PIEDMONT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED GATORADE OKLAHOMA SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (June 9, 2022) — In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Karissa Fiegener of Piedmont High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Oklahoma Softball Player of the Year. Fiegener is the first Gatorade Oklahoma Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Piedmont High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Fiegener as Oklahoma’s best high school softball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award to be announced in June, Fiegener joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Cat Osterman (2000-01, Cy Spring High School, Texas), Kelsey Stewart (2009-10, Arkansas City High School, Kan.), Carley Hoover (2012-13, D.W. Daniel High School, S.C.), Jenna Lilley (2012-13, Hoover High School, Ohio), Morgan Zerkle (2012-13, Cabell Midland High School, W. Va.), and Rachel Garcia (2014-15, Highland High School, Calif.).
The 6-foot junior shortstop and catcher led the Wildcats (35-7) to the Class 5A state championship this past season. Fiegener batted .532 with 11 home runs, 47 RBI, 45 runs scored and 23 stolen bases. She posted an on-base percentage of .612 and a slugging percentage of 1.032. A National Fastpitch Coaches Association First Team AllRegion selection, she was the District 5A-2 Player of the Year and was named to the Oklahoman Big All-City First Team.
A devoted member of her church community, Fiegener has volunteered locally on behalf of youth softball programs. “Karissa Fiegener was the best player that we faced all year,” said Chris Jensen, head coach at Enid High School. “She possesses every tool that you could want in a player: power, average, size, speed and arm.”
Fiegener has maintained a 3.78 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport. Fiegener joins recent Gatorade Oklahoma Softball Players of the Year Emmy Guthrie (2020-21, Lone Grove High School), McKenzie Wagoner (2019-20, Newcastle High School), Macy McAdoo (2018-19, Tuttle High School), and Olivia Rains (2017-18, Pryor High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Gatorade has a long-standing history of serving athlete communities and understands how sports instill valuable lifelong skills on and off the field. Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Fiegener has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of their choosing that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports. Fiegener is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.
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