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Seven Oklahoma Players Earn All-Conference Recognition
Oklahoma catcher Kendall Wells blasts a home run against Kentucky at Love's Field. BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma’s fingerprints were all over the SEC’s softball awards. 

Catcher Kendall Wells earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors, and seven Sooners were named to the conference’s first and second teams. 

Wells was joined by shortstop Gabbie Garcia and outfielders Kai Minor and Ella Parker on the All-SEC First Team. 

Outfielder Abby Dayton, utility player Isabela Emerling and pitcher Audrey Lowry earned All-SEC Second Team recognition. 

Parker and Garcia also made the All-SEC Defensive Team. 

Wells has hit 36 home runs, which is tied with UCLA’s Megan Grant for the most in the country and is one behind Laura Espinoza’s NCAA record that has stood since 1995.

Wells is hitting .360 with a 1.535 OPS. She leads the team with 79 RBIs and has a team-best 1.050 slugging percentage. 

Minor leads the team with a .446 batting average, and she has totaled nine homers, 41 RBIs, 15 doubles and six triples while drawing 11 walks as the Sooners’ primary leadoff hitter. 

Parker is third on the team with a .416 average. She enters the NCAA Tournament with a 1.476 OPS, 61 RBIs, 21 home runs, 15 doubles and a .940 slugging percentage. Parker also has three assists and posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in her first season as the Sooners’ everyday right fielder.

Garcia is second on the team with 22 home runs, and she is hitting .393 with a 1.308 OPS. She has 1 doubels, 68 RBIs and has drawn 18 walks. 

Dayton is batting .398 with 12 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 42 RBIs. 

Emerling has hit 18 home runs and has driven in 54 while she’s hitting .395 with a 1.329 OPS after shifting primarily from catcher to first base to make room for Wells behind the plate. 

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Lowry is second on the team with a 2.70 ERA while leading OU’s staff with 114 innings pitched. 

She’s struck out 82 batters while allowing 22 walks, and opponents are hitting .236 off the sophomore left-hander. 

The Sooners now await their fate on Selection Sunday after surrendering 10 unanswered runs to Georgia in the SEC Tournament on Thursday night. 

Oklahoma is in a fantastic position to host an NCAA Regional and potentially a Super Regional as a top 8 national seed, but the full path back to Oklahoma City will be set on Sunday night. 


This article first appeared on Oklahoma Sooners on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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