Sooners receive two ESPY nominations
Oklahoma softball is a finalist for two ESPY awards, including Best Team for the fourth straight year.
Fan voting for the ESPYS remains open until Thursday at 4 p.m. The 2024 ESPYS, hosted annually by ESPN since 1993, will air Thursday at 7 p.m. on ABC from Los Angeles.
Senior outfielder Jayda Coleman is also up for Best Play for her walk-off home run in the Women’s College World Series semifinals against Florida.
None of the past four Sooner softball teams have won the award.
They will be competing against teams such as South Carolina (women’s college basketball), the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL), Michigan (college football), the Las Vegas Aces (WNBA), UConn (men’s college basketball), the Boston Celtics (NBA), the Florida Panthers (NHL), and the Texas Rangers (MLB).
Despite setting an NCAA record for consecutive wins in 2023, the Chiefs won the award last year. This year’s team has a strong case for Best Team after achieving a historic four-peat.
Jordy Bahl was also nominated for Best Female Athlete in 2023, and Jocelyn Alo won that award in 2022 after breaking the career home run record.
The only Sooner team to win an ESPY for Best Team was the 2000-01 national champion football team.
Coleman’s extra-innings home run is nominated alongside Anthony Edwards’ dunk against the Utah Jazz, Alabama’s 4th and 31 conversion to beat Auburn, and Lamar Jackson’s self-completion in the AFC Championship Game. Coleman’s final career home run became a defining moment of the Sooners’ championship run.
No Sooner has ever won an ESPY for Best Play, but the school was on the losing end of the award in 2007 when Boise State won it.
