The collegiate softball season is only two weeks away, thus the Sooners’ preseason popularity has increased significantly.
Following its third national championship and record-breaking 53-game winning streak, OU has been ranked among the top teams on several different platforms, and several Sooners have received individual honors. For example, last week saw the selection of seven student-athletes from the University of Oklahoma’s softball program to the 2024 Preseason All-Big 12 Team. Additionally, six Sooners were added to the watch list for USA Softball’s National Player of the Year on Wednesday.
Among them was veteran catcher Kinzie Hansen, who will make his way back to the Sooners’ infield this coming season. Softball America named Hansen the nation’s finest catcher to start the 2024 college softball season on Thursday.
Hansen’s selection to get the honor is essentially straightforward. The Cincinnati Reds, the Hall of Fame catcher, and Hansen received the Johnny Bench Award for the Best College Softball Catcher last season.
As a catcher, Hansen had a.993 fielding percentage with 268 putouts, 9 assists, and just two errors behind the plate. During the season, she only gave up six stolen bases. Hansen had a.409 batting average, 13 home runs, seven doubles, a triple, and 57 RBIs in his offensive career. Hansen had maybe the greatest moment of her Sooners career during the postseason. In the seventh inning of Game 2 of the Super Regionals against Clemson, she launched a three-run home bomb that tied the score and propelled the Sooners into the Women’s College World Series. After hitting 357 with a double, home run, and four RBIs during the tournament, she was selected to the All-Tournament Team.
She was perfect behind the plate at catcher in the Women’s College World Series, hitting.357 in the WCWS to earn All-Tournament honors. She also drove in four runs and hit one home run.
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