Latest news with #Sooners'
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Who is Tiare Jennings? Former OU softball star back in WCWS as Sooners' coach
Who is Tiare Jennings? Former OU softball star back in WCWS as Sooners' coach Show Caption Hide Caption Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady and Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens lead WCWS players to watch The Oklahoman's Jenni Carlson highlights several Women's College World Series key players to watch. Tiare Jennings is back at the Women's College World Series for the fifth consecutive season, but just not in the capacity Oklahoma (and college softball) fans have seen her in before. This time around, one of the greatest to ever put on the Sooners uniform is doing so as a member of Patty Gasso's coaching staff. One of the best power hitters and players in college softball history, Jennings is in her first season as a graduate assistant on the Sooners' staff, where she has taken a prominent role as OU's first base coach. REQUIRED READING: How does WCWS work? Explaining double-elimination format for NCAA softball tournament In her new role, the first-year graduate assistant coach now looks to help lead her alma mater to continue its dominance at the WCWS by winning a fifth straight national championship, a feat that has not been met in college softball history before. That run to another trophy hoisting that is followed by the playing of Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me Now?!" begins on Thursday, May 29 at 1:30 p.m. ET against No. 7 Tennessee at Devon Park in Oklahoma City. Here's what you need to know about Jennings ahead of her WCWS coaching debut: Who is Tiare Jennings? Tiare Jennings is one of the all-time Oklahoma Sooner softball players, and the No. 3 OU player of all-time on The Oklahoman's recent top 50 list. The San Pedro, California native reached levels not many softball players have in their collegiate careers: a four-time national champion and four-time All-American First Team selection. She was also named to the WCWS All-Tournament Team three of her four years in Norman. It didn't take long for Jennings to make her mark on the OU program, as she started all 60 games as a freshman while posting a .462 batting average on the season, which ranked seventh best among all Division I hitters that year. She ranked second in the country with 27 home runs, which was three shy of the NCAA freshman record, and a 1.000 slugging percentage. Statistically speaking, Jennings ranks first in program history with 64 career doubles, second with 98 homers and 314 RBIs, and third with a .412 batting average. She holds the WCWS career record for most RBIs (29) at the WCWS, while setting a single-season WCWS record for RBIs (15) and home runs (5) at the 2022 WCWS. "I know our journey together is far from over. With God, none of this is possible and I'm so thankful that he gave me the talents to play the game that I love," Jennings wrote in a letter to softball at the 2024 WCWS. "... From all the ups and downs, the best thing that I learned playing is that the sport doesn't defy me. It is something that I love to do with my sisters next to me. "Softball is giving me the opportunity to represent who I am." Following her graduation from OU last spring, Jennings played with the OKC Spark and was on Team USA at the 2024 WBSC World Cup, where she helped guide the United States to a silver medal. Tiare Jennings coaching at Oklahoma This past season, Jennings has taken on a new role with the Sooners' softball program: coach. "It's cool to still be on the field and coaching," Jennings told The Oklahoman on May 4. "OU has a lot of new faces, and it's been cool to get to know them and teach them the championship mindset and what OU softball stands for." She added: "It was always one of my dreams to stay around the team with OU and play softball." In her graduate assistant coaching role with the Sooners, Jennings has served as the team's first base coach. She's also putting together scouting reports for OU this season in her new role. "I didn't know what I was doing," Jennings told The Oklahoman about coaching first base at the beginning. "I was just a little bit rattled. Like, 'OK, do I send them two? Do I not? Did I miss any signs?' I'm starting to get the hang of it, have my feet on the ground and enjoy the moment. It's been super fun to do it. I wasn't a base stealer, so I didn't get many signs at first base. Now I'm in the brunt of it, where I pay attention to everything." REQUIRED READING: How former OU softball star Tiare Jennings has passed knowledge as Sooners' student coach Tiare Jennings stats at Oklahoma In her illustrious four-year career at Oklahoma, Jennings finished with a career .412 batting average and slash line of .412/.885/.491. She finished with 98 home runs and 314 hits and RBIs each. Here's a year-by-year breakdown of Jennings' stats at Oklahoma: 2021: .462 batting average/1.000 slugging percentage/.517 on-base percentage with 92 RBIs, 91 hits, 81 runs scored and 52 extra-base hits (27 home runs) .462 batting average/1.000 slugging percentage/.517 on-base percentage with 92 RBIs, 91 hits, 81 runs scored and 52 extra-base hits (27 home runs) 2022: .401/.934/.507 with 87 RBIs, 83 runs scored, 73 hits and 38 extra-base hits (29 home runs) .401/.934/.507 with 87 RBIs, 83 runs scored, 73 hits and 38 extra-base hits (29 home runs) 2023: .415/.781/.477 with 66 RBIs, 76 hits, 57 runs scored and 33 extra-base hits (17 home runs) .415/.781/.477 with 66 RBIs, 76 hits, 57 runs scored and 33 extra-base hits (17 home runs) 2024: .370/.820/.463 with 74 hits, 69 RBIs, 56 runs scored and 40 extra-base hits (25 home runs) Tiare Jennings Athletes Unlimited Softball team Jennings' playing career is set to resume this summer with the Volts in the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League. She was drafted by the Volts in the fifth round of the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft back in January. With the Volts, Jennings will get to play with Sooners' ace Sam Landry, who was taken No. 1 overall in the AUSL college draft earlier this month.
