No. 3 OU (51-9) fell to No. 20 Mississippi State (42-18) 11-9 in game one of the Norman Super Regional on Friday, as the Bulldogs handed the Sooners their first postseason loss at Love’s Field, snapping OU’s perfect 13-0 record at the venue.
The setback puts the Sooners in a must-win situation, as they now need back-to-back victories to secure a 10th consecutive trip to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Despite the loss, freshman catcher Kendall Wells delivered a historic performance. The freshman phenom blasted a two-run home run and a three-run shot, bringing her season total to 39.
Kendall Wells' 38th homer of the year is Super 💥#RoadToWCWS x 🎥 ESPN2 / @OU_Softball pic.twitter.com/C09YaPQASc
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 22, 2026
With the performance, Wells moved into sole possession of second place on the NCAA single-season home run list, passing Arizona’s Laura Espinoza, who she had been tied with at 37. Espinoza’s record had stood since 1995, and Wells is now one of two players this season to surpass it. She now trails only UCLA senior Megan Grant, who has 40 home runs and counting this season.
Wells has already rewritten multiple record books this year. Earlier in the season, she broke the SEC single-season home run record with 27 home runs in just her 37th collegiate game. In her 43rd game of the season, she hit her 31st home run, setting the NCAA freshman single-season record.
Wells later topped former OU standout Jocelyn Alo on OU’s single-season list in her 49th game by hitting her 35th home run this season. Notably, Alo ranks fifth and sixth on the national single-season list and remains the program’s all-time leader with 122 career home runs, the only Sooner to surpass triple digits.
But Wells’ dominant night at the plate was not enough to hold off a late Mississippi State surge.
The Bulldogs rallied for five unanswered runs in the seventh inning, by showing discipline at the plate, taking advantage of defensive errors and lights-out pitching to hold OU scoreless after Wells' three-run bomb to complete the comeback in front of a sea of Sooner fans at Love’s Field.
“It's a big atmosphere, you got a lot going on, a lot of noise, and it is a challenge,” Mississippi State junior Tatum Silva said. “It’s a challenge to stay calm in those moments, but the biggest thing is just trusting within yourself and the people behind you. … It's the girls around you that you work each and every day with … building that trust behind, and knowing that you know if you don't got it in that moment, that they're gonna be right behind you to pick you up.”
Mississippi State head coach and former Sooner Samantha Ricketts acknowledged the difficulty of containing a hitter like Wells but emphasized her team’s composure in key moments. The Bulldogs finally managed to break Wells’ perfect day at the plate with a pop fly in the seventh to nearly seal the game.
“(A) great hitter had a great game, you know, doing what Kendall does, but for us it was the situation we were in, and it put us ourselves in with those first two hitters,” Ricketts noted about Wells’ final at-bat. “We knew we didn't have a choice, so it was just trusting Delainey (Everett) to execute pitches.”
OU head coach Patty Gasso said the Sooners struggled to match Mississippi State’s consistency as the game wore on, but that the team is eager to fight to keep the season alive.
“Our defense would tell you that this wasn't their best day. I think our pitchers would tell you the same, and this is who we are,” Gasso said. “We're going to see who we are and we’re ready to show who we are. … We understand what's at stake, and … we're going to be ready to make this right tomorrow.”
With the stakes ramped up, the Sooners have another chance to keep national championship aspirations alive as they get set to take on the Bulldogs in game two of the Norman Super Regional at 12 p.m. Saturday at Love’s Field.
This story was edited by Audrey McClour.
