Four Oklahoma players up for preseason awards

Jocelyn Alo, Kinzie Hanson, Giselle Juarez and Nicole Mendes are All-Americans and also player of the year candidates

Oklahoma softball coach Patty Gasso doesn’t have a schedule yet for 2021. But she does have three All-Americans.

Senior utility Jocelyn Alo, sophomore catcher Kinzie Hansen, and fifth-year senior pitcher Giselle “G” Juarez were named preseason All-America this week by D1 Softball

Hansen earned first-team All-America recognition, while Alo and Juarez both received second-team accolades. Only UCLA (5) and Arizona (4) have more preseason All-Americans than OU.

Alo, Juarez and Nicole Mendes were also named this week to the 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List.

Jocelyn Alo / OU Athletics

Alo ranks in the OU career top 10 in several hitting categories, including home runs (54), batting average (.404), slugging percentage (.846) and walks (91). She finished 2020 with a team-leading 61 total bases and while hitting .427 with eight home runs, 21 RBIs and 22 runs scored.

G Juarez / OU Athletics

Juarez battled injury throughout 2020, registering just 6 2/3 inning pitched. The 2018 and 2019 NFCA First Team All-American returns for her redshirt senior season in 2021 with a shot at several OU pitching records, including opponent batting average (.150), strikeouts per seven inning pitched (10.11) and ERA (1.45).

Nicole Mendes / OU Athletics

Mendes returns for her fifth season after playing in just six games last year following knee surgery in 2019. As the only current Sooner who played on the last national title team in 2017, Mendes went 3-for-6 at the plate with two home runs and five RBIs in limited action in 2020.

Kinzie Hansen / OU Athletics

Hansen, a starter in all 24 games last season (22 at first, one at catcher, one at DH), led the Sooners as a freshman in 2020 with 26 RBI, ranked second on the team with 31 hits and 11 walks, and was fourth in batting average at .413. She also finished with a perfect fielding percentage on 152 put-outs at first base.

OU is ranked No. 4 in the USA Today preseason top 25, but the Sooners still await the formal announcement of their 2021 schedule.