Two Oklahoma freshmen, right hander Nicole May and center fielder Jayda Coleman, came up huge in a title-clinching weekend to claim Big 12 softball Pitcher and Player of the Week honors. The duo led the Sooners to a 2-1 Bedlam series win at Oklahoma State to claim their ninth consecutive regular season conference championship.

May saw action in all three OU games against OSU, but was key in the Saturday and Sunday wins to claim the Big 12 crown. In Saturday’s game, the Cowgirls entered the seventh inning down 6-2, but rallied to make it 6-3 and had the tying run at the plate with no outs when the freshman from Pleasanton, California was brought in to stop the damage. That’s what May did – capping the W with a strikeout of OSU’s 5-hole hitter. Then Sunday, the Sooners watched a solid 9-1 lead quickly crumble in the third inning. May was brought in with OU’s lead cut to 9-7 and the bases loaded. She not only got out of that jam, striking out OSU’s No. 2 hitter of the lineup, but went on to pitch the next four innings until the final out. She picked up the win, now 12-1 this season, and secured the title for the Sooners. In the two pressure-packed games together, May threw 5.1 innings and allowed three hits with one earned run.

Coleman batted 5-for-8 in the Bedlam series with a home run and six RBIs, but perhaps her biggest contributions came in the field. The freshman from The Colony, Texas had nine putouts in center field – many of the highlight variety. In Saturday’s win she had a diving grab sprinting towards the infield dirt, and another airborne snag while back-peddling towards the warning track.  Coleman has ended the regular season on top of the Big 12 batting race, hitting a solid .500, also second in the NCAA for batters with at least 50 at bats.

Big 12 Softball Weekly Awards

Date	Player of the Week	Pitcher of the Week
Feb. 16	Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma, Fr.	Ellie Spelhaug, Iowa State, So.
Feb. 23	Sami Williams, Iowa State, Sr.	Erin Edmoundson, Texas Tech, Sr.
March 3	Sami Williams, Iowa State, Sr.	Carrie Eberle, Oklahoma State, Sr.
March 10	Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma, Fr.	Shannon Saile, Oklahoma, Sr. Carrie Eberle, Oklahoma State, Sr.
March 16	Jocelyn Alo, Oklahoma, Sr.	Aliyah Binford, Baylor, So.
March 23	Karli Hamilton, Texas Tech, Sr.	Missy Zoch, Texas Tech, Sr.
March 30	Jocelyn Alo, Oklahoma, Sr.	Gia Rodoni, Baylor, Sr.
April 6	Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma, Fr.	Shea O’Leary, Texas, So.
April 13	Cheyenne Factor, Oklahoma State, Jr.	Carrie Eberle, Oklahoma State, Sr.
April 20	Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma, Fr. Yvonne Whaley, Texas Tech, Jr.	Missy Zoch, Texas Tech, Sr.
April 27	Lauren Burke, Texas, Jr.	Shannon Saile, Oklahoma, Sr.
May 4	Chelsea Alexander, Oklahoma State, Sr.	Carrie Eberle, Oklahoma State, Sr.
May 11	Jayda Coleman, Oklahoma, Fr.	Nicole May, Oklahoma, Fr.