Oklahoma launched four home runs, including a program single-season tying 34th home run by freshman Kendall Wells, and the Sooner rebounded from a tough 3-2 loss on Saturday night with an 11-1 run-rule victory and a series win over No. 6 Arkansas in the rubber game on Sunday.
The Sooners (42-6, 13-2) finished the week 2-2 and tied for the SEC lead with Alabama after starting out the week as the nation's No. 1 team. Despite the two losses, Oklahoma dropped just one spot in Softball America's Week 12 national rankings on Monday.
Head coach Patty Gasso issued a strong challenge to her team after losing a low-scoring, one-run game to Arkansas on Saturday. That was OU's third loss in four games, and all games in which the Sooner offense was lethargic for most of the game.
"One thing that was happening to us is our innings were very short," Gasso said after the loss. "We just weren't getting any rallies going on. It was a big home run or just not piecing things together.
"I know I keep saying lesson learned, but it's time for these women to learn these and not have to look back and learn the same things."
The message must have hit home, because Oklahoma came out on Sunday and struck twice in the first inning and five more times in the second to take a commanding 7-0 lead early.
Oklahoma's four home runs on Sunday accounted for 10 of the Sooners' 11 runs. Isabela Emerling's two-run blast in the first inning got the run parade started. A two-run bomb off the bat of Abby Dayton inside the right-field foul pole, followed several hitters later by a monster three-run shot over the fence in left center by Wells, plated five more Oklahoma runs in the second.
Read more: Patty Gasso fueled an Arkansas program that can now threaten the Sooners
The Sooners' final four runs on Sunday came in the fourth inning with three of those courtesy of the three-run homer by Gabbie Garcia, her 19th of the season. The run-rule victory was Oklahoma's 30th of the season.
Another of the Sooners' super freshmen from the 2025 recruiting class, two-way player Allyssa Parker, pitched a five-inning complete game in the circle for Oklahoman on Sunday, allowing just one run on six hits, striking out seven, walking three and throwing a career-high 107 pitches in earning her fifth win of the season to go with one loss.
Oklahoma came from behind -- after being down 4-0 in the early going -- for an 8-7 victory in the series opener on Friday. Emerling, the former North Carolina transfer, knocked one out of the park with bases loaded in the third inning to tie the score and get things started for the Sooners. OU scored a pair of runs in both the sixth and seventh, but the Sooners had to withstand an Arkansas rally in the bottom half of the seventh before closing things out.
Sooner fans may be a bit disappointed that Oklahoma didn't have a stronger outing in the middle game and sweep the series against Arkansas. Winning two out of three games, however, against an Arkansas team that ranked No. 6 in the nation, was in the top four in the SEC in both hitting and pitching, and has wins this season against both Alabama and Florida, two of the country's best teams, speaks to the quality and the importance of OU's series win over the weekend.
OU pitchers held down the potent Razorback lineup, allowing an average of just three hits and three runs per game in the series. The Sooners now have series wins in all six of their SEC series with two remaining in the regular season. Oklahoma hosts No. 13 Georgia this weekend and finishes the regular season with three games at Texas A&M next weekend.
In between time, the Sooners have a midweek nonconference contest with Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday evening at Love's Field. This will be the final nonconference game of the season.
3 observations from the Sooners' series win over a great Arkansas team
1. Allyssa Parker barely misses a 5-inning, complete-game shutout
Sunday's outing against Arkansas was freshman Allyssa Parker's strongest performance of the season. It was her second run-rule, complete-game of the season after she went 6.0 complete innings in a two-hit, 8-0 win over Abilene Christian in early March. The right-handed dual player stymied the potent Arkansas offense, holding the Razorbacks to just one run on six hits with a career-best seven strikeouts and three walks. Parker, who also plays the field, is 5-1 this season in the pitching circle.
2. Kendall Wells inches closer to NCAA single-season HR record
Freshman Kendall Wells continued her record-setting home-run pace, smacking her 34th fence-clearing blast of the season on Sunday. That home run tied the single-season OU individual record held by Jocelyn Alo in both 2021 and 2022.
Wells already holds the single-season SEC record and is just three away from tying the all-time NCAA record set by Arizona's Lauren Espinosa in 1995. Wells wasn't just clubbing home runs in the weekend series. She had four hits in seven plate appearances, an average of .571, and drove in five runs.
The Sooners hit a total of six home runs in the Arkansas series, bringing their season total to 158, four away from breaking their own NCAA record for home runs in a season. That record is 161 held by the 2021 Oklahoma team.
3. Isabela Emerling swats a home run in all 3 games
Isabela Emerling added to her impressive power numbers over the weekend, hitting a home run in each of the three games, including an opposite-field grand slam in Oklahoma's 8-7 win on Friday. It was the ninth grand slam of her career, tying her for the third most in NCAA history.
The Northern California native hit .625 over the weekend, going 5-for-8 at the plate with seven runs batted in. She now has 17 home runs for the season and is one of five Oklahoma players with 16 or more home runs.
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