Oklahoma’s Tiare Jennings and Iowa State righthander Ellie Spelhaug earn the first weekly Big 12 softball awards, part of four programs who were able to play last weekend while three others had entire weekend slates canceled by inclement weather.

Jennings is the Player of the Week after a collegiate debut for the ages. At the Miner Invitational in El Paso, she was 12-for-13 at the plate with five home runs, 12 RBIs and a .983 batting average. The true freshman from San Pedro, California hit three of the Sooners’ NCAA single-game record 13 home runs in the opener against UTEP. She finished the weekend with 30 total bases and eight extra base hits, as OU opened the season 4-0 with four run-rule victories while outscoring opponents 70-2.

Spelhaug is 2021’s first Pitcher of the Week after going 3-0 in three appearances inside the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She allowed just three runs in 14.0 innings of work with 12 strikeouts in defeating South Dakota State, UNI and Drake. Opponents hit just .204 all weekend off the righthander from Bettendorf, Iowa. She held Drake to just two hits in the final six innings to close out the weekend for Iowa State on Sunday, as the Cyclones opened 2021 at 5-0, their best season start since 2016.

Big 12 Softball Weekly Awards

Date	Player of the Week	Pitcher of the Week
Feb. 16	Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma, Fr.	Ellie Spelhaug, Iowa State, Soph.