Tiare Rose Jennings (born June 5, 2002) is an American professional

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

player for the Volts of the

Athletes Unlimited Softball League The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) is a women's professional softball league in the United States, founded in 2024 and run by Athletes Unlimited. History On June 4, 2024, Athletes Unlimited announced a new softball league, that w ...

. (AUSL). She played for the

Oklahoma City Spark Association of Fastpitch Professionals (AFP) is a professional women's fastpitch softball league in the United States consisting of independent teams in collaboration to create a platform for competition at the highest level. The new league began ...

of the

Association of Fastpitch Professionals Association of Fastpitch Professionals (AFP) is a professional women's fastpitch softball league in the United States consisting of independent teams in collaboration to create a platform for competition at the highest level. The new league began ...

(APF) and

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

. As a freshman in 2021, she was named

NFCA National Freshman of the Year The NFCA National Freshman of the Year is an award given by Schutt Sports to the best college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. ...

and Softball America Freshman of the Year. While at Oklahoma she won the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

championship four consecutive years.

Early life

Tiare Rose Jennings was born to Maria and Ignacio Jennings in

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

, and grew up in San Pedro. She is of Samoan, Filipino and

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

descent. Jennings played travel ball for the OC Batbusters, and won the 2019 USA Elite Select World Fastpitch Championship.

High school career

Jennings attended St. Anthony High School in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. During her freshman year, she was named the 2017 Southern Section Division 6 Player of the Year. She battled injuries during her junior year. During her senior year, she batted .710 with six

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 19

run batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs), 18 runs scored, and a 1.483

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

in a season that was shortened due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She was named the 2019–20 Gatorade California Softball Player of the Year. She finished her high school career batting .581, with 111

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

s, 61 RBIs and 16 home runs. She was ranked as the nations No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2020 by Extra Inning Softball's Elite 100 list and No. 4 on FloSoftball's Hot 100.

College career

Jennings made her collegiate debut for

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

on February 11, 2021, in a game against

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

. Jennings began her career going 4-for-4 with three home runs and six RBI in a 29–0 victory. Jennings and Grace Lyons each homered three times against the Miners, tying a school record for most home runs by an individual player in a game. The Sooners set an NCAA single-game record for home runs in a game with 13. During the weekend at the Miner Invitational, she was 12-for-13, with five home runs, 12 RBIs, 30

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hit (baseball), hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single (baseball), single, 2 for a double (baseball), double, 3 for a triple (baseball), triple and 4 ...

, eight

extra-base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any hit (baseball), base hit on which the batting (baseball), batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error (base ...

s, and a .983 batting average. She was subsequently named Big 12 Player of the Week for the week ending February 16, 2021. During the Courtyard Marriott Tournament, Jennings went 11-for-17, with a .647 batting average, four home runs, 10 RBIs and 23 total bases. Additionally, she did not register a strikeout all weekend and was perfect in the field, making appearances at second base, shortstop and third base, collecting seven assists and a pair of

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (PO) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base (a tag ...

s. She was named Big 12 Player of the Week for the week ending March 9, earning her second weekly honor. Jennings earned her third player of the week honor for the week ending April 7. She went 6-for-9, with six RBIs, 11 total bases, and her 16th home run of the season, in a series against

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. Jennings earned her fourth player of the week honor for the week ending April 20. Jennings went 4-for-7, with three home runs, 13 total bases and five runs scored during a series against

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. During the regular season, she ranked first in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

in runs scored (60) and RBIs (72), and tied for first in doubles (14), and ranked second in hits (66), home runs and slugging percentage. She finished the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

with 27 home runs and led the nation with 92 RBI. She also ranked in the top five nationally in slugging percentage, home runs, doubles, hits and batting average. Jennings's 92 RBI broke the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

freshman single-season RBI record. Following an outstanding season, she was named first-team All Big 12, Big 12 all-freshman team, Big 12 Freshman of the Year,

and Softball America Freshman of the Year. She was also one of only two freshmen in the country named a top 10 finalist for the

USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year is an award given by USA Softball to the best college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United St ...

. During her sophomore year in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, she batted .385 with 24 home runs, 72 RBIs, and a .882 slugging percentage. Her 24 home runs ranked for fourth in the nation, while her 72 RBIs tied for third in the NCAA. In the field, she had a .982 fielding percentage, with 14 double plays, 46 putouts and 63 assists to two errors. During the

2022 NCAA Division I softball tournament The 2022 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 9, 2022, as the final part of the 2022 NCAA Division I softball season. The tournament culminated with the 2022 Women's College World Series at USA Softball Hall of ...

, she hit .524 in the

, with a World Series record 15 RBIs and five home runs. Following the season she was named a unanimous first-team All-American. During her junior year in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, she led the team in batting average (.415), hits (76), RBIs (66) and total bases (143), and tied for the team lead with 17 home runs and ranked second with 16 doubles. Defensively she recorded 56 putouts and 71 assists and only one error for a career single-season best .992 fielding percentage. Following the season she was named a first-team All-American and a top 10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

Statistics

Professional career

Jennings was selected third overall in the 2024

Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Athletes Unlimited (also known by its abbreviation AU) is a women's professional sports organization based in the United States that organizes and administers competitions in the sports of basketball, softball, volleyball, and formerly lacross ...

draft. However, she began her professional career with the

, an independent team at the time of her signing. On January 29, 2025, Jennings was drafted in the fifth round, 20th overall, by the Volts in the inaugural

draft.

International career

Jennings represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

2024 Women's Softball World Cup The 2024 Women's Softball World Cup was the 18th Women's Softball World Cup, an international softball tournament taking place in Balbriggan, Ireland; Buttrio and Castions di Strada, Italy and Valencia, Spain. The group stage took place from 11 ...

and won a silver medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Tiare Living people 2002 births American sportspeople of Samoan descent Oklahoma Sooners softball players People from San Pedro, Los Angeles Softball players from California Sportspeople from Torrance, California 21st-century American sportswomen Athletes Unlimited softball players