Two Sooners named finalists for National Freshman of the Year

Yahoo Sports16h ago10 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

Oklahoma Sooners' freshmen Kai Minor and Kendall Wells are finalists for the National Freshman of the Year award. Minor leads the nation with 71 hits and ranks third in stolen bases with 17.

Key points

Oklahoma Sooners' Kai Minor and Kendall Wells are finalists for an award
Minor has the most hits among freshmen with 71
Minor ranks third in stolen bases with 17
Sooners lost to Georgia after the finalists were announced
Oklahoma remains the top team in the country

Oklahoma SoonersKai MinorKendall WellsNational Freshman of the Year

Two Sooners named finalists for National Freshman of the Year

When you're the No. 1 team in the nation, very little comes as a surprise.

So when OU softball freshmen Kai Minor and Kendall Wells were named among the 10 finalists for the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Freshman of the Year award, it was just another feather in the Sooners' impressive cap. Although, hours later the team collapsed against Georgia. Still, on the whole, Oklahoma remains the best team in the country.

And Minor and Wells may be the two best freshmen. Minor, the outfielder from southern California, has more base hits (71) than any freshman in the country and ranks third among her classmates in stolen bases (17). Her 24 multi-hit games this year lead Oklahoma and her 17-game hitting streak from earlier in the season is the team's best, too.

Wells isn't just one of the best freshmen. She's one of the best players, period. Her 36 home runs this year are a school record and she's added a .367 batting average, 64 runs and 79 RBIs alongside her 1.070 slugging percentage. Wells has already been named National Player of the Week of the twice.

The two Sooners players are among four from the SEC who were named finalists for the award. Ole Miss' Madi George and Alabama's Vic Moten joined them. On May 20, the list is cut to three finalists and the winner will be announced May 26.

Oklahoma's loss Thursday in the SEC Tournament shouldn't damage the Sooners' NCAA Tournament hopes. OU will still be named a national seed and will host a Regional in Norman. The only real minus is a potential loss of the No. 1 seed overall, and even that may not come to fruition. The Sooners are that good.

Feb 22, 2026; Cathedral City, CA, USA; OU softball catcher Kendall Wells (1) hits the ball vs Washington during the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic at Wrigley Field Big League Dreams. Mandatory Credit: Karl Anderson-Imagn Images