Sooners Dominate Big 12 Awards

NORMAN — After becoming just the second team in Big 12 history to finish conference play undefeated, the No. 3/3 Oklahoma softball team earned four of the five individual awards from the league on Wednesday and placed all eight nominees on the all-conference teams.

Paige Parker was named Pitcher of the Year, Kelsey Arnold was tabbed Defensive Player of the Year, Jocelyn Alo earned Freshman of the Year and Patty Gasso was awarded Coach of the Year.

Parker earned the fourth Big 12 Pitcher of the Year award of her career, joining Texas' Cat Osterman as the only pitchers in conference history to claim the title four times. Parker is the third Sooner to garner the award.

The Independence, Mo., native finished Big 12 play with a league-best 0.51 ERA, finishing as the only pitcher with an ERA below 1.00. She led the conference with 10 wins, registering four complete games and three shutouts. Parker held opponents to a .148 batting average over 54.2 Big 12 innings, striking out 58 foes and walking just 15.

Arnold was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in her career, also earning the honor in 2016. The Sooners' shortstop is the fourth player in conference history to win the title twice, joining OU's Heather Scaglione (2004-05), Texas' Megan Willis (2006-07) and Texas A&M's Natalie Villarreal (2009, 2011).

The senior captain was perfect on all 40 chances she had in the field during conference play, leading OU to a league-best .989 team fielding percentage.

Alo became the seventh Sooner to be named Big 12 Freshman of the Year and fourth in a row, joining current teammates Parker (2015), Shay Knighten (2016) and Nicole Mendes (2017).

The Hauula, Hawaii, product currently leads the nation with 23 home runs and a 0.46 home runs per game average. She finished conference play ranking first in home runs (9), walks (17), runs scored (18), RBIs (25), total bases (46) and slugging percentage (.979) while finishing second in on-base percentage (.554).

Gasso was chosen as the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the 11th time in her career as she guided OU to an unprecedented seventh consecutive league crown with an 18-0 record, marking the first time in program history OU was undefeated in conference play. She has won the award in each of the last seven seasons, while no other coach in the history of the league has even won the honor more than three times.

Alo and Parker were joined by Knighten, senior Paige Lowary and junior Sydney Romero on the All-Big 12 First Team. Five first-team selections are the tied for second-most in program history, with the 2000 Sooners earning six.

Arnold was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team along with classmate Nicole Pendley and junior Caleigh Clifton.

Alo and infielder Eliyah Flores were placed on the All-Big 12 Freshman Team.

The Sooners begin postseason play this week at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship on May 11-12 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. OU will be the No. 1 seed and will face No. 4 Texas (2 p.m. CT) and No. 6 Iowa State (7:30 p.m. CT) during Friday's pool play.

Players Mentioned

Jocelyn Alo

Kelsey Arnold

Caleigh Clifton

Eliyah Flores

Shay Knighten

Paige Lowary

Nicole Mendes

Paige Parker

Nicole Pendley

Sydney Romero

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics