ST. LOUIS - With the goal of enriching, educating and enhancing the game of softball and its community, Rapsodo has partnered with student-athletes Elizabeth Hightower of the University of Florida and Tiare Jennings of the University of Oklahoma, in accordance with the NCAA's new Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) Policy. As premier players at their positions, Hightower and Jennings have the unique ability to showcase the sport of softball for an entire generation of young players. By choosing to partner with Rapsodo, these two have taken a different path than most of their NIL peers and lent their name to a product that can help young players in their sport - new and current - improve their skills, while also having fun playing the game they love. Together, Rapsodo, Hightower and Jennings aim to grow and transform the game of softball for the next generation. As a freshman, Hightower was introduced to Rapsodo technology by Gator great and current head coach Tim Walton (also a member of Rapsodo's Softball Advisory Board) and has flourished ever since. Over the course of her tenure in Gainesville, Hightower has garnered numerous honors and awards, including 2021 NFCA All-American Third Team and 2021 All-SEC Second Team. She was named D1Softball.com Pitcher of the Week (3/8/21), ranked third in the SEC in opponent batting average, and led Florida to its eighth straight Super Regional appearance last season. Hightower enters 2022 as the de facto ace for a Gator squad that is ranked No. 5 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Collegiate and D1 Softball Top 25 polls.
As a freshman, Jennings rewrote the record books in helping Oklahoma secure its fifth National Championship in program history. As part of her record-setting campaign, Jennings benchmarked an NCAA single-season freshman RBI record with 92, which also ranks 10th all-time in NCAA history for any player. She also set single-season OU program records with 52 extra-base hits in 2021, including a program-record 25 doubles. Her 27 home runs were three shy of the NCAA freshman record. The Sooners start 2022 as the consensus No. 1 team in the nation, with Jennings named to the USA Softball Player of The Year Watchlist and the D1 Softball Preseason All-American First-Team. Sooner assistant coach JT Gasso - who is a member of the Rapsodo Softball Advisory Board - has utilized Rapsodo as part of the Sooners recruiting and player development plan to incredible success, including Women's College World Series titles in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2021, as well as WCWS runner-up finishes in 2012 and 2019. "Rapsodo has become a vital part of our recruiting strategy," Gasso said. "With our inability to travel to see players this year, we have relied heavily on Rapsodo data and video to gauge our recruit’s level of performance."
