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Oklahoma duo on Freshman of the Year Top 25

Kendall Wells and Kai Minor made the list, as Wells closes in record
Ryan Aber|
Oklahoma outfielder Kai Minor looks on from third base.
Oklahoma outfielder Kai Minor looks on from third base. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

NORMAN — Two Oklahoma players made the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's Freshman of the Year Top 25 list, it was announced Thursday.

Catcher Kendall Wells and outfielder Kai Minor are on the list, giving the program 14 players all-time on the list — the most in college softball.

The Sooners are one of three programs with two players on the list. Alabama and UCLA are the other two schools with multiple honorees

The list will be narrowed to ten May 7 and three finalists will be released May 20. The NFCA National Freshman of the Year winner will be announced May 26 ahead of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Wells leads the nation with 34 home runs, tying Jocelyn Alo's program record and moving within three of tying the NCAA record set by Arizona's Laura Espinoza in 1995.

The Bogart, Ga., product has 76 RBIs and 61 runs scored and has earned the D1Softball National Player of the Week and SEC Player of the Week twice each.


Minor, an Irvine, Calif., product, leads all freshmen with a .451 batting average, sitting atop the Sooners' lineup for much of the season. She has 11 doubles and five triples and a team-high 17 stolen bases.

She's also anchored the outfield at centerfield for Patty Gasso's team.

The NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year award was created in 2014.

Pitcher Jordy Bahl was the last Sooners player to win the award, taking the honors in 2022. Tiare Jennings won the award in 2021, Jocelyn Alo in 2018 and Paige Parker in 2015.

The top-ranked Sooners continue their season with the opening of a three-game series against No. 15 Georgia at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Love's Field.

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2026 NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Top 25

Bri Alejandre, University of California, Los Angeles
Brinli Bain, University of Arkansas
Ella Boyer, University of Kansas
Abby Carr, University of Missouri
Bree Carrico, Virginia Tech
Bronwyn Conroy, College of Charleston
Kenzie Farrier-Pilon, California Baptist University
Tarisa Frans, Cornell University
Aleena Garcia, University of California, Los Angeles
Madi George, University of Mississippi
Mia Gomez, University of Utah
Camille Hamilton, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Alexis Jensen, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Sophia Lundstrom, Sam Houston State University
Marina Mason, Northwestern University
Kai Minor, University of Oklahoma
Anna Moore, Purdue University
Makenna Moore, Jacksonville State University
Vic Moten, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Allison Oneacre, Pennsylvania State University
Kaitlyn Pallozzi, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Dani Rauscher, University of California, Santa Barbara
Kendall Wells, University of Oklahoma
Katelyn Wetteland, University of Nevada
Kinzey Woody, Wichita State University

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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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