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Kendall Wells Makes History, Ties Jocelyn Alo as Oklahoma Rolls vs. Arkansas

Wells is now just three home runs from tying the NCAA record as Sooners win series.
Ryan Aber|
Oklahoma catcher Kendall Wells awaits a pitch in a contest against Kentucky earlier this season. Sunday, Wells tied the program record for home runs in a season with her 34th home run.
Oklahoma catcher Kendall Wells awaits a pitch in a contest against Kentucky earlier this season. Sunday, Wells tied the program record for home runs in a season with her 34th home run. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

NORMAN — The inevitable became the record Sunday.

Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells blasted her 34th home run of the season, a three-run shot in the second inning, to tie Jocelyn Alo's program record for home runs in a season in the Sooners' 11-1 win over Arkansas in front of 4,523 at Love's Field.

After Saturday's loss to the Razorbacks, Oklahoma's third loss in four games, Sooners coach Patty Gasso and pitcher Sydney Berzon said they expected a heightened level of intensity in the rubber game of the series.

That was evident from the first, when Ella Parker worked a one-out walk and two batters later, Isabela Emerling blasted a two-run home run to left center.

"Unbelievable," Gasso said of the response from her team from Saturday's loss. "As I walked in, as we got through the morning, we could feel everybody was excited to get back on the field. We know what's at stake, but I don't think that was our motivation. It was more knowing that we can play better than we did yesterday and that we have more energy to give, and that we're grittier than what we showed and all that. So to see them today, they were just really, really outstanding."

The Sooners drew three walks and on hit-by-pitch Sunday. Three of those four runners ultimately scored.

"If you see a walk, not saying you need to do an Alyssa Brito, but that’s an opportunity to score a run," Gasso said. "I felt like every time somebody hit a home run, I’m watching the first person to come around third and got there on a base on balls. I just thought it was a really clean, hardworking, blue-collar approach on the mound, on the field."

Emerling's home run was her third of the series and 17th of the season.

It was the first time the Sooners had scored first — and the first time they'd scored in the first inning — since the series opener at Texas on April 10.

The Sooners hit four home runs in the game, to move to 158 home runs on the season. That passed the 2022 team for second-most in program history and tied 2010 Hawaii for third-most in NCAA history.

Oklahoma is now three away from tying the 2021 Sooners for the NCAA record.

Abby Dayton delivered a two-run homer in the second, her seventh of the season, to put Oklahoma up 4-0 and drive Arkansas starter Robyn Herron from the game.

Freshman Kai Minor followed with a double to right center and Parker was hit by a pitch before Wells crushed her home run to the back of the lower set of bleachers in left center.

NCAA Single-Season Home Run Leaders

37: Laura Espinoza, Arizona, 1995
36: Karli Spaid, Miami (Ohio), 2024
34: Jocelyn Alo, Oklahoma, 2022
34: Jocelyn Alo, Oklahoma, 2021
34: Kendall Wells, Oklahoma, 2026
33: Addison Barnard, Wichita State, 2022

The run support was plenty forAllyssa Parker,

Parker (5-1) allowed six hits and walked three with seven strikeouts in five innings, not allowing a run until the fifth.

After a one-out single in the fourth, Parker struck out Atalyia Rijo and Cam Harrison to end the inning, getting Harrison on a nasty changeup to end the inning and get a fist pump from Wells behind the plate.

"Fantastic," Gasso said of Parker's outing. "She would get behind and she would fire herself up in her own way. She's such an athlete that can play the field, that has that toughness, that she can take to the mound and really battle through things."

The Sooners then added on in their half of the fourth with a two-out rally.

Ella Parker got it started with a two-out double before Wells delivered an infield single and Emerling blooped a hit to right to make it 8-0.

Emerling finished 3 for 3 and now has 51 RBIs on the season.

Gabbie Garcia then lined a 211-foot three-run home run to left to make it 11-0.

Arkansas scored one off Parker in the fifth but the Oklahoma freshman finished off the victory.

The Sooners (42-6, 15-3 SEC) take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Love's Field in the final midweek game of the season.

Oklahoma opens a three-game set with No. 15 Georgia on Friday at Love's Field.

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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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