Oklahoma’s short-lived home run record is being stomped on by UCLA’s power surge
Remember only a few quick weeks in the past when Oklahoma was wonderful the school softball world with its record-breaking assault on the NCAA single season home run record?
The Sooners topped their very own five-year-old home run record when freshman sensation Kendall Wells blasted the primary pitch she noticed within the second inning of the series-opening sport with Georgia 230 ft and over the center-field wall for the crew’s record-setting 162nd home run of the season. That occurred on April 24, eclipsing the earlier mark of 161 that was set by the 2021 Oklahoma crew that featured two-time National Player of the Year Jocelyn Alo.
UCLA working away with record that was as soon as Sooners’
What hasn’t been as broadly lined up till the final month or so is how the season-long chase not solely to interrupt the single-season crew record, but additionally the the person high-water mark for home runs in a season, has been a runaway two-team competitors with the Bruins of UCLA additionally in sizzling pursuit of constructing historical past.
The identical day Wells delivered the Sooners’ record-breaking 162nd home run, UCLA was sitting at 158, simply 4 again. A four-home run day in opposition to Oregon within the closing sport of the common season final weekend introduced UCLA even with Oklahoma, each with a record-shattering 173 home runs on the season. The Bruins then crushed 4 extra bombs in opposition to Penn State of their opening sport within the Big Ten Softball Tournament to bypass the Sooners 177-174 and push the record quantity even increased.
Last week alone, in conference tournament action for both teams, UCLA out-homed Oklahoma 9-1 to increase its overall advantage to 182-174 thanks to OU’s early exit. The Bruins’ 182nd home run was off the bat of senior Megan Grant within the Big Ten championship sport in opposition to Nebraska on Saturday. Grant’s home run, her thirty eighth in 2026, set a brand new NCAA record for home runs in a season by a participant, breaking a 31-year-old mark held by Lauren Espinoza of Arizona since 1995.
Wells sits simply two again with 36 home runs this season, having already damaged the SEC, NCAA and OU program record for home runs by a freshman. Wells’ final home run, nevertheless, got here on April 25 in opposition to Georgia. It was her second dinger in as many video games and her fifth within the final seven video games.
Wells is homerless in his final 5 video games. Over than span, the younger Sooner beginning catcher has gone 2-for-14 on the plate with eight bases on balls as opposing pitchers have started to pitch around Wells and not allow her to beat them.
Every participant in Oklahoma’s beginning lineup has no less than 5 home runs and 7 Sooners have double-digit home runs this season. Four OU freshmen (Wells, Lexi McDaniel, Kai Minor and Allyssa Parker) have mixed for 66 home runs, which might rank forty sixth within the nation.
UCLA has eight gamers with 10 or extra home runs, together with two, Grant (38) and Jordan Woolery (33), with 71 between them. Over the final 4 weeks, UCLA has out-homed Oklahoma 37-20.
The coaches of each groups — Patty Gasso of Oklahoma and UCLA’s Kelly Inouye-Perez — will adamantly tell you that setting records is a nice-to-do, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the ultimate season goal of winning games and championships. And these two iconic softball packages have completed simply that with a mixed 12 nationwide championships between them since 2000.
UCLA leads all NCAA Division I groups with 12 nationwide titles in softball. Oklahoma is subsequent, tied with Arizona at eight. There is a better-than-good probability that the Sooners and Bruins can be among the many eight groups that make it to Oklahoma City and the Women’s College World Series subsequent month.
Wouldn’t a matchup of those two power brokers be one thing to behold?
