OU Softball: Oklahoma C Kinzie Hansen Wins Top Award

The Sooners' senior backstop takes home this year's Johnny Bench Award as the top catcher in college softball.

John E. Hoover | Jun 28, 2023

By OU Media Relations

NORMAN — University of Oklahoma catcher Kinzie Hansen has been awarded the Johnny Bench Award for the Top College Softball Catcher, the Hall of Fame catcher and Cincinnati Reds announced the full list of Johnny Bench awards Tuesday afternoon.

Hansen, a senior with one year of eligibility, has been a force at and behind the plate for the Sooners since stepping on campus in 2020. A two-time NFCA All-American and All-Big 12 honoree, the Norco, Calif., product helped Oklahoma to its third consecutive national title in 2023, starting 42 games behind the plate after a minor injury at the start of the season.

At the plate, Hansen batted .409 with 13 home runs, seven doubles, a triple and 57 RBIs. The catcher was exceptional in the postseason, hitting the game-tying three-run home run in the seventh inning of game two of Super Regionals vs. Clemson to help send the Sooners to the Women's College World Series. At the WCWS, Hansen was named to the All-Tournament Team after batting .357 with a double, home run and four runs batted in.

Behind the plate, the All-American catcher registered 268 putouts and nine assists to just two errors for a .993 fielding percentage, allowing just six runners to steal on her while throwing out one, a product of OU's nation-leading pitching staff and defense.

The 2023 Johnny Bench Awards Luncheon will take place on Tuesday, July 18 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. For two decades, the Johnny Bench Award was presented to college baseball's top NCAA Division I catcher and in 2019 the award was expanded to include a DI college softball honoree and permanently relocated to the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

The Reds Scouting Department provides input on the baseball categories and an awards committee determines other recipients with support from local media from each state.

Published Jun 28, 2023

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.