Oklahoma softball: Sooners’ catcher Kinzie Hansen earns national honor
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma softball catcher Kinzie Hansen has been named the winner of the Johnny Bench Award as the best catcher in college softball during the 2023 season.
The award is presented annually to the best catchers in college softball and baseball as well as four high school winners in four states around the Cincinnati, Ohio, area. All 10 winners will be honored at an awards luncheon on July 18 at Great American Ballpark and will be recognized that night before the game between the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants.
Hansen was a major contributor to Oklahoma’s third consecutive national championship this season. She has been a member of all three of the Sooners recent national title teams.
The senior from Norco, California, is a two-time All-American and twice an All-Big 12 selection. Hansen missed the beginning of the 2023 season with a minor injury, but started 42 of OU’s 62 games and batted .409 with 13 home runs and 57 runs batted in. None more important that the three she drove in with a two-out, two-strike home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to Clemson in the Super Regional and send the game to extra innings. OU went on to win the game and advance to the Women’s College World Series on a home run by Tiare Jennings in the ninth inning.
Behind the plate during the 2023 season, Hansen recorded 268 putouts and nine assists while committing just two errors. Only six base runners attempted to steal on her, and she threw out one of them.
She batted .357 in Oklahoma’s five Women’s College World Series games this month with a double a home run and four runs batted in. She was voted to the WCWS All-Tournament Team.
Hansen announced after the WCWS that she planned to return in 2024 for her final season of eligibility.