Oklahoma softball strengthened it case as the country’s undisputed No. 1 team for 2023 landing five players on the DI Softball All-America First Team and a couple more on the second team.
Named to the First-Team All-America squad were center fielder Jayda Coleman, second baseman Tiare Jennings, third baseman Alyssa Brito, catcher Kinzie Hansen and pitcher Jordy Bahl. Second-team selections from OU were utility player Haley Lee and team captain Grace Lyons.
The only positions you’d lack from fielding a complete team based on the Sooner All-America selections are a first baseman and an outfielder.
Coleman and Jennings are both juniors and represent the one-two punch at the top of the OU lineup. Coleman was voted the 2023 Big 12 Player of the Year, leads the Sooners in on-base percentage (.543) and is tied for second in home runs (16). Jennings is the Oklahoma team leader in batting average (.436), slugging percentage (.818), RBI (60) and is tied with Coleman in home runs.
The #D1Softball staff reveals its All-Americans for the 2023 season ahead of the Women’s College World Series.https://t.co/7cMgzMneKo
— D1Softball (@D1Softball) May 30, 2023
Jennings, Coleman, Hansen and Brito, rank three through six among the Big 12 hitting leaders, based on batting average, and Lee ranks eighth.
Lyons, a fifth-year senior, is a three-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and the heart and soul of this Sooner team. Head coach Patty Gasso has called her the best college shortstop she has ever seen.
Bahl is the ace of Oklahoma’s deep and talented pitching rotation. The sophomore right-hander has an 18-1 season record with a 1.08 ERA, sixth-best in the country among Division II pitchers.
Brito is the only one of the seven first-and second-team selections that was not named to the All-Big 12 First Team this season. She leads OU in home runs with 17, including one in each of the Super Regional wins over Clemson.
Tennessee is the only other team with more than one first-team selections. The Volunteers placed two on the first team.