Bringing you news and notes coming from the Big 12 Conference in women's sports from both the athletic field and in the classroom as soon as news breaks
BIG 12 Softball Players of the Week
UCF's Isabella Vega (pitcher) and Utah's Kennedy Proctor (player) earned Big 12 weekly honors for their performances in games played during Week 8.
Vega pitched for the Knights against then-No. 3 Florida The right-handed pitcher led UCF to its first shutout (4-0) against a top-three ranked team since 2021 as the redshirt freshman held the Gators to five hits during her fourth complete game this season. She then opened the series against the Bears in the circle, holding BU to one unearned run on four hits. Vega ended the week by earning a save as the Knights posted a 7-2 win. Vega was in the circle for 17.0 innings and led the league last week with a 0.41 ERA
Proctor posted the league's second-best weekly batting average at .600 in 10 appearances at the plate in Utah's series versus Houston. In the first game Proctor delivered a double and a triple those hits led to two RBI's, she followed that up with a three RBI game. Next game Proctor crushed two homers, to finish the week off She sent in two more Utes. When the week came to a conclusion she paced the Big 12 with a 1.800 slugging percentage and was She finished the week with the second-most RBI (9)
News and Notes From the Big 12 Diamond
Arizona held steady at No. 11 for the second consecutive week in the NFCA/GoRout Top 25 Poll while Texas Tech remained at No. 14 and Oklahoma State fell one spot to No. 18.
The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll ranked ARIZ at No. 12 while TTU and OSU remained unchanged at No. 14 and No. 18, respectively.
Monday’s RPI rankings update included six Big 12 programs ranked within the top 50: No. 11 ARIZ, No. 19 OSU, No. 23 TTU, No. 26 ASU, No. 35 UCF and No. 36 BYU. All 11 programs are ranked in the top 100.
UCF travels to Norman, Oklahoma this week for the Okana Invitational where the Knights will face No. 2/3 Oklahoma twice along with a game against St. Thomas (Minn.). The Cowgirls will spend the week in the state of Arizona as they will travel to Arizona State for a non-conference matchup before heading to Tucson for a threegame top-20 showdown against Arizona. OSU’s last meeting against the Wildcats was during last season’s Super Regional in Stillwater where OSU claimed a 10-4 victory..
The Big 12 saw a pair of no-hitter tossed this weekend as ARIZ’s Devyn Netz threw a perfect game against BYU on March 27 which was followed by TTU’s NiJaree Canady tallied TTU’s second no-hitter of the season against Kansas.
TTU’s Canady was named D1Softball’s Pitcher of the Week, announced by the organization Tuesday.
Heading into Week 9, the league has recorded four no-hitters and three perfect games.
The Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship returns to Oklahoma City’s OGE Energy Field at Devon Park, the home of the Women’s College World Series, from May 7-10. All 11 teams will compete in the single-elimination format with the top three finishing regular season teams receiving a first-round bye. Tickets and parking passes for the Big 12 Softball Championship are on sal
TCU's Hailey Van Lith became the first Horned Frog to earn Big 12 Player of the Year recognition along with the league's Newcomer of the Year honor as the 2024-25 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Women's Basketball Awards were unveiled.
Van Lith's head coach Mark Campbell was selected as TCU's first Big 12 Coach of the Year honoree while BYU's Delaney Gibb was voted as the league's unanimous Freshman of the Year.
West Virginia's JJ Quinerly became the first Conference player to be named Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons since Lauren Cox (2018-19, BU) and Baylor's Yaya Felder took home the league's Sixth Player of the Year award, the first for the Bears in four years.
Utah's Gianna Kneepkens was selected as the Big 12 Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the Utes' debut league season.
The awards were voted on by the Conference's head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.
The All-Big 12 First Team included Van Lith and Quinerly with Iowa State's Audi Crooks and TCU's Sedona Prince as unanimous selections. Kneepkens was joined by Baylor's Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Kansas' S'Mya Nichols, K-State's Serena Sundell, OSU's Stailee Heard and TCU's Madison Conner on the 10-member First Team.
