Forever in Our Hearts:Kinzie Hansen, a Sophomore Point guard for the Oklahoma sooners Softball, has been recognized as the 2025 defensive player-of-the-year, Underscoring her Exceptional talent and leadership….
The conference said Wednesday that graduate catcher Kinzie Hansen had won defensive player of the year, and that a league-high nine Oklahoma Softball players had been chosen All-Big 12.
Together with graduate left-handed pitcher Kelly Maxwell and senior infielders Tiare Jennings and Alyssa Brito, Hansen and senior outfielder Jayda Coleman were unanimously selected to the All-Big 12 First Team, giving OU five first-team winners and a tie for the conference lead with Texas.
While Parker and outfielder Kasidi Pickering were selected to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team, senior outfielder Rylie Boone, sophomore left-handed pitcher Kierston Deal, freshman utility Ella Parker, and senior infielder Alynah Torres were recognized on the second team.
Since 10 Sooners were named to the All-League team in 1996, Oklahoma’s nine All-Big 12 selections are the program’s greatest total. Hansen is the third Sooner catcher to win the league’s best defensive award, after Lindsey Vandever (2010) and Heather Scaglione (2004-05), and he becomes OU’s sixth consecutive and ninth overall defensive player of the year.
The graduate student has allowed just 14 wild pitches this season and has not made an error in conference play. Hansen is slashing at the plate and has had an incredible season behind the dish for OU, making just three errors in 214.0 innings at catcher and throwing out five runners at a 35.7% caught-stealing rate.
Jennings led OU in the regular season with 19 home runs, 56 RBIs, and 12 doubles while hitting, earning her a spot on the first team for the fourth consecutive year.365 with an OPS of 1.263. The senior was the only Sooner to start all 52 games and had a stellar.365/.455/.808 line. During 2024, Jennings became just the sixth player in NCAA history to reach the 300th collegiate RBI and shattered Oklahoma’s career doubles record.
