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Kai Minor not flinching in the moment for OU softball

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo04/28/26BPrzybylo

You might see OU softball head coach Patty Gasso tinker with the batting lineup from time to time. She certainly did this last weekend.

One spot that is not being touched, though, is leadoff. Despite just being a freshman, Kai Minor has that locked down.

There has been no freshman wall. Instead, you can almost see her getting stronger as the season starts heading toward the championship run

“She can hit a ball through a gap, turn it into an easy double,” Gasso said. “She can lay down a bunt, beat it out, steal first pitch, and she’s