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Lexi McDaniel's big Game Lifts Oklahoma to Another Run-Rule Victory

Freshman Kendall Wells moved a step closer to tying the national freshman home run mark.
Ryan Aber|
Oklahoma second baseman Ailana Agbayani celebrates after reaching on a single against Kentucky at Love's Field.
Oklahoma second baseman Ailana Agbayani celebrates after reaching on a single against Kentucky at Love's Field. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

NORMAN — Freshman Lexi McDaniel had her second career five-RBI day and Kendall Wells moved a step closer to (more) history to lift Oklahoma to a 9-1, five-inning win over Kentucky on Friday at Love's Field.

The No. 3 Sooners (37-3, 10-1 SEC) have won four consecutive games.

Wells blasted home run No. 29, moving her within one of tying the NCAA and OU marks for home runs by a freshman on increasing her national lead in the category. The home run also moved Wells into a tie for sixth on OU's single-season home run list, tying her with Tiare Jennings' 2022 totals.

Only Jocelyn Alo and Lauren Chamberlain have reached 30 in Sooners' history.

Wells is now six ahead of UCLA's Megan Grant for the national lead in home runs. Grant enters Friday night's matchup with Indiana with 23.

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After Kentucky's Carly Sleeman led off the game with a home run to right off Miali Guachino, the Sooners showed their patience offensively in the bottom of the inning.

Wells' one-out walk was one of four Oklahoma took in the bottom half, including two-out bases-loaded walks to push runs across from McDaniel and Ailana Agbayani.

The Sooners kept up the scoring with two outs in the second, after Abby Dayton reached second on an error and then the next two hitters were retired.

Kasidi Pickering drove in one with a single, Ella Parker followed with an RBI double and McDaniel looped a single over the shortstop's head to score two more.

Wells added a solo shot in the third, driving out a full-count offering 255 feet to right field.

After Parker led off the fourth with a single, McDaniel delivered a 236-foot homer, her ninth of the season, to right on the first pitch she saw.

McDaniel also drove in five runs Feb. 28 against Alabama State. She hadn't driven in a run since March 15 against Auburn.

The Sooners' two home runs gives them 141 on the season, moving them within 20 of tying the NCAA and school mark for homers in a season of 161. That record was set by the 2021 OU squad.

Guachino (11-0) settled in after allowing the leadoff homer, striking out three with no walks and just two more hits in four innings of work. Allyssa Parker came on to finish off the game in the fifth.

The teams will conclude their series with an 11 a.m. Saturday game at Love's Field. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

Oklahoma Sooners, Kendall Wells
Oklahoma's dugout celebrates Kendall Wells' home run against Kentucky at Love's Field. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

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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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