Coleman, Jennings Named Top 15 Freshman of the Year Finalists

NORMAN — University of Oklahoma softball freshmen Jayda Coleman and Tiare Jennings have been named two of the 15 finalists for the NFCA/Schutt Sports Division I National Freshman of the Year award, the NFCA announced Thursday.

The versatile Coleman, named First Team All-Big 12 Wednesday, has been a force in the field and at the plate for OU, batting .500 to go with 40 RBI, six home runs and 18 stolen bases. Coleman has started every game of her first-year campaign across the outfield or at first base. She holds a team-best .603 on-base percentage, drawing 27 walks to just five strikeouts. The native of The Colony, Texas, went on a 19-game hit streak earlier in the year and currently holds an on-base streak of 35 games. Her 18 stolen bases are best on the team by 12 while her 52 hits rank second among the potent OU offense.

The Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Jennings, also a top-25 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, has hit 23 home runs to go with 72 RBIs. Her RBI mark leads in the nation and she's third in the country for home runs, just three behind teammate Jocelyn Alo's 26. She holds an exceptional slash line of .468/.524/1.057. The San Pedro, Calif., product has homered in 19 of OU's 44 games and hit multiple homers in a game three times, beginning with the season opener at UTEP where she tied a single-game program record with three home runs in her first collegiate game. The frosh has started every game of the season at second or third base and holds a .975 fielding percentage with 44 putouts and 35 assists to just two errors.

Additionally, Coleman and Jennings rank fourth and 10th, respectively, in the country in batting average.

Oklahoma is the only program with two representatives on the top-15 list.

Since the award was created in 2014, Oklahoma is the only program with more than one winner with Paige Parker garnering the honor in 2015 and Jocelyn Alo winning the award in 2018.

The three finalists for the award will be announced May 27. The 2021 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year will be announced June 1.

No. 1 OU returns to the field this weekend for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City. The top-seeded Sooners open pool play Friday with fourth-seeded Baylor at 2 p.m. CT before a 7:30 p.m. matchup with six seed Texas Tech. The championship game will be played Saturday at 3 p.m.

OU's first two games of the weekend will be shown on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+ while the championship game will air on ESPN2. All the action can be heard on The Franchise 2 (103.3 FM, 1560 AM) in Oklahoma and nationwide on the TuneIn app.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma softball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Softball) and like Oklahoma Softball on Facebook.