Oklahoma combined explosive offense with flawless defense to win its fourth consecutive and seventh overall Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship. With a 10-2 victory over No. 2 seed Oklahoma State in six innings, the top-seed Sooners also earned the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
 
The 2021 postseason event is the first that has been completed since 2018 as last year’s was canceled due to COVID and the 2019 tournament was halted early by weather. OU made its 11^th appearance in the title game and improved its record to 7-4 while OSU advanced to its fourth.
 
The Sooners scored their 10 runs off of 12 hits with nine RBIs. Three of the hits went for extra bases as C Kinzie Hansen knocked out her 20^th home run of the season while DP Jocelyn Alo and 2B Tiare Jennings recorded doubles. Shannon Saile remained undefeated in the circle, improving her record to 16-0. She pitched 4.2 innings and gave up two earned runs off of six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Nicole May relieved Saile for the last 1.1 innings with a clean sheet. OU didn’t commit an error and was aided in the field by two spectacular catches from CF Jayda Coleman.
 
Both of OSU’s scores were off of home runs as Naomi Kiley and Alysen Febrey hit solo shots in the top of the fifth. In her 27^th appearance of the season, Carrie Eberle suffered just her third loss (21-3). Kelly Maxwell gave up the final two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Hansen was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Championship after hitting five homers in three games. She knocked in eight runs and scored six herself with a 2.100 slugging percentage. The entire All-Tournament Team is listed below.
 
The NCAA Softball Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday, May 16 on ESPN2 at 8:00 p.m. CT. The Women’s College World Series will be back at Oklahoma City's USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex from June 3-9.
 
Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team
Kinzie Hansen, Oklahoma (Most Outstanding Player)
Sami Williams, Iowa State
Jocelyn Alo, Oklahoma
Jayda Coleman, Oklahoma
Lynnsie Elam, Oklahoma
Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma
Nicole May, Oklahoma
Shannon Saile, Oklahoma
Hayley Busby, Oklahoma State
Carrie Eberle, Oklahoma State
Alysen Febrey, Oklahoma State
Kiley Naomi, Oklahoma State
Karli Petty, Oklahoma State
 
Day 2 Pool Play Recaps
Game 7: No. 5 Iowa State 3, No. 4 Baylor 1 
No. 5 seed Iowa State won the third place pool play game in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship after a 3-1 win over No. 4 seed Baylor. Lou Gilbert scored the only run for the Bears off an RBI double from Emily Hott in the bottom of the first. The Cyclones’ offense came alive when Carli Spelhaug hit an RBI double in the top of the fifth to put ISU on top.  Mikayla Ramos added an RBI in the seventh as she batted in Sami Williams. Earlier in the game Williams became the Big 12's all-time leader in career hits with 329.
 
Game 8: No. 6 Texas Tech 5, No. 3 Texas 1
No. 6 seed Texas Tech upset No. 3 seed Texas 5-1 to claim the second place pool play game in the Phillips 66 big 12 Softball Championship. The Red Raiders were quick to get the offense rolling, putting a run on the board in the first inning and again in the top of the third. The Longhorns’ Colleen Sullivan cut into the Red Raiders’ lead when she hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth. Tech responded with three runs on three hits in the top of the fifth to complete the win. It marked TTU’s second Big 12 postseason win over the Longhorns in seven meetings. The last Red Raider win, 8-4, came in 2000 when, like this year, Tech was a 6 seed and Texas was a 3.