 Big 12 Coach of the Year, and slugger Jocelyn Alo is the Player of the Year in the conference.

For Gasso, it was the 10th consecutive year she has been honored with the Big 12 Coach of the Year award and the 14th time in her 25 seasons at Oklahoma. Alo is the Player of the Year for the second straight season, the first Big 12 player to do that since Amber Flores of Oklahoma State in 2009-10.

OU super freshman Jordy Bahl shared Pitcher of the Year honors with Oklahoma State’s Kelly Maxwell and was also awarded Freshman of the Year honors. Sooner shortstop Grace Lyons was named Defensive Player of the Year.

In all, Oklahoma captured or earned a share of five of the six postseason individual awards conferred by the conference. In addition, six Sooners were named to the All-Big 12 First Team and another to the second team. Oklahoma’s seven first- and second-team honorees were the most of any team.

Gasso, Alo and Bahl were all unanimous selections.

The last time a coach other than Gasso was named Coach of the Year in the Big 12 was in 2012.

An Oklahoma player has been named Player of the Year in the conference 15 times in the 26 seasons the Big 12 has been in existence and six times in the last seven.

The reigning USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, Alo is also a finalist again this season.

Oklahoma players named the All-Big 12 First Team are Alo, Bahl, center fielder Jayda Coleman, second baseman Tiare Jennings, Lyons and pitcher Hope Trautwein. Outfielder Alyssa Brito is a Second-Team All-Big 12 selection.

Oklahoma heads into postseason play with a 48-1 overall record and after having won its 10th consecutive Big 12 regular-season championship.