NORMAN — Jayda Coleman spent much of her first two seasons as a place-setter.

Slap hits.

Bunts.

Drawing walks.

Anything to get on base ahead of super sluggers Tiare Jennings and Jocelyn Alo.

Now a junior, and with Alo having moved on, Coleman is taking a back seat to no one.

Already one of the top players in college softball, thanks to that ability to get on base and her excellent fielding, Coleman has elevated her game once again.

Coleman made it an offseason focus to add more power, and the results so far have been off the charts.

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“I got a little jealous watching Tiare (Jennings) and Jocy (Jocelyn Alo) hit all these home runs all the time,” Coleman said with a laugh.

Coleman and the top-ranked Sooners, who (20-1) entered Monday night's game against South Dakota State on a 12-game winning streak, host Florida State on Tuesday.

Coleman’s physical transformation is easy to spot for those who watched her over the last two seasons.

Her shoulders are broader. Her arms more defined. Her neck even looks stronger.

“Not just lifting weights but eating the right food — a lot of protein,” Coleman said of the secret to the change. “And then change my swing just a little but trying to be the fastest I can be in my swing and the most comfortable that I can be and hopefully it works out.”

So far, so good.

Coleman hit .435 with 17 home runs and a .679 slugging percentage over her first two seasons.

So far this season, she’s hitting .500 with five home runs and a .940 slugging percentage.

The increased power hasn’t been at the expense of getting on base either.

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She struck out just 23 times over her first two seasons. She’s struck out five times so far this season, with a .662 on-base percentage (it was a combined .564 during her first two seasons).

“It’s everything and more that I thought it would be,” Sooners coach Patty Gasso said. “She has such a good eye for the ball, such a good hitter, good sense. She likes to ask questions. She likes to give answers when we’re here looking at video.

“She’s just such a tough out and she knows it, and I think pitchers know it too.”

Coleman’s on-base plus slugging was 1.243 over her first two seasons. So far this year, it’s an astounding 1.602.

“She walks up with a different kind of confidence,” Gasso said. “Every time she comes to the plate, the attitude I can see is, ‘There’s no way you’re beating me.’ And when she has that mindset, you don’t beat her. She is the most competitive athlete that I think I’ve ever seen.”

For a coach that’s had the success Gasso has, guiding players like Alo and Keilani Ricketts and Lauren Chamberlain and Shay Knighten and Lisa Carey and on and on, that’s saying something.

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Gasso saw that competitiveness from the time she first laid eyes on Coleman.

Gasso describes Coleman then as “just an itty-bitty seventh grader but little and skinny, she had her voice.”

“She was on all the time and she was always stealing and playing games with the catcher, so much that parents were yelling at her, ‘You’re cheating. Play the game the right way,’” Gasso said. “And she would delay steal, she would take off and stand right in the middle of the basepath and wait for them to do something and she’d always break and be safe the other way. She was just playing games.

“As we kind of talk in our team, one team’s playing checkers, we’re playing chess. Jayda was playing chess.”

While the strength aspect has been a big part, Coleman also has studied the science of hitting, tweaking her swing to maximize her potential.

“Her mind thinks differently, works differently,” Gasso said.

OU vs. Florida State

6 p.m. Tuesday at Marita Hynes Field in Norman (ESPN+)

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball: Jayda Coleman adds power to already strong offensive game