Van Lith finished seventh in scoring among league players with 17.6 points per game while ranking fourth with 5.4 assists per game and finishing the season with 12 20-point games. Van Lith powered TCU to its first Big 12 regular season title in school history while setting program records for total wins, Big 12 wins and home wins.
Gibb concluded her debut regular season with sole possession of the second-most weekly freshman awards in league history (10), including nine of the final 11 weekly selections. Gibb finished the regular season third nationally among freshmen with 17.5 points per game and sixth in the country with 4.2 assists per game.
Quinerly ranked second in the league standings with 3.11 steals per game while leading West Virginia to the best scoring defense in the Big 12 (54.48). She sits at sixth all-time in league history with 318 career steals.
Felder led all Conference players off the bench with 10.2 points per game and placed third with 2.8 assists per game. Felder helped Baylor to a 15-3 league record and second-place finish.
Kneepkens posted a 3.9 GPA while majoring in health and kinesiology. The junior joins her teammate Kennady McQueen as the only two players in the country to finish the regular season shooting 50/40/90% (over 20 field goals attempted).
Campbell guided TCU to become just the second Big 12 team in Conference history to win a regular season title within two seasons of finishing in last place. Campbell led the Horned Frogs to a 6-2 mark against top 25 teams this season while rising to the highest AP Top 25 ranking in program history (8).
2025 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 WBB Yearly Award Winners
Player of the Year: Hailey Van Lith, TCU, G, Gr.
Freshman of the Year: Delaney Gibb, BYU, G*
Newcomer of the Year: Hailey Van Lith, TCU, G, Gr.
Defensive Player of the Year: JJ Quinerly, West Virginia, G, Sr.
Sixth Player of the Year: Yaya Felder, Baylor, G, Sr.
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Gianna Kneepkens, Utah, G, Jr.
Coach of the Year: Mark Campbell, TCU
All-Big 12 First Team
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Baylor, G, Jr.
Audi Crooks, Iowa State, C, So.*
S'Mya Nichols, Kansas, G, So.
Serena Sundell, K-State, G, Sr.
Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State, G, So.
Madison Conner, TCU, G, Sr.
Sedona Prince, TCU, C, Gr.*
Hailey Van Lith, TCU, G, Gr.
Gianna Kneepkens, Utah, G, Jr.
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia, G, Sr.
All-Big 12 Second Team
Sarah Andrews, Baylor, G, Gr.
Aaronette Vonleh, Baylor, C, Sr.
Delaney Gibb, BYU, G, Fr.
Addy Brown, Iowa State, F, So.
Ayoka Lee, K-State, C, Gr.
All-Big 12 Third Team
Jillian Hayes, Cincinnati, F, 5th
Temira Poindexter, K-State, F, Sr.
Anna Gret Asi, Oklahoma State, G, Sr.
Jordan Harrison, West Virginia, G, Jr.
May Tour, Utah, F, Gr.
Honorable Mention: Arizona: Breya Cunningham; Arizona State: Jalyn Brown, Tyi Skinner; Baylor: Bella Fontleroy, Jada Walker; UCF: Kaitlin Peterson; Colorado: Frida Formann, Jade Masogayo; Iowa State: Emily Ryan; Kansas: Elle Evans; K-State: Jaelyn Glenn; Oklahoma State: Micah Gray; Texas Tech: Bailey Maupin, Jasmine Shavers; Utah: Kennady McQueen; West Virginia: Kyah Watson
All-Big 12 Freshman Team
Lauryn Swann, Arizona, G
Delaney Gibb, BYU, G*
Emely Rodriguez, UCF, G/F
Regan Williams, Kansas, F
Jadyn Wooten, Oklahoma State, G
All-Big 12 Defensive Team
Bella Fontleroy, Baylor, G/F, Jr.
Zyanna Walker, K-State, So.
Sedona Prince, TCU, C, Gr.*
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia, G, Sr.*
Kyah Watson, West Virginia, G, Sr.