After dealing with knee injury, Kinzie Hansen 'ready' for Texas series
NORMAN — Kinzie Hansen made sure there was no confusion about her status for this weekend's series at Texas.
"I'll be ready for this weekend," Hansen said when asked on Tuesday. "That's for sure."
That's big news for the Sooners, especially considering the fifth-year senior's availability has been up in the air in recent weeks.
Hansen initially missed the Tarleton State doubleheader on March 12 with an illness before returning that weekend against Texas Tech. However, she played the first two innings of the first game — which included a home run in her only plate appearance — before she was held out the remainder of the weekend due to feeling a "tweak" in her knee.
That knee injury has caused her to miss eight games and significant portions of three others. OU coach Patty Gasso expressed optimism that it wasn't a long-term injury, but Hansen is no stranger to knee injuries. She fought through a significant knee injury in 2022, and she acknowledged that she was nervous when the injury initially happened.
"When it did happen, I was a little bit scared," Hansen said. "It is my last year. So initially, the fear was the first response. But I'm a lot more mature than I was back then. So it was a lot easier for me to just take it as it comes, going day by day. We're just stacking good days trying to be back 100% as quickly as I can, but also allowing it to heal so that I'm ready for this coming weekend and in the future."
Fortunately, the Sooners have been able to be cautious with her recovery. Riley Ludlam has held down the fort at catcher and in Hansen's plate — she has a batting average of .346% and an on-base percentage of .500% this season — and the Sooners have won all 11 games in Hansen's absence.
"I would like to say that I'm really proud of Riley Ludlum," Hansen said. "And I'm really, really grateful for her because I am confident in her abilities. And I was confident in her abilities and allowed me to rest and be able to do my rehab and get everything situated. So I'm just really grateful for her."
The Sooners' sweep at Kansas last weekend — they outscored the Jayhawks 30-4 across the three games — also gave Hansen an opportunity to test her recovery. She logged eight at-bats over the weekend and even started the third game as a designated hitter, and she was inserted in at catcher late in the third game.
“Just wanted to slowly bring her in," Gasso said. "She felt pretty good swinging so I gave her that opportunity. Gave her one at-bat the first day. Think I turned her into the (designated player) on one of those days, as well. I wanted to give her maybe one inning just to see what it looked like in a real game instead of throwing her into Texas. She’s ready to go."
For Hansen, she always had this weekend in Austin circled. The series kickoffs at 5:30 p.m. on Friday (ESPN) before shifting to 7 p.m. Saturday (ESPN) and 1 p.m. Sunday (Longhorn Network).
The No. 5-ranked Longhorns (29-5, 9-3 Big 12) could be the toughest test the Sooners face during the regular season. Texas ranks fourth nationally in earned run average (1.41) and sixth in scoring offense (7.74 per game), and they join OU and Duke as the only teams in softball to rank inside the top 10 in both categories.
Having Hansen's presence both behind the plate and offensively should be a huge boost for the Sooners. Hansen is having another solid season at the plate, posting a batting average of .377 and an on-base percentage of .436.
As both Hansen and Gasso said, she's ready to go for yet another highly-anticipated matchup between the Red River rivals.
"I mean this is the Red River Rivalry," Hansen said. "I was going to be ready regardless of whether I was healthy or not. So I think that just the challenge for us, every year, it doesn’t matter who’s ranked what. It’s always a great game. It doesn’t matter, ever. I’m just really excited for the energy and the atmosphere because we will see them down the road as well.
"They are a top-ranked team. They’re either going to be at the World Series or we’ll see them down the road in postseason so just really excited to see what this weekend looks like."