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Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings Lands National Freshman of the Year

The Sooner standout was named NFCA Freshman of the Year over teammate and fellow finalist Jayda Coleman.

Ryan Chapman

Oklahoma softball star Tiare Jennings has a little less room in her trophy case.

On Tuesday night, the Sooner standout was named the NFCA Freshman of the Year over teammate Jayda Coleman and Clemson’s Valerie Cagle.

"I'd just like to say thank you to my team," Jennings said in her acceptance speech. "To my coaches, thank you for taking a chance on me as well. 

"To all the older girls that I've been playing with, they've really set the tone for me here and really set the high standard, so I really couldn't have done this without any of them.

"I'm just really honored and thankful to receive this award. I'm just, I have no words but I'm just thankful to start my career this way."

Jennings trails only teammate Jocelyn Alo, who was named the USA Softball Player of the Year earlier in the night, in batting average for the Sooners, and owns the fifth best batting average in the country with a .485 mark headed into the Women’s College World Series.

Tiare Jennings was named the NFCA Freshman of the Year on Tuesday night
Tiare Jennings was named the NFCA Freshman of the Year on Tuesday night / OU Athletics

The freshman also leads the nation with 84 RBIs and has launched 25 home runs, tied for second in the country behind only Alo.

An asset in the field as well, the OU second baseman has a .972 fielding percentage, only committing three errors all season long.

Jennings, who also won Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year, has had a season nothing short of astounding, said OU head coach Patty Gasso. 

"This is something I don't think I've ever seen in my years of coaching," Gasso said during the acceptance speech. "(I'm) a very proud coach, we're very humbled and very blessed.

"I think Tiare and (Jocelyn) would tell you that these awards come to them because they get pushed by their teammates every single day. So the push for excellence is there always.

"The moment now is ripe for us, but our future is bright as well. Having two Freshman of the Year nominations on one team is just unheard of."

The Sooners are already the only program with two Freshman of the Year winners after Paige Parker and Alo took home the award, but now they have their third winner.

With Coleman as a top three finalist alongside Jennings, OU also became the second program to have two of the three finalists after Florida achieved the same distinction in 2016. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is deputy editor at AllSooners and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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