Opening April With Kentucky

Thursday, April 2

6:30 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Kentucky

Buy Tickets

Isabela Emerling rounding third base after a home run against Wichita State

Emerling has driven in 10 and homered three times in the last four games.

April 01, 2026 | Softball

Live Stats (Thursday)Live Stats (Friday)Live Stats (Saturday)Tickets Sooner SeatShare GameDay Program SECN+ (Thursday)SECN+ (Friday)SECN+ (Saturday)

No. 3 Softball Hosts Wildcats Thursday through Saturday

NORMAN — After going 17-1 in March, No. 3 Oklahoma Softball opens the month of April with a three-game series against Kentucky Thursday, April 2 through Saturday, April 4 at Love's Field.

All three games will be streamed on SEC Network+ with DJ Sanchez (play-by-play) and Destinee McElroy (color commentary) on the call. The radio broadcast of games one and three of the series will be available on The Franchise 2, KEBC 1560 AM and 104.5 KRXO. Saturday's game will be available solely on The Franchise 2.

Promotions and Ticket Info:
With the game time change for Friday's contest, the first 100 fans through the gates will receive a free hot dog ahead of the 1 p.m. first pitch.

A limited number of reserved seats along with standing room only tickets are available for sale. Continue to support the Sooners and ensure your seats are always filled through our SeatShare program. To participate, you can share your tickets with a family member or friend by transferring your tickets, sell your tickets on SeatGeek (Football, Men's and Women's Basketball, Women's Gymnastics, Baseball, and Softball) or donate your tickets back to us for a service member to use. To learn more about earning bonus points or sharing, selling or donating your tickets, click here.

Weekend Schedule
Thursday, April 2 at 6:30 p.m.
Friday, April 3 at 1 p.m.
Saturday, April 4 at 11 a.m.

FIRST PITCH

• The series marks the first games OU and Kentucky will play against each other as SEC foes.

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

• The Sooners have not lost a home game in 367 days dating back to a series finale loss against No. 10/9 Tennessee March 30 of last season. OU is 15-0 at home this season and has gone 3-0 in league play at home (swept Auburn).

• OU has won 26 games by run-rule, including four in SEC play. OU has posted a double-digit scoring effort 23 times. The Sooners are 35-3 and 8-1 in SEC play and ranked third in the most recent ESPN.com/USA Poll.

• Oklahoma's pitching staff held it down in March. The Sooners' six-pitcher rotation spun a combined 2.18 ERA and fanned 98 in exactly 106 innings. Audrey Lowry went 7-0 with a save, while Kierston Deal and Berkley Zache combined for a 0.00 ERA in five appearances. Miali Guachino tallied a 5-0 mark with 32 punchouts and Allyssa Parker turned in a 1.53 ERA and three wins.

• The Sooners have an identical overall and conference record through 38 games as they did a year ago. The Sooners would go on to finish 52-9 with a 17-7 SEC record last season.

• The Sooners have hit at least one homer in 35 of 38 games and had done so in 20 consecutive games prior to Friday's game at LSU. OU's 137 home runs on the season is already good for third all-time in OU single season history and sixth in NCAA history.

• OU homered four times against Wichita State, the 18th instance in which OU has hit four or more home runs in a game this season. OU has homered four times in consecutive games.

• 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.

• OU reached 454 runs scored for the season on Wednesday against Wichita State, tying OU's total run record from all of the 2025 season.

• The Sooners upped their season-long winning streak to 22 games before having it snapped Saturday at #20 LSU. That streak marked the 10th time under head coach Patty Gasso that OU has tallied a winning streak of 20 or more games.

FLEXIN' FRESHMEN

• The Sooner freshmen Lexi McDaniel, Kai Minor, Allyssa Parker and Kendall Wells have combined for 51 home runs, 135 RBIs, 137 runs and a .422 batting average.

• Kai Minor is hitting .490, leading all D1 freshmen in batting average. She is also second among all freshmen in hits (47) and is third in runs (42). She has earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors this season and paces the OU lineup with 18 multi-hit games. She added to that multi-hit total with a pair this past weekend at LSU.

• Kendall Wells is not only leading the country in home runs (27), but is on pace to hit 40.1 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 53 at-bats. Her .981 slugging percentage is second in the nation among all freshmen, behind only Wells (1.113). 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. She also has three pinch-hit homers. McDaniel and Wells both earned national freshman and or player of the week honors this season. McDaniel was also named SEC Freshman of the Week and D1Softball Freshman of the Week.

SCENE SETTERS

• OU is on a historic pace in a number of offensive categories. The Sooners are hitting .427 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 .894 slugging percentage and tout a .517 on-base percentage.

• The Sooners and Wildcats are meeting for the first time since March 3-4, 2023 when the Sooners won a pair of games against the Wildcats. OU is 10-1 all-time against Kentucky and 2-0 in Norman. The Sooners have played Kentucky in national championship seasons six times. OU and Kentucky first met in 2000, with OU winning games in Grand Prairie Texas and Tucson against Kentucky.

• The Sooners have hit more home runs than 96 teams in Division I have for total runs scored. OU's 454 ties its marks from all of last season. The Sooners 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 11.9 runs per game through 38 contests this season, on pace for 654.5 runs in the regular season alone in 2026.

• Seniors Abby Dayton and Ailana Agbayani both reached the same milestones within the last month. Agbayani reached 200 career hits March 7, while Dayton joined her with her 200th career hit Friday against LSU. They both reached 200 games played on March 27.

• With OU's comeback extra-inning win last Friday the Sooners have earned 11 comeback wins this season. OU has four comeback wins in SEC play.

• OU's offense features 14 players with at least three home runs. Six players have at least 10 home runs and four have 12 or more. In all of 2025 seven players had eight home runs or more. OU's batting averages range from .305 to .490, with 10 of 14 players with an at-bat batting above .400. Ella Parker hit .423 last year, the lone Sooner to hit above .400 in 2025.

CIAO BELA

• Redshirt-senior Isabela Emerling has 13 home runs through 32 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. She added to that tally Wednesday with a three-run home run.

• She 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. On 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.

GIFT OF GAB

• Sophomore shortstop Gabbie Garcia is tied for the national lead for homers among all shortstops (16 homers). Garcia ranks tied for eighth in the nation in home runs and tied for 12th in RBIs (50). 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 98 career games she is hitting .381 with 110 hits, 91 runs, 108 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 258 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 1 this season.

SOPHOMORE ARMS

• The Sooner sophomore pitching duo of Audrey Lowry and Miali Guachino both have double-digit wins, combining for a 26-1 record in the circle. Lowry leads the team in innings pitched (76.2) and ERA (2.01), while Guachino leads OU with a .183 opponents' batting average and 68 strikeouts.

KAI BOOM

• Freshman centerfielder Kai Minor is not only leading OU with a .490 batting average, but she is leading all Division I freshman in that category - as well as the entire Southeastern Conference. She ranks third in the league in hits (51) and fourth in stolen bases (13).

• Minor leads the team in multi-hit contests with 18 and is the only Sooner with a pair of four-hit games. She also possesses the longest hitting streak of the season (17).

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.