Four Oklahoma Players Make Top 25 List for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year

Oklahoma led the way in players named to the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 25 list that was announced on Wednesday.

Four Sooners — Gabbie Garcia, Kai Minor, Ella Parker and Kendall Wells — were named to the list.

No other program matched Oklahoma's four honorees, and only six programs saw multiple players get named to the list.

The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award is voted on by previous award winners, coaching representatives from 9 Division I Conferences in the 10 USA Softball Regions as well as members of the media who consistently cover the sport across the country.

The top 10 finalists for the award will be announced on May 13, and that group will be reduced down to three players on May 18.

The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be announced prior to the 2026 Women's College World Series.

Minor and Wells were the only two freshman named to the list, and 21 of the 25 players in the top 25 are upperclassmen.

Wells leads the country in home runs, and she is one long ball away from tying Laura Espinoza's NCAA single-season record that was set in 1995. She already holds OU's program record for home runs in a single season, the NCAA freshman record for home runs and the SEC record for home runs in a single season. She's hitting .377 with a 1.599 OPS and a 1.113 slugging percentage.

Minor is third among all freshmen in the nation in batting average at .440, pacing all SEC freshmen as well. She leads OU with 66 hits and has registered 56 runs, 11 doubles, five triples and seven home runs, and she has also swiped 17 bags.

Parker, a junior, is on pace for a career season. The right fielder is hitting .430 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs while posting a perfect fielding percentage in the outfield to go along with three assists in her first season as the Sooners' everyday right fielder.

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An Oklahoma star has won the award four times.

Keilani Ricketts became the first Sooner to capture the honor in 2012, and she won the award again in 2013.

Jocelyn Alo then won the award in both 2021 and 2022, though the Sooners have been shut out of the award over the past three seasons.

Clemson's Valerie Cagle won the award in 2023, then-Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady won the award in 2024, and Arkansas slugger Bri Ellis took home the honor in 2025.

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