NORMAN, Okla. — The Big 12 preseason ballot was launched Wednesday, and to no person’s shock the back-to-back nationwide champion Oklahoma Sooners are the favorites as soon as once more. Also to no person’s shock, the Big 12 Softball Preseason Team, as launched Thursday, was loaded with seven Sooners out of the 12 gamers talked about.
Jordy Bahl, Alyssa Brito, Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, Haley Lee, Grace Lyons and Cydney Sanders made up that listing of Crimson and Cream gamers listed. Bahl and Jennings served as two of 5 unanimous choices to the crew, together with Kansas’ Olivia Bruno, Oklahoma State’s Kelly Maxwell and Texas’ Mia Scott. The remaining members on the crew included McKenzie Wilson of Baylor and Oklahoma State’s Kiley Naomi.
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The reigning Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Year and NFCA National Freshman of the Year, Bahl turned in a dominant first yr within the circle for the Sooners. The Papillion, Neb., product completed with a nearly-perfect 22-1 file with 205 strikeouts in 2022. Bahl permitted solely 22 earned runs in 141.1 innings pitched on her manner to NFCA First Team All-America honors.
Brito returns for her second season as a Sooner after solidifying a spot within the outfield as a sophomore final season. She was named an All-Big 12 Second Team choice and NFCA All-Region honoree after hitting 14 dwelling runs and 46 RBI.
A two-time NFCA First Team All-American, Coleman led the crew with 13 stolen bases a season in the past. She ranked second with a .424 batting common and .584 on-base clip to go together with eight dwelling runs, 9 doubles and 40 RBIs.
Jennings, twice an unanimous NFCA First Team All-American, seems to proceed her dominance on the plate in a brand new face-of-softball position in 2023 after clubbing 56 dwelling runs in her first two seasons in Norman. She’s paced the nation in RBIs back-to-back seasons.
Lee, one in every of Oklahoma’s 4 switch additions this offseason, arrives in Norman with 47 profession homers all through her time at Texas A&M. A flexible participant that was an NFCA Third Team All-American in 2021, Lee seems to contribute behind the plate for the Sooners this spring.
The Sooners’ defensive anchor at shortstop, Lyons returns for her tremendous senior yr in 2023 because the two-time defending Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time NFCA All-American. Lyons produced a profession yr on the plate in 2022, hitting 23 homers and batting in 70 runs.
Another addition through the portal, Sanders transfers to Oklahoma after an distinctive freshman season at Arizona State the place she was one in every of three finalists for NFCA National Freshman of the Year and named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and All-Pac 12 first crew. The San Marcos, Calif., native began all 54 video games at first base in Tempe in 2022 and hit a program single-season file 21 dwelling runs.
As for the preseason ballot, the Sooners acquired 36 factors and have been adopted by Oklahoma State with 29 and Texas with 28. Oklahoma, a 10-time defending Big 12 champion, earned six of the seven first-place votes, with Oklahoma State garnering the opposite. This marks the eleventh consecutive yr and 14th within the final 15 seasons that Oklahoma has topped the convention’s preseason ballot.
Baylor was picked fourth (20 factors) and Iowa State fifth (16 factors). Texas Tech (12 factors) and Kansas (6 factors) rounded out the ballot.
The Sooners completed the Big 12 common season 17-1 final spring en route to their tenth consecutive convention common season crown. They maintain a mixed Big 12 file of 161-15 the previous 10 seasons and have not misplaced a league collection since 2011. Overall, this system has claimed 21 Big 12 titles (14 common season championships and 7 Big 12 league championships), all beneath the route of head coach Patty Gasso.
Oklahoma opens the 2023 season Feb. 9 in Irvine, Calif., on the second annual Mark Campbell Invitational. It will meet 4 postseason groups from a season in the past on the opening-weekend event, beginning with the opener vs. Duke, the brand new dwelling of former Sooner star Sydney Romero. The dwelling schedule begins at Marita Hynes Field on March 3 vs. UIC and Kentucky. The 2023 slate options 14 dwelling video games, together with three Big 12 collection in Norman.
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