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Four Oklahoma Players Earn NFCA All-America Honors

Kendall Wells also picked up another national honor, a day after being named NFCA Freshman of the Year.
Ryan Aber|
Oklahoma outfielder Ella Parker encourages Kendall Wells after she flew out against Mississippi State in the Norman Super Regional.
Oklahoma outfielder Ella Parker encourages Kendall Wells after she flew out against Mississippi State in the Norman Super Regional. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

OKLAHOMA CITY — Four Oklahoma players were named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's All-American teams on Wednesday.

Outfielder Ella Parker and catcher Kendall Wells were each named to the first team while outfielder Kai Minor and shortstop Gabbie Garcia each earned third-team honors.

Wells, like Minor a freshman, also was named the NFCA/Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year award, becoming the second Sooners player to earn the honor.

The award comes a day after Wells was named the NFCA Freshman of the Year.

Wells hit .358 with 39 home runs and 88 RBIs with 70 runs scored. Her home run total set a program record for a single season, beating the record of 34 held by Jocelyn Alo. It also set an NCAA record for home runs by a freshman.

Jessica Shults was Oklahoma's other winner of the Catcher of the Year Award, bringing home those honors in 2012.

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Parker hit .405 with 22 home runs and 15 doubles as a junior this season. driving in 63 runs. She also become a top defender in right field after being relegated to serving primarily as a designated player in 2025 due to shin splints. She didn't commit an error this season and had three assists.

For Parker, it's her third consecutive season earning All-American honors and her second consecutive season as a first-teamer. She earned third-team honors as a freshman in 2024.

Parker is the first three-time honoree since Kinzie Hansen, Jayda Coleman and Tiare Jennings in 2024. Coleman and Jennings were each four-time All-Americans.

Over the last decade, Alo was also a four-time honoree, as was Paige Parker (2015-18). Shelby Pendley (2013-15) was a three-time honoree.

Minor was another of the three finalists for that NFCA Freshman of the Year honor, hitting .444 with 11 home runs, 18 doubles, seven triples, 45 RBIs and 70 runs scored. She finished the season on an 11-game hitting streak.

Garcia hit .395 with 22 home run s and 74 RBIs as a junior this season. She also scored 61 runs.

Garcia was a third-team honoree last season.

The Sooners' four All-Americans are tied for the most in the country with Texas Tech and Florida State also having four each.

Oklahoma's season finished 52-10 with a Super Reginal loss to Mississippi State on Sunday. The Sooners missed the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2015.

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Ryan Aber
RYAN ABER

Ryan Aber has been covering Oklahoma football for more than a decade continuously and since 1999 overall. Ryan was the OU beat writer for The Oklahoman from 2013-2025, covering the transition from Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley to Brent Venables. He covered OU men's basketball's run to the Final Four in 2016 and numerous national championships for the Sooners' women's gymnastics and softball programs. Prior to taking on the Sooners beat, Ryan covered high schools, the Oklahoma City RedHawks and Oklahoma City Barons for the newspaper from 2006-13. He spent two seasons covering Arkansas football for the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas before returning to his hometown of Oklahoma City. Ryan also worked at the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Muskogee Phoenix. At the Phoenix, he covered OU's national championship run in 2000. Ryan is a graduate of Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City and Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

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