Oklahoma Star Kendall Wells Earns Another SEC Accolade

Kendall Wells added a new honor to her historic freshman season on Tuesday. 

Following a three-homer week, which included one long ball against No. 18 Oklahoma State in Bedlam and homers on Saturday and Sunday in the Sooners’ series victory over No. 9 Arkansas, Wells was named SEC Freshman of the Week. 

She shared the honor with Florida’s Townsen Thomas. 

Already this season, Wells has been named SEC Player of the Week and she’s twice been named D1Softball National Player of the Week, but Tuesday marked her first Freshman of the Week accolade from the conference. 

Sunday’s homer brought her level with Jocelyn Alo’s single-season program home run record, which she set in both 2021 and 2022. 

Wells’ 34 home runs stand as the NCAA freshman record and the SEC single-season record. 

On top of leading the team in home runs, Wells is hitting .385 and paces the Sooners in RBIs (76), OPS (1.604) and slugging percentage (1.119), and she’s third on the team in walks (27) behind Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering’s 32 walks. 

OU coach Patty Gasso is not only proud of the eye-popping production, but how Wells has stayed humble and works every day to help the team reach its biggest goals. 

“She truly is trying to stay away from all of the ‘Wow’ and media and all of those things,” Gasso said. “She’s not walking around with a crown on or sitting on the throne somewhere around here.”

Wells is three home runs shy of the NCAA single-season record, and there are still seven games remaining in the regular season and an entire postseason run ahead of the Oklahoma catcher. 

The No. 1 Sooners return to action on Tuesday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6 p.m., SEC Network+).

This weekend, OU will host No. 15 Georgia in its penultimate SEC series of the regular season. 

There is no midweek next week, as the Sooners head south to take on No. 11 Texas A&M. 

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That series will start on Thursday, April 30, before the conference descends on Lexington, KY, for the SEC Tournament. 

Oklahoma is currently tied with No. 3 Alabama atop the SEC standings. 

Both teams are 15-3 in league action. The Crimson Tide will be in Knoxville this weekend to take on No. 8 Tennessee before returning home to host South Carolina in the final weekend of the regular season.