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ESPN.com Feature on the Five "Core" Oklahoma Seniors

Jayda Coleman, Tiare Jennings, Kinzie Hansen, Rylie Boone , and Nicole May. ESPN.com refers to them as Oklahoma's "core" seniors in a nice retrospective profile the day after the Sooners won their fourth Women's College World Series in a row and eighth in program history.* These five were not the only seniors on the team, but are distinguished by playing their entire college careers with OU. Other key seniors, such as Kelly Maxwell and Alyssa Brito, were transfers from other schools.

The hitters among the core five -- Coleman, Jennings, Hansen, and Boone -- all put up gaudy offensive statistics and were the foundation that gave OU, in ESPN's apt characterization, "a lineup that had no easy outs." May, though not serving as the Sooners' pitching ace (think Jordy Bahl or Maxwell over the years), appeared in 106 games and compiled a 2.22 ERA.

Whether OU's title streak ends anytime soon is anybody's guess. Even with Oklahoma's proven ability to "reload, not rebuild," however, opposing teams have to be at least a little more optimistic of dethroning the Sooners with the core five gone.

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*The article did have an error, specifically a misspelling of Boone's first name.

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