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Oklahoma softball: Sooner star Grace Lyons is Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Grace Lyons (3) celebrates a home run in the fifth inning during the second game of the Women's College World Championship Series between the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida State at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Thursday, June, 8, 2023.
Oklahoma's Grace Lyons (3) celebrates a home run in the fifth inning during the second game of the Women's College World Championship Series between the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida State at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Thursday, June, 8, 2023. /
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Oklahoma softball captain Grace Lyons finished a stellar five-year college career this past spring and was part of three consecutive OU national championship teams.

A standout on the softball diamond, the former Sooner shortstop also excelled in the classroom, and on Wednesday, the Big 12 Conference recognized her academic achievements by naming her the Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Lyons earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2022 with an undergraduate GPA of 3.88 (on a four-point system) and is presently pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration. She achieved a graduate-level GPA of 3.98 this past year.

In her final college softball season, Lyons hit .331 with nine home runs and 34 runs batted in and collected her second straight Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award. She has won that award a total of three times. Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso has called Lyons the best college shortstop she has ever seen.

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Lyons, who is from Peoria, Arizona, was also recognized nationally for her defensive prowess, winning the 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove Award, the first Oklahoma Sooner to do so.

Oklahoma finished the 2023 season with an NCAA record 53 consecutive wins and a final record of 61-1, the best win percentage in NCAA Division 1 softball history.

The Sooner scholar-athlete is a five-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree and a three-time CSC Academic All-American.

Lyons was drafted by the Texas Smoke in the sixth round, the 22nd player taken overall, of the 2023 Women’s Professional Fastpitch Draft held in April.

In June, just a couple of weeks after her final collegiate softball game, Lyons and former Oklahoma football punter Michael Turk were married.

Next season, for the first time in five years, there will be a player not named Lyons at shortstop for the three-time defending national champions.

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