All Sooners

COLUMN: Why Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings, Kinzie Hansen Were Ready for Their Moment

The Sooners lead the nation in home runs, but didn't homer in Thursday's WCWS opener against Stanford. Tiare Jennings and Kinzie Hansen fixed that against Tennessee.

John E. Hoover

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two swings of the bat. With Jordy Bahl in the circle, that’s all Oklahoma needed.

The Sooners routed Tennessee on Saturday in round two at the Women’s College World Series thanks to another phenomenal pitching performance by Bahl and two long balls by a couple of mainstays.

Tiare Jennings and Kinzie Hansen aren’t boisterous or even particularly flashy. They show up, they do their job, they’re endlessly reliable and, in the end, they win.

Jennings mashed a three-run blast in the second inning and Hansen ripped a two-run shot in the third. Those two blasts shocked the Vols — one of the trendy picks to topple the Sooners from softball’s mountaintop — and the result was a 9-0 OU victory, a five-inning run-rule.

“In our minds,” Hansen said, “nothing is really going to stop us.”

Not even trailing by three runs and down to their final out and final strike in last week’s Super Regional. Hansen saw to that herself with a three-run home run to tie it in the seventh inning.

And then Jennings won it with another homer in the ninth.

But that was a week ago now. This is the World Series — the best of the best. And still, the result was familiar: Jennings pounds a good pitch over the wall, Hansen pours it on.

SB - 2023 WCWS, Tiare Jennings
Tiare Jennings :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

Jennings’ homer was her team-leading fifth of the NCAA Tournament and her 17th this year, which ties for the team lead. For Hansen, it was her third this postseason and her 13th of the year.

Oklahoma has seven All-Americans on the roster, and it probably should be more. Jayda Coleman can always be counted on for the spectacular. Rylie Boone’s late-inning heroics have become expected. Alyssa Brito is remarkably productive with two out or with runners in scoring position.

But there are times it seems like Jennings and Hansen are the ones who most frequently deliver in the clutch — the big ball, the timely hit, the soul-stealer. They are students of the game. They obviously pour themselves into pregame preparation, they study pitching tendencies, and they make in-at-bat adjustments.

SB - 2023 WCWS, Kinzie Hansen
Kinzie Hansen :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

Their approach at the plate feels especially measured, scholarly — even professional.

“Yeah, all about adjusting,” Jennings said. “I know my first at-bat got a little jammed. I wanted to make a good adjustment.”

“I knew going into my second at-bat what their game plan would be against me,” Hansen said. “I think that really paid off going into it.”

Winning is fun, but success doesn’t just happen. Taking a studious approach to playing a game like softball and being serious about one’s preparation and always striving to get better — that’s where the fun comes from. The joy is born of hard work.

SB - 2023 WCWS, Generic, Tiare Jennings
Tiare Jennings (23) is mobbed as she scores against Tennessee :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

And that joy comes out for all to see when the Sooners are circling the bases. As their teammates simply exploded with loud emotions and waving arms — both on the base paths in front of them and standing at home plate after pouring out of the dugout — Jennings and Hansen seemed to simply float from first to second to third to home.

And Jennings has done this before — a lot. She now has 26 RBIs at the WCWS, which is two behind former teammate Jocelyn Alo’s World Series record. Also, her home run was her eighth in the WCWS, which trails only Alo’s 12.

“Yeah, super exciting,” Jennings said. “It never gets old, coming around, coming in clutch for your teammates. Coming home is the best feeling.”

SB - 2023 WCWS, Kinzie Hansen
Kinzie Hansen soars to the plate against the Vols :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

“You are rounding second,” Hansen said, “you look up, you see your family going crazy, get to third, you see Coach (Patty Gasso) going crazy, then you turn left, seeing the whole team at home just jumping and barking. Seeing the joy this team has consistently, they know that’s what keeps us going. That’s what motivates us, is all the joy and love we have for each other.”

“I look in the stands,” Jennings said, “see my parents. All our hard work and dreams as little girls paid off.”

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Home/Softball