SEC Softball Tournament Primer

NORMAN — The 2026 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Regular Season Champion Oklahoma Sooners open the SEC Tournament with a quarterfinals matchup against nine-seeded Georgia Thursday, May 7 at 7 p.m. CT.

The Sooners swept Georgia in the final home series of the regular season, defeating the Bulldogs with scores of 10-2, 3-1 and 6-5. The Bulldogs defeated LSU in the SEC Tournament Second Round on Wednesday night to advance to Thursday.

FIRST PITCH

• OU enters the SEC Tournament as the top seed after winning the 2026 SEC Regular Season Championship with a record of 20-4.

• The Sooners are playing in their second-ever SEC Tournament after joining the conference ahead of the 2025 season. Oklahoma earned a share of the conference tournament title in 2025, defeating LSU and Arkansas in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.

• Oklahoma was supposed to square off against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament Championship game a year ago. The game was canceled due to weather, bringing Oklahoma to a share of the crown.

•The Sooners are 15-6 against top 25 teams, the second-most wins against ranked teams in the SEC. OU also has the most road wins in the league with 16, giving the Sooners the best road-winning percentage in the conference (.714).

• OU has played six series against top-25 teams this season, taking two out of three in five of them while sweeping No. 11/15 Georgia in the other. Oklahoma has picked up road-series victories at No. 17/18 Arizona, No. 20 LSU and No. 4 Texas. OU also earned run-rule wins against No. 14/20 Duke, No. 23/RV Washington and No. 11/15 Georgia. 10 of those 15 wins have come in road or neutral site settings.

• Oklahoma has won 32 games by run-rule, including nine in SEC play. OU has posted a double-digit scoring effort 27 times.

• 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 set it March 31 in just 37 games. Wells then set the NCAA freshman single-season home run record April 11 at Texas. She broke a three-way tie with former Sooners Jocelyn Alo (2018) and Lauren Chamberlain (2012) and Hawaii's Kelly Majam (2010). She then broke Jocelyn Alo's OU single-season home run record (34) April 24 against Georgia and needs two more to set the all-time NCAA single-season home run record.

• Oklahoma has scored 566 runs in 55 games. The Sooners tallied 454 runs in 61 contests a year ago. The program record is 638, set in 2021 in 60 games.

• 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.

• Oklahoma has seven players with double-digit home runs and three with 20 or more (Wells, Garcia, Ella Parker).

• OU hasn't lost a three-game series since the final regular season series of the 2025 season. Since then OU has won 10-straight three-game series, including one in the 2025 Supers.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 2025 All-SEC Defensive selection Gabbie Garcia can do it all. The sophomore leads DI shortstops with 66 RBIs and is second in the nation among shortstops with 22 home runs. She is second in SEC play in homers (10), behind only Kendall Wells.

• The Sooners have a nation-best four players on the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 25 List. Gabbie Garcia, Kai Minor, Ella Parker and Kendall Wells are all on the list. Garcia, Minor and Wells are three of the four underclassmen on the list.

• Isabela Emerling nearly doubled her batting average from 2025. The redshirt-senior hit .212 last season and is hitting .390 this year with a career-high 18 home runs.

SECOND YEAR IN THE SEC

• OU's debut in the SEC Tournament was an eventful one. The Sooners defeated LSU, 4-1, and Arkansas, 8-6, to claim a share of the tournament title.

• Sam Landry threw a one-hitter in the tournament-opening victory against LSU, while Cydney Sanders clubbed a two-run home run.

• The Sooners blasted six home runs to overcome a 6-1 deficit and defeat Arkansas, 8-6, in walk-off fashion during the SEC Tournament Semifinals. Sydney Barker homered twice and Gabbie Garcia hit a walk-off three-run home run to cap off a pair of records. The home run total set a record for homers in a game by a team during the SEC Tournament, while the 5-1 comeback was good for the biggest comeback win in SEC Tournament history.

FLEXIN' FRESHMEN

• The Sooner freshmen Lexi McDaniel, Kai Minor, Allyssa Parker and Kendall Wells have combined for 65 home runs, 176 RBIs, 181 runs and a .402 batting average.

• Freshman centerfielder Kai Minor is not only leading OU with a .438 batting average, but she is leading all SEC freshmen in that category. She ranks third in the league in hits (71) and tied for third in stolen bases (17).

• Kendall Wells set the SEC single-season home run record (27) as well as the NCAA single-season freshman (31) and OU single-season home run record (35). With 36 currently, two more would set the NCAA single-season home run record (38).

• Allyssa Parker is one of seven Sooners with double-digit home runs, having hit 11 this season in just 62 at-bats. On March 7 she achieved the rare feat of tripling and spinning a complete game in the circle.

• Lexi McDaniel has team highs in pinch-hit RBIs (8) and pinch-hit home runs (3). She is the most recent Sooner to reach double-digit homers as well. McDaniel was also named SEC Freshman and D1Softball Freshman of the Week.

• In the circle, freshman Berkley Zache has posted a 2.47 ERA across 11 appearances. She hasn't allowed an earned run since her collegiate debut at No. 17/18 Arizona Feb. 7.

• The Sooners have the only two players on the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 25 list in Kendall Wells and Kai Minor.

CIAO BELA

• Redshirt-senior Isabela Emerling has 18 home runs through 49 games played, six more than her total from all of last year. The Sooners are 25-1 in her OU career when she hits at least one home run in a game.

• Emerling hit a game-tying and momentum shifting grand slam against No. 6/8 Arkansas Friday, April 17. That grand slam marked the ninth of her career, tying her for third all-time in NCAA history in that category. She hit a solo home run to give OU insurance in the 3-0 win against No. 4 Texas.

• March 24 she was named SEC Player of the Week after hitting a game-winning grand slam at Ole Miss March 23. 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.

SCENE SETTERS

• OU is 18-6 against teams with a top 25 RPI, good for the most wins and the best winning percentage in games against such opponents.

• The Sooners are one of only two teams in the nation with three players touting 20-plus home runs this season.

• Oklahoma is 61-19 in conference tournaments, winning the league tournament title 10 times. Nine of those came as a member of the Big 12, while OU won a share of the 2025 SEC Tournament Title last season.

GIFT OF GAB

• Sophomore shortstop Gabbie Garcia ranks in the top 25 in the country in home runs (22, 10th) RBIs (66, 17th) and total bases (141, 22nd). Garcia hits big and in bunches, pacing the Sooners with five games of 5+ RBIs. She is second on the team in multi-hit games with 20. For her career she is hitting .372 with 103 runs, 42 home runs, 124 RBIs and an .805 slugging percentage.

SOPHOMORE ARMS

• The Sooner sophomore pitching duo of Audrey Lowry and Miali Guachino both have double-digit wins, combining for a 35-4 record in the circle. Lowry leads the team in innings pitched (111.2) and ERA (2.51), while Guachino leads OU with a .216 opponents' batting average and 99 strikeouts.