Gophers shortstop Jess Oakland has been named Big Ten Conference softball player of the year for 2024, the league announced Wednesday.
The sophomore from San Jose, Calif., is one of four Minnesota players to earn All-Big Ten honors. Oakland and junior Taylor Krapf were named to the first team, with Oakland being a unanimous first-team selection. Graduates Sydney Strelow and Morgan DeBord picked up second-team honors. Jacie Hambrick was a Sportsmanship Award nominee.
Strelow, DeBord and Oakland also were named to the Big Ten all-defensive team.
Oakland is the first Gophers player to win the Big Ten Player of the Year award since Kendyl Lindaman in 2017 and 2018 and the fifth player to win it in Minnesota softball history.
This season, Oakland made her mark in Minnesota’s record book, becoming the Gophers’ single-season leader with 68 runs scored, second all time in batting average (.455), fifth in doubles (19), third in home runs (19) and fifth in walks (38).
She is among the national leaders in multiple offensive categories, including fifth in batting average, ninth in doubles, eighth in home runs, fifth in on-base percentage (.554), fifth in slugging percentage (.915) and fourth in total bases (151).
Oakland also earned All-Big Ten first-team honors last year as a freshman.
Krapf picked up this season right where she left off in 2023. Earning first-team honors for the second year in a row as Minnesota’s catcher. Krapf batting .316 with 10 home runs and 48 RBI, and is slugging .600 with a .427 on-base clip.
This season, Krapf set multiple single-game records, including two multi-home run games, against North Carolina State and Iowa. She had three doubles against Ohio State, and drove in seven runs against Illinois.
The Gophers are 27-24 overall and 13-10 in the Big Ten this season. They are playing their first game in the Big Ten tournament today against Illinois.
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