OU Softball: Three Former Oklahoma Players Earn All-SEC; Jocelyn Erickson SEC Player
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OU Softball: Three Former Oklahoma Players Earn All-SEC; Jocelyn Erickson Lands Player of the Year

Erickson was the best player this year in the Sooners' future conference, while two other former Patty Gasso pupils landed on the All-SEC team.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma's Jocelyn Erickson
Oklahoma's Jocelyn Erickson / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

A full year prior to Oklahoma joining the Southeastern Conference, Patty Gasso’s program has already made a major impact on the Sooners’ new league.

Three former Sooners earned All-SEC honors this week, including Florida sophomore Jocelyn Erickson, who was named SEC Player of the Year.

Erickson, who hit .337 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs last year in 57 games as a true freshman utility player for the Sooners, also was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team as she helped lead the Gators to a 46-12 record and second place in the SEC standings.

Erickson made only two errors in 57 games during the regular season and SEC Tournament for a fielding percentage of .993. She batted .389 with 14 home runs, 12 doubles and 75 RBIs and last week helped lead the Gators to the SEC Tournament championship.

Two former Sooners who now play for Tennessee earned second-team All-SEC accolades this season as the Vols went 40-10 and topped the SEC with a 19-5 mark.

Zaida Puni, a senior who played 16 games at OU in 2021 and batted .357, just finished her third season in Knoxville and has been on of the Vols’ best hitters. This year as an infielder and designated player, she batted .277 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs.

Junior catcher Sophia Nugent, who played in 50 games and batted .274 with 19 runs scored, seven home runs and 23 RBIs last season for the Sooners, hit .276 for the Vols this season, with nine home runs, 33 RBIs and posted a .992 fielding percentage with just two errors.

All 16 SEC teams made this year's NCAA Tournament bracket. Tennessee is the No. 3 overall seed behind No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Oklahoma, while Florida is the No. 4 national seed.

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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.