Remember just a few short weeks ago when Oklahoma was amazing the college softball world with its record-breaking assault on the NCAA single season home run record?
The Sooners topped their own five-year-old home run record when freshman sensation Kendall Wells blasted the first pitch she saw in the second inning of the series-opening game with Georgia 230 feet and over the center-field wall for the team's record-setting 162nd home run of the season. That occurred on April 24, eclipsing the previous mark of 161 that was set by the 2021 Oklahoma team that featured two-time National Player of the Year Jocelyn Alo.
UCLA running away with record that was once Sooners'
What hasn't been as widely covered up until the last month or so is how the season-long chase not only to break the single-season team record, but also the the individual high-water mark for home runs in a season, has been a runaway two-team competition with the Bruins of UCLA also in hot pursuit of making history.
The same day Wells delivered the Sooners' record-breaking 162nd home run, UCLA was sitting at 158, just four back. A four-home run day against Oregon in the final game of the regular season last weekend brought UCLA even with Oklahoma, both with a record-shattering 173 home runs on the season. The Bruins then crushed four more bombs against Penn State in their opening game in the Big Ten Softball Tournament to bypass the Sooners 177-174 and push the record number even higher.
Last week alone, in conference tournament action for both teams, UCLA out-homered Oklahoma 9-1 to increase its overall advantage to 182-174 thanks to OU's early exit. The Bruins' 182nd home run was off the bat of senior Megan Grant in the Big Ten championship game against Nebraska on Saturday. Grant's home run, her 38th in 2026, set a new NCAA record for home runs in a season by a player, breaking a 31-year-old mark held by Lauren Espinoza of Arizona since 1995.
Wells sits just two back with 36 home runs this season, having already broken the SEC, NCAA and OU program record for home runs by a freshman. Wells' last home run, however, came on April 25 against Georgia. It was her second dinger in as many games and her fifth in the last seven games.
Wells is homerless in her last five games. Over than span, the young Sooner starting catcher has gone 2-for-14 at the plate with eight bases on balls as opposing pitchers have started to pitch around Wells and not allow her to beat them.
Every player in Oklahoma's starting lineup has at least five home runs and seven Sooners have double-digit home runs this season. Four OU freshmen (Wells, Lexi McDaniel, Kai Minor and Allyssa Parker) have combined for 66 home runs, which would rank 46th in the country.
UCLA has eight players with 10 or more home runs, including two, Grant (38) and Jordan Woolery (33), with 71 between them. Over the last four weeks, UCLA has out-homered Oklahoma 37-20.
Read more: Oklahoma’s NCAA Softball Championship seeding defies common sense
The coaches of both teams -- Patty Gasso of Oklahoma and UCLA's Kelly Inouye-Perez -- will adamantly tell you that setting records is a nice-to-do, but it doesn't hold a candle to the ultimate season goal of winning games and championships. And these two iconic softball programs have done just that with a combined 12 national championships between them since 2000.
UCLA leads all NCAA Division I teams with 12 national titles in softball. Oklahoma is next, tied with Arizona at eight. There is a better-than-good chance that the Sooners and Bruins will be among the eight teams that make it to Oklahoma City and the Women's College World Series next month.
Wouldn't a matchup of these two power brokers be something to behold?
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