USA Today
28-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
4 Oklahoma Sooners earn NFCA All-American honors
4 Oklahoma Sooners earn NFCA All-American honors The Oklahoma Sooners have had a banner year on the diamond as Patty Gasso's squad won their first SEC title and made it back to the Women's College World Series for the ninth consecutive time. Amid a season of turnover, Oklahoma was buoyed by its youth. After playing key roles in last year's national title run, sophomores Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering have been instrumental in the Sooners' return to Oklahoma City. After leading the Sooners lineup to the conference title and sweeps in the regional and super regional rounds, Parker and Pickering were named first-team All-Americans by the National Fast-Pitch Coaches Association on Wednesday. Along with their first-team selections, transfer pitcher Sam Landry, another key component to Oklahoma's success this season, was selected to the NFCA's second team. True freshman Gabbie Garcia was selected to the third team after a huge season for the Sooners. Hitting out of the one and two holes for the Sooners' vaunted lineup, Pickering and Parker have provided power and an on-base prowess that's helped set the table for the younger players like Gabbie Garcia and Nelly McEnroe-Marinas hitting behind them. In the leadoff spot, Pickering's hitting .413 with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs. She leads the Sooners with a .557 on-base percentage and has walked a team-leading 51 times. Parker leads the Sooners with a .416 batting average with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs as the Sooners' primary No. 2 hitter. More: Re-ranking the 8 teams to make the Women's College World Series In the circle, Landry solidified any concerns for the Sooners, racking up a 23-4 record with a 1.92 ERA. She's recorded 170 strikeouts in 167.2 innings pitched. She's thrown 16 complete games this season and has won each of her last five starts, including all three of the regional round. In Landry's last outing, she threw a complete game shutout against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Garcia earned third-team honors after a tremendous first season in Norman. She leads the Oklahoma Sooners with 20 home runs and 58 RBIs. She had just one home run in Oklahoma's first 16 games. Since then, she's hit 19 home runs in the Sooners' last 47 games. At shortstop, she's been fantastic with just three errors all season and boasts a .982 fielding percentage. The Oklahoma Sooners will get their Women's College World Series underway on Thursday when they take on the Tennessee Volunteers in Oklahoma City. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
NBC Sports
26-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
How freshman Clark van Gaalen went from raw talent to powering Oklahoma at NCAAs
CARLSBAD, Calif. – During Oklahoma's third-place finish at the Inverness Intercollegiate, the Sooners' fall opener last September, coaches Ryan Hybl and Jonathan Moore agreed that they had something special in freshman Clark van Gaalen. 'We've got one of the best freshmen in the country,' Hybl said, recalling that conversation. 'It's just going to be a process.' Van Gaalen, uber-talented and ultra-fast but also super raw, tied for 28th that week, but he'd fail to make the starting lineup in each of Oklahoma's next seven events. He did tee it up three times as an individual and capped his fall with a runner-up at the Ka'anapali Classic in Hawaii. But it wasn't until he learned to diversify his sky-high ball flight, play to smarter spots and roll it better after a mid-spring putter switch that van Gaalen began to unleash his potential. 'I remember Coach Hybl telling him earlier this spring, 'You're gonna play for this national championship team. You're going to be there,'' said senior Drew Goodman, van Gaalen's roommate for the past few events. He's not just here; he's leading the Sooners at this NCAA Championship. Van Gaalen fired a 1-under 71 Sunday morning at Omni La Costa and will enter Sunday's final round tied for fourth at 5 under, six shots behind individual leader Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss. He's also a big reason why Oklahoma, which finished a shot out of match play last year, sits third at 3 under, 15 shots inside the current cutoff for the top eight. 'He's not one of those guys who was chasing high-level AJGAs his whole career, so he had a big learning curve,' Hybl said. 'And that's why school has been so good for him because he's been around good players full-time and we've been able to put in some serious work, and that work is showing. … The shots that he hits and some of the things he's able to do, it's incredible to be around.' Van Gaalen can push 200 mph ball speed if he wants to. Hybl compares him to former Haskins Award winner Chris Gotterup, only he hits it to the moon and is significantly less burly. When it comes to growth this season, no one has made bigger strides, on and off the course and in the weight room, than van Gaalen. He forced his way into the starting lineup for the Valspar Collegiate in late March and the next week tied for sixth at the Maridoe Intercollegiate, which Oklahoma won and where Hybl began walking with van Gaalen; he's not left his side since. Van Gaalen recently was second at the NCAA Amherst Regional as well. 'It was a comfort that he believed in me,' van Gaalen said of Hybl, 'so I just believed that if I worked my butt off, eventually I would see the benefits of it.' Goodman was in the group right behind van Gaalen for Friday's opening round at La Costa. When he arrived at the range to warm up, the freshman was already halfway through his warmup and not hitting it very well. 