USA Softball College Player of the Year finalists include one Sooner, one Cowgirl

OU shortstop Tiare Jennings and Oklahoma State pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl are two of the 10 finalists for USA Softball College Player of the Year, the NCAA announced Wednesday.

Jennings is hitting .368 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs this season with a 1.260 OPS. She’s a finalist for the third time, also finishing in the top 10 in 2021 and 2023.

Kilfoyl is 21-3 with a 1.13 ERA and 119 strikeouts with just 29 walks in 143 innings. Her ERA ranks fourth nationally.

The other finalists are Texas’ Reese Atwood, Florida State’s Jaysoni Beachum, UCLA’s Maya Brady, Stanford’s Nijaree Canady, Duke’s Claire Davidson, Florida’s Korbe Otis, Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens and Miami (Ohio)’s Karli Spaid.

Jennings and the second-seeded Sooners open the Norman Regional at 7 p.m. Friday against Cleveland State at Love’s Field.

Kilfoyl and the fifth-seeded Cowgirls open the Stillwater Regional at 4:30 p.m. Friday against Northern Colorado at Cowgirl Stadium.