THREE SOONERS EARN NFCA ALL-AMERICA HONORS

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma senior pitcher Paige Parker, junior infielder Sydney Romero and freshman Jocelyn Alo have been named NFCA First-Team All-Americans, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced Wednesday.

This marks the sixth time in the last seven seasons that Oklahoma has had at least three representatives on the NFCA’s All-America teams. It is the first time since 2012 that three Sooners have made the first team.

Oklahoma is the only team in the nation to have three first-team All-Americans this year. Three selections overall is second-most in the nation behind Oregon’s four and ties Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Oregon and UCLA.

Parker is now the third player in program history to become a four-time All-American, joining Keilani Rickets and Lauren Chamberlain. She is the 34th four-time All-American in the history of the NFCA.

The four-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, Parker has been one of the most dominant pitchers in college softball over the past four years. She has held opponents under a .200 average at the plate (.170 in 2015; .194 in 2016; .179 in 2017) while recording an ERA below 1.70 (1.65 in 2015; 1.64 in 2016; 1.43 in 2017) over the last three years. Parker is on pace for her best statistical season yet, currently holding a .158 opponent batting average and a 0.86 ERA.

Her 0.86 ERA this season ranks second nationally. Parker is 29-2 and holds 121 career wins, ranking second in program history and leading all active Division I pitchers in victories. The Independence, Mo., native has one no-hitter, six shutouts and eight complete games this season. She has totaled 188 strikeouts, averaging 8.04 strikeouts per seven innings pitched, to bring her career total to 943 Ks.

Romero is an All-American for the first time in her career after making the All-Big 12 and All-Region first teams this season. She has been sensational in her junior campaign, currently ranked in the top-50 nationally in RBIs (22nd, 59), hits (24th, 75), batting average (32nd, .414), RBIs per game (33rd, 1.02), runs per game (35th, 0.93), and total bases (41st, 125).

She earned weekly honors from the Big 12 twice this season, on March 19 and May 7. She was stellar at the plate in the Easton Tournament on March 16-18, finishing the weekend 10-for-16 (.625) with seven extra-base hits. In the Oklahoma State series on May 2-5, Romero led the team in batting average (.667), total bases (10), slugging (1.111), on-base percentage (.750), RBIs (4), hits (6) and runs (4).

Named the NFCA Freshman of the Year on Tuesday, Alo is the eighth freshman in school history to be named an All-American. She currently leads the nation in home runs with 28, just two blasts away from matching the Oklahoma single-season record. Alo also ranks first in home runs per game (0.48) while holding second in total bases (159), third in slugging percentage (0.970), fourth nationally in RBIs (70) and RBIs per game (1.21), seventh in runs scored per game (1.07), 13th in on-base percentage (0.545), 15th in walks per game (0.79) and 30th in batting average.

Alo was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year after finishing conference play ranked first in home runs (9), walks (17), runs scored (18), RBIs (25), total bases (46) and slugging percentage (.979) while finishing second in on-base percentage (.554).

The Sooners return to action this week as they open the Women’s College World Series against No. 5 seed Washington Thursday at 1:30 p.m. CT.

THREE SOONERS EARN NFCA ALL-AMERICA HONORS