Carlson: WCWS titles are nice, but to OU softball's Grace Lyons these off-field wins mean just as much
Grace Lyons achieved a lot this past season.
Smashed pretty much all her career highs at the plate. Named Big 12 defensive player of the year for the second season in a row. Landed All-American honors. And of course, the OU shortstop helped the Sooners win back-to-back national titles, too.
But there were some other accomplishments that made Lyons every bit as proud.
“It’s been cool to see Bible study start on teams that maybe only had one believer or two,” she said.
That’s just one of the changes that came out of the inaugural Player’s Conference last summer. The three-day gathering would’ve reminded some of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp with its small groups, worship and prayer. But it was only for college softball players.
It was Lyons’ vision. She conceived the conference, then executed it.
“I really can’t explain how amazing it was,” recently graduated Sooner catcher Lynnsie Elam said. “Just the thought that Grace Lyons put into it and how smoothly it went. How creative it was and just how many hearts were touched.
“It was one of the best experiences.”
At a time college softball is riding a tidal wave of interest, the sport has never been bigger. But neither has the pressure. With growing crowds and expanding attention, players are facing increased scrutiny and demands.
Nowhere is that more evident than OU.
The Sooners have become the queens of college softball, but heavy can be the heads that wear the crowns.
Lyons has found that her Christian faith has helped lift that burden, has helped take some of the weight of the softball world off her shoulders. Even though OU played to overflow crowds much of the time these past couple seasons, she has found solace in the idea of playing for an audience of one ― her heavenly father ― and about believing her god would love her no matter what happened.
Win or lose.
Strike out or homer.
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But about two years ago, she found herself not only thinking about all that but also wondering about other college softball players around the country going through what she was.
“There are other people like you who are trying to do this hard life as a Christian athlete,” she said, “so it’s super encouraging for other girls in our same shoes.”
Somewhere along the line, she decided she wanted to bring Christian softball players together.
But how? When? Where?
Her mom, Erin, remembers when Lyons first talked about being stirred to action, but she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. They talked about praying about it, then looking for some devine inspiration.
In spring 2021, Lyons started bouncing ideas off her roommates, which included Elam and Grace Green. She talked to different people at her church in Norman and others at her church back in the Phoenix area where her family lives. Even as she was in the middle of a season that would end in a national title, her idea started to grow into a plan.
They’d have speakers and Bible study and community service. They’d also have conversations about how to be faithful in the college softball world, then how to be bold in that faith. They’d call it The Player’s Conference.
The timing resonated with Lyons’ mom.
“That’s where I knew it was very genuine … ,” Erin Lyons said, “because it was happening during a time when she had other things that could have been very distracting but yet it was developing through that time when she was most embedded in her sport.”
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After the Sooners wrapped up the 2021 national title in June, Lyons had less than two months to get everything together. She decided to hold inaugural Player’s Conference in the Phoenix area, though she intended to move it to other locations in subsequent years, and she got help not only from her family but also her church.
More than two dozen college softball players from across the country attended the conference last summer. They came from UCLA and Colgate, Grand Canyon and Utah, OU and Oklahoma Baptist.
“My goal was just … to unite the softball world and create relationships with people on opposing competitive teams,” Lyons said. “So at this highest level, we’re only here for four years, and it’s super important to build these relationships and to just be united when there’s so much distraction.”
Lyons wanted The Player’s Conference to build a support system.
Mission accomplished.
“I met so many people that I still talk to,” Elam said.
A network of encouragement was formed with players calling on each other for help. When Lyons and Elam and some other Sooners decided to invite opponents to join them around the pitcher’s circle and pray with them after games, for example, they leaned on players who’d been at The Player’s Conference. Was it a good idea? How should they ask the other team? What if no one joined them?
OU’s prayer circle eventually became something of phenomenon, and The Player’s Conference was a big reason why.
It was one of the many victories for the players who came together last summer. Bible studies and game-day devotions were started. Prayers were offered. Lives were changed.
“We’re really challenged to just go be super bold and to use the softball world,” Lyons said.
“I’m really excited to see how it’s gonna evolve.”
The Player’s Conference went so well last summer that Lyons is running it back and expanding this summer. There will be a Players’ Conference for college baseball players in Phoenix in early August followed by one for college softball players in Norman.
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Lyons believes the college softball world has already been impacted. Some changes have been small. Some have been bigger. Regardless, even as she had her best college season this past spring, she was every bit as excited about the ways players and teams were transformed over the past year.
But those closest to her say she has been changed by The Player’s Conference, too.
“I’ve seen it really solidify that she knows God’s at work, and all the things that she’s doing, she can trust in that,” her mom said. “She can be really bold. She doesn’t have fear of failure.
“It won’t always work out, but what she can trust is that God is working right alongside in the middle of that.”
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
The Player's Conference
What: Three-day gathering for Christian college softball players from around the country. To register or for more information, go to theplayersconference.org/softball.
When/where/cost: August 15-17 in Norman, $20 per person
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball: Sooner shortstop Grace Lyons' impact extends beyond sport
