After Oklahoma softball won the Big 12 Championship on Saturday night, fifth-year senior catcher Kinzie Hansen made a callback to an old reference from before the season.

It's an older reference, but it checks out.

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Hansen, who went 1 for 3 with two RBIs in the Sooners' 5-1 win over Texas at Devon Park, posted a gif on X (formerly Twitter) of Darth Vader, the famous antagonist from the "Star Wars" franchise.

The reference was back to a quote tweet to a column by The Oklahoman in August 2023 that called the Sooners the "Evil Empire." The column came after the Sooners landed former Oklahoma State All-American pitcher Kelly Maxwell via the transfer portal, on the heels of their third consecutive national championship.

Hansen responded to the post at the time with a link to the story with the following caption:

"If the OU Softball program is now in conversation with the New England Patriots and Alabama football dynasties (as he mentions), then so be it. I’ll take a photo with a dang lightsaber. Boomer freakin Sooner."

While Hansen didn't hold the lightsaber in her post on Saturday night, it's safe to assume she was referencing her old message, as her response to the column is also pinned to her profile:

Hansen's tweet also comes on the heels of a six-loss season, one in which two of the Sooners' losses came to Texas, who claimed the rivalry series for the final time as Big 12 opponents. In that sense, the empire struck back.

The three-time national championship-winning catcher and two-time All-America selection is a five-year starter for Oklahoma, with a career batting average of .394 and 57 home runs. Hansen also represented Team USA last summer in the Japan All-Star Series after winning the 2023 Johnny Bench Award, given to college softball's best catcher.

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Kinzie Hansen stats

• 2024: .421/.675/.475 with eight home runs and 33 RBIs in 126 at-bats

• 2023: .409/.759/.438 with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs in 137 at-bats

• 2022: .273/.521/.313 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 121 at-bats

• 2021: .438/.893/.495 with 24 home runs and 66 RBIs in 178 at-bats

• 2020: .413/.653/.472 with four home runs and 26 RBIs in 75 at-bats

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Kinzie Hansen posts Darth Vader GIF after OU's Big 12 championship win vs Texas