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OU Softball: Oklahoma SS Tiare Jennings Nabs Big 12 Honor

The senior shortstop has been hot all season but picked it up last week in dominant wins over Tarleton State and Texas Tech.

John E. Hoover

OU Softball: Oklahoma SS Tiare Jennings Nabs Big 12 Honor
OU Softball: Oklahoma SS Tiare Jennings Nabs Big 12 Honor /

The scorching hot start to Tiare Jennings’ senior season at Oklahoma continues.

The Sooners’ record-setting infielder — OU’s shortstop this season after three years at second base — was named Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday after tearing up the diamond last week.

Jennings led the Big 12 in RBIs and extra-base hits last week, going 7-for-13 (.538) with three doubles, three home runs and 12 RBIs.

The senior from San Pedro, CA, batted .538, posted an on base percentage of .632, slugged 1.462 and finished the week with a monstrous 2.094 OPS. She also scored five times and drew five walks in her 19 plate appearances.

Jennings, a three-time All-American, produced three multi-RBI games and a pair of multi-hit games while reaching in each of OU’s five contests against Tarleton State and Texas Tech.

Along the way, Jennings tied Sydney Romero’s program record with her 58th career double on Saturday in Lubbock.

Jennings is now hitting .423 on the season, which ranks fourth on the squad. She also leads OU by a wide margin with 37 RBIs and 72 total bases, and also paces the team with 10 home runs and nine doubles. Jennings’ 1.418 OPS ranks second (behind Alyssa Brito’s .1424), and her .923 slugging percentage ranks second (behind Cydney Sanders’ 1.020).

This is Jennings’ eighth career Big 12 Player of the Week honor. Under Patty Gasso, Oklahoma has landed 108 Big 12 Player of the Week honors and 89 Big 12 Pitcher of the Week accolades.

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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.

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