'You could feel it; he was super nervous,' Goodman said. 'But man, he came out of the gate and settled in and played a great round.' Van Gaalen shot 4 under and has yet to shoot anything over par this week. He was in danger of losing that streak on the back nine on Sunday, playing the first five holes in 4 over with a double bogey on the par-4 14th after his second shot ballooned and found a creek. But van Gaalen didn't fret, and on the par-4 15th, a birdie hole, he flighted a 60-degree from 98 yards, cutting it against the wind, and holed out for eagle to get back into red numbers. Van Gaalen may have been most proud of the up-and-down par on the par-4 17th, where he drove it into the weeds. 'I've been managing the golf course well,' van Gaalen said. 'When you're in trouble, get out of it, take your medicine and move on … and don't get frustrated over stupid stuff. Big numbers happen when you're upset.' And when you add that maturity to van Gaalen's physical tools, you get one of the best freshmen in the country. Just like Hybl believed all along.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hugh Freeze Sends Strong Message on Oklahoma Transfer Jackson Arnold
In an interview with The Next Round Live, Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze outlined the blueprint for transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold's success in Year 1 with the Tigers. Signing with the Oklahoma Sooners as a five-star and the No. 8 player in the 2023 class, according to 247Sports' rankings, Arnold had a rather lackluster year in his first year at the helm of the Sooners' offense as he was benched just four games in – ahead of the Sooners' matchup with Auburn – for freshman Michael Hawkins. Jr. Advertisement As one of the first coaches to reach out to Arnold when entering the transfer portal this spring, Freeze has expressed that Arnold is the Tigers' number one guy and says that regaining some of the confidence and swagger that made him a 2022 National Gatorade Player of the Year out of Guyer High School in Texas is just what he needs to get back to that level in 2025. Auburn Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold (11).Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images 'I think the whole deal is confidence. I think if he can regain some of that swagger and confidence that a Gatorade Player of the Year has, he's got all the tools… this spring I witnessed that,' Freeze said in the interview. After an up-and-down season with the Sooners last year in an offense that was hampered by injuries, especially in the wide receiver room, Arnold is now working with an uber-talented group of pass catchers. The unit includes two of the top receivers in the country, and Freeze believes they helped him build confidence throughout the spring. Advertisement 'I think a lot of that has to do with the receivers around him. He now has great confidence that, 'Man if I throw a 50-50 ball in a one-on-one situation to (Eric) Singleton, Malcom (Simmons) Perry (Thompson), Horatio (Fields) or Cam (Coleman), I think that our guys have a good chance of succeeding,' said Freeze. After four straight losing seasons, Auburn must improve in Year 3 under Freeze's tutelage, and its success may rest in the hands of Arnold under center. Related: Hugh Freeze Takes Clear Stance on Being on Hot Seat Ahead of 2025
USA Today
13-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Oklahoma Head Coach Brent Venables provides injury update on star wide receiver
Oklahoma Head Coach Brent Venables provides injury update on star wide receiver Much of the turnaround expected for the Oklahoma football team in 2025 has to do with the Sooners' offense. A new quarterback and new wide receivers have provided hope from the transfer portal. One of the bright spots in the spring suffered a setback last week. Javonnie Gibson underwent surgery on his broken leg last week. Gibson came to the Oklahoma Sooners after a breakout season for Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Though the injury is significant, Head Coach Brent Venables believes he could be back for week one. "He got rolled up on in practice, unfortunately," Venables said via Teh Oklahoman. "If he just stays on schedule, he'll be back to start the season and be back with us." "Whenever you lose someone like Javonnie," offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said, "not only is he a great player, he's an unbelievable teammate that everyone on the team likes. And so the best thing was that Javonnie hit them all up and said, 'Hey, this is just a minor step back, major comeback incoming.'" More: Oklahoma Sooners General Manager planning to be aggressive in Spring Transfer Portal Gibson was a second-team FCS All-American at UAPB in 2024. He caught 70 passes for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns during his one and only season with the Golden Lions. Before UAPB, he spent two years at Division II Arkansas-Monticello. He joins Keontez Lewis from Southern Illinois, Isaiah Sategna from Arkansas, and Josiah Martin from California-Berkeley as newcomers at wide receiver from the portal. Deion Burks, who played in just five games because of injury, and Jayden Gibson, who missed the whole season, return from last year's roster. Jayden Gibson caught five touchdown passes in 2023, and Burks was the team's leading receiver at the time of his loss. Oklahoma ranked 119th in passing offense last year after losing the top five players on the depth chart to injury at various points in the season. The new group provides targets for first-year Sooners quarterback John Mateer, who transferred from Washington State as the top signal-caller in the portal over the winter. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.
