After the dust had settled from last weekend's SEC matchups, Oklahoma stood atop the SEC standings, and the Sooners' conference opponent this weekend, Kentucky, was at the bottom of the league.
Those two teams will meet in a three-game series at Love's Field this weekend with games on Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoon. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network+
No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 1 Texas, the two relative newcomers to the SEC, share first place in the standings with identical 8-1 records. Both teams lost for the first time in SEC play this season this past weekend -- OU to LSU and Texas to longtime rival Texas A&M -- and will meet in what will be a huge three-game rivalry showdown in Austin in a couple of weeks.
Read more: SEC Softball Power Rankings: Sooners rising to rightful spot on top as others slip
While the Sooners (35-3, 8-1) have won all three of their SEC series so far -- albeit all against teams (Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU) with current sub-.500 conference records -- Kentucky's trend line has been the polar opposite. The Wildcats (22-16 overall) are just 1-11 against conference opponents and are winless (0-9) in their last three conference series.
Oklahoma and Kentucky have met 11 times previously, with the Sooners prevailing in 10 of the 11 contests. The most recent meeting between the two teams was in 2023, when OU was still a member of the Big 12. Kentucky was a participant in an OU nonconference tournament that season. Oklahoma posted wins of 18-0 and 7-1 on back-to-back days. This will be the first meeting between the Sooners and the Wildcats as joint members of the SEC.
After Kentucky, though, the Sooners' schedule heats up with four straight series against top-15 teams with No. 1 Texas, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 11 Georgia and No. 15 Texas A&M.
What to know about Kentucky
Rachel Lawson is in her 19th year as Kentucky head coach, and her teams have won at least 30 games in all but one of those seasons (excluding the 2020 pandemic year). The Wildcats have made 16 consecutive NCAA postseason appearances under Lawson.
Kentucky ranks 13th in the SEC, hitting .290 as a team. Junior catcher Carly Sleeman, a transfer from Central Michigan, is the Wildcats' leading hitter with a .389 batting average. Senior catcher Karissa Hamilton and junior outfielder Peyton Plotts each have nine home runs and have combined for 62 runs batted in. Kentucky has hit 46 home runs as a team and has scored 192 total runs in 37 games. By comparison, Oklahoma has a nation-best 133 home runs and 442 runs in the same number of games.
Kentucky is the only SEC team that does not face an unranked conference opponent in its league schedule this season, based on the current ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 rankings.
Seven members of the Kentucky starting lineup are either new to the team this season (two freshman and one transfer) or playing a different position than a year ago.
What to know about Oklahoma
Oklahoma went 17-1 in the month of March, including an 8-1 record in conference play. Sophomore Gabbie Garcia and true freshman Kai Minor led the way at the plate, hitting .480 and .479, respectively, and another freshman, Kendall Wells, logged a team-best 11 home runs during the month, along with 25 RBI. Minor leads all freshmen with a batting average of .505 for the season.
The Sooners continue to lead the nation with a .426 team batting average, along with an unworldly 133 home runs. Oklahoma also leads all of college softball in runs (442, 11.9 per game), on-base percentage (.517) and slugging percentage (.883).
Oklahoma's 133 home runs this season are more than 88 Division-I teams have in total runs scored.
The Sooners have not played a game at home at Love's Field since March 15. They are back home after a seven-game road trip in which they went 6-1.
Key Players to watch
Oklahoma
OF Kai Minor: .505 batting average, 6 HR, 27 RBI, 12 stolen bases
C Kendall Wells: .384 batting average, 26 HR, 57 RBI
SS Gabbie Garcia: .438 batting average, 16 HR, 49 RBI
OF Ella Parker: .443 batting average, 16 HR, 46 RBI
P Audrey Lowry: 15-1, 2.09 ERA, 56Ks in 73.2 innings
P Miali Guachino: 10-0, 1.01 ERA, 68Ks in 50.2 innings
Kentucky
C Carly Sleeman: .389 batting average, 8 HR, 29 RBI
C Karissa Hamilton: .364 batting average, 9 HR, 38 RBI
OF Peyton Plotts: .288 batting average, 9 HR, 24 RBI
P Hailey Nutter: 7-4, 3.40 ERA, 63 Ks in 55.2 innings (2 no-hitters this season)
P Sarah Haendiges: 8-5, 3.76 ERA, 74 Ks in 80.0 innings