Red River Series on Deck This Weekend

Friday, April 10

Austin, Texas

6 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Texas

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Ella Parker running home after hitting a home run against Kentucky

Photo by: Brendall Vargas/University of Oklahoma

April 09, 2026 | Softball

Live Stats ESPN2 (Friday)ESPN (Saturday)ESPN (Sunday)

No. 2 Oklahoma Goes to No. 4 Texas

NORMAN — For the first time in series history Oklahoma heads to Texas for a Southeastern Conference (SEC) series as No. 2 OU gears up for the first of two trips to the Lone Star State this month.

Both teams enter the weekend top-five in the national polls and in the top-two slots in the SEC.

Weekend Schedule
Friday, April 10 at 6 p.m. | ESPN2
Saturday, April 11 at 7 p.m. | ESPN
Sunday, April 12 at 1 p.m. | ESPN

FIRST PITCH

• The Sooners start the second half of SEC play with a three-game series at No. 4 Texas Friday, April 10 through Sunday, April 12. Oklahoma enters the weekend following a three-game sweep of Kentucky at home, while Texas dropped two of three at No. 5 Alabama.

• OU plays its first road series against a top-five team since OU played at No. 5/4 Texas in 2024.

• OU is playing its third road series against a ranked team this season. The Sooners took two of three at No. 17/18 Arizona and at No. 20 LSU this season.

• Friday's game will be broadcast on ESPN2, while Saturday and Sunday will be carried on ESPN. Beth Mowins (play-by-play) Michele Smith (analyst) and Jessica Mendoza (analyst) will be on the call for each game. Chris Plank will be on the radio broadcast all weekend, which will be available on The Franchise (KRXO/107.7 FM) and The Franchise 2 (KEBC/1560 AM).

• The Sooners went 17-1 in the month of March while going 8-1 in SEC play. OU hit 56 home runs last March, tallying a .379 team batting average while holding opponents to a .197 mark. Kendall Wells paces the lineup with 12 homers and 30 RBIs for the month, while Audrey Lowry went 7-0 in the circle.

• OU is 11-1 in SEC play and has won five games in a row, the longest active winning streak in the league. OU has played the second-most road games of any team in the league, going 12-2 on the road. The Sooners picked up four ranked wins in true road games this season.

• Oklahoma has won 29 games by run-rule, including seven in SEC play. OU has posted a double-digit scoring effort 25 times. The Sooners are 38-3 and 11-1 in SEC play and ranked third in the most recent ESPN.com/USA Poll.

• Last year, the Sooners went 9-3 through their first 12 games of SEC play last season. OU would go on to finish 52-9 with a 17-7 SEC record last season.

• OU has hit at least one homer in 38 of 41 games and had a streak of at least one home run in 20 consecutive contests between Feb. 21 and March 27.

• March 31 against Wichita State was the 18th instance in which OU has hit four or more home runs in a game this season.

• Kendall Wells set the SEC single-season home run record previously held by Bri Ellis (Arkansas), Bailey Hemphill (Alabama) and Mia Davidson (Mississippi State). She did so in just 37 games. She is now tied for the NCAA single-season freshman home run record.

• Oklahoma has scored 485 runs in 41 games. The Sooners tallied 454 runs in 61 contests a year ago.

• OU went on a 22-game winning streak earlier this season, marking the 10th instance in head coach Patty Gasso's career that the Sooners have had a winning streak of 20-plus games.

FLEXIN' FRESHMEN

• The Sooner freshmen Lexi McDaniel, Kai Minor, Allyssa Parker and Kendall Wells have combined for 55 home runs, 149 RBIs, 150 runs and a .420 batting average.

• Kai Minor is hitting .496, leading all D1 freshmen in batting average. She is also second among all freshmen in hits (47) and is third in runs (46). She has earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors this season and paces the OU lineup with 20 multi-hit games.

• Kendall Wells is not only leading the country in home runs (30), but is on pace to hit 41.25 over the regular season, which would break the NCAA single season record for home runs. She set the SEC single-season home run record (27) and is nearing a number of other home run records including the OU freshman home run record (31), OU single season home run record (35) and NCAA home run record (38).

• Allyssa Parker is one of six Sooners with double-digit home runs, having hit 10 this season in just 57 at-bats. Her .930 slugging percentage is second in the nation among all freshmen, behind only Wells (1.165). On March 7 she achieved the rare feat of tripling and spinning a complete game in the circle.

• Lexi McDaniel is on pace to become the third OU freshman with double-digit homers, posting nine to go with a .471 batting average in 70 at-bats. She also has three pinch-hit homers. McDaniel was also named SEC Freshman and D1Softball Freshman of the Week.

• In the circle, freshman Berkley Zache has posted a 2.42 ERA across eight appearances. She hasn't allowed an earned run since her collegiate debut at No. 17/18 Arizona Feb. 7.

SCENE SETTERS

• OU is on a historic pace in a number of offensive categories this season. The Sooners are hitting .428 as a team and for context, OU's program record is .405 in the 2021 season. The Sooners slashed their way to program records that season, slugging .778 in 2021 while reaching base at a .490 clip. The Sooners are leading the country with an .880 slugging percentage and tout a .521 on-base percentage.

• OU and Texas are in their second season in the SEC respectively. The Sooners swept the Longhorns in a three-game series at Love's last season, Texas' first visit to Love's Field. The Longhorns would win the meeting in the 1-0 game of the 2025 Women's College Series, 4-2.

• The Sooners have hit more home runs than 79 teams in Division I have for total runs scored. OU set the NCAA single season runs record with 638 in 2021, doing so in 60 games. Oklahoma averaged 10.6 runs per game that season. The Sooners are averaging 11.8 runs per game through 41 contests this season, on pace for 649 runs in the regular season alone in 2026.

CIAO BELA

• Redshirt-senior Isabela Emerling has 13 home runs through 35 games played, one more than her total from all of last year. The Sooners are 21-0 in her OU career when she hits at least one home run in a game.

• Emerling hit the game-winning grand slam against Ole Miss Monday, March 23. That grand slam marked the eighth of her career, tying her for fifth all-time in NCAA history in that category.

• March 24 she was named SEC Player of the Week. It's the second late-inning game-winning grand slam of her OU career after doing so in a nine-inning 11-6 win against San Diego State on the first day of the season in 2025. She also added a key game-tying home run in OU's 4-1 win against Oregon in the 2025 WCWS.

GIFT OF GAB

• Sophomore shortstop Gabbie Garcia ranks in the top 20 in the country in home runs (16, T-14th), RBIs (52, 16th) and runs (47, 18th). Garcia hits big and in bunches, pacing the Sooners with four games of 5+ RBIs. She is second on the team in multi-hit games with 16.

• In 101 career games she is hitting .377 with 112 hits, 95 runs, 110 RBIs, 36 home runs. The everyday shortstop helped OU set a single season double plays turned record (31) in 2025. She has made only seven errors in 278 chances, all of which have come at shortstop. She was named to the 2025 SEC All-Defensive Team and helped OU turn four double plays against Abilene Christian March 8, tied for the most by a team in NCAA Division I this season.

SOPHOMORE ARMS

• The Sooner sophomore pitching duo of Audrey Lowry and Miali Guachino both have double-digit wins, combining for a 28-1 record in the circle. Lowry leads the team in innings pitched (80.2) and ERA (2.08), while Guachino leads OU with a .185 opponents' batting average and 71 strikeouts.

KAI BOOM

• Freshman centerfielder Kai Minor is not only leading OU with a .496 batting average, but she is leading all Division I freshman in that category - as well as the entire Southeastern Conference. She ranks second in the league in hits (56) and fourth in stolen bases (15).

• Minor leads the team in multi-hit contests with 20 and is the only Sooner with a pair of four-hit games. She also possesses the longest hitting streak of the season (17 games) for a Sooner this year.

LIVING IN THE LIMELIGHT

• Since the 2021 season Oklahoma has been routinely featured on the national stage. The Sooners have played in 88 games that have aired on national television, including 21 times last season, the most for the Sooners since the '21 campaign. Those broadcasts include games available on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ABC, SEC Network and FS1. This season the Sooners are currently slated to appear on national television 15 times.

• The attention has been shown by not just TV appearances but also in ticket sales. Per Sportico, the 2024-25 season saw Oklahoma Softball rank fourth in ticket sales among all NCAA women's sports teams, behind only UConn women's basketball, Nebraska volleyball and Wisconsin volleyball.

• Oklahoma Softball's social media following also ranked first in the nation among all softball programs in the nation this past year. Between Facebook, Instagram and X, OU's social media accounts generated over 181 million impressions.

• In the series finale at LSU Sunday, March 29 of this season, the broadcast delivered 618,000 viewers - the second-most watched regular season NCAA Softball game since 2015.