Thirty-one years ago, Lauren Espinoza stepped into the batter’s box for the University of Arizona and hit home run No. 37. The record she set that season has outlasted every challenge, every extraordinary freshman, every power surge in the evolution of college softball. It has stood since 1995.
Today, Kendall Wells sits at 36.
Oklahoma earned the No. 1 seed at the SEC Tournament and the double bye that comes with it. The Sooners won’t play until Thursday at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. That means Wells — one of the most electric individual stories in the history of college softball — will spend Wednesday doing what she’s done since May 2: waiting.
The Record That Has Waited Three Decades
Espinoza’s 37 home runs in 1995 at Arizona is not just a number on a page. It’s the ceiling — the mark that every great slugger who came after her approached and ultimately fell short of. Players like Jocelyn Alo, who set the Oklahoma program record. Players like Lauren Chamberlain, who held the NCAA freshman record before Wells shattered it this spring. All of them pushed toward 37 and stopped short.
Wells has spent 2026 dismantling every record in her path. The freshman record fell first, in April. The SEC single-season record fell next. Then the Oklahoma program record. Each one went the same way — she simply kept hitting home runs until the records couldn’t hold.
Now only one remains. And it’s the hardest one of all: 37. The all-time, all-division, single-season mark for home runs in NCAA softball history.
The Double Bye Changes the Dynamic
In the A&M series on May 2 — Oklahoma’s final regular-season games — opposing pitchers walked Wells six times in three games. It was a rational, if frustrating, strategy. The Aggies didn’t want to be the ones who surrendered No. 37. With the SEC regular-season title already clinched and games that felt like exhibitions relative to what’s ahead, there was no compelling reason to give Wells a pitch to drive.
The SEC Tournament changes that calculus. In a single-elimination format, no team can afford to hand out free bases indefinitely. At some point — likely Thursday or beyond — a pitcher will have to challenge Wells with a runner on base and the game on the line. That’s when No. 37 becomes possible again.
Oklahoma is 48-7. They are the No. 1 NFCA poll team for the fourth straight week. They are the heavy favorite to win the SEC Tournament and secure one of the top national seeds for the May 15-18 Regionals. But none of that is what the college softball world is tracking this week. The tracking is simpler: one home run.
What’s Next
Oklahoma returns to action Thursday when the SEC Tournament quarterfinals begin in Lexington. The Sooners will face the winner of Wednesday’s second-round bracket — likely a team that has already won two consecutive elimination games. The opponent will be tested, determined, and fully aware of what Wells represents.
The record is still out there. Espinoza’s 37 has waited since 1995. Wells is one swing away from tying it and two from owning it outright. The SEC Tournament, Selection Show on May 10, Regionals starting May 15, and potentially the WCWS at Devon Park beginning May 28 all lie ahead.
Every at-bat matters now. Every pitch is a moment. The record may not survive this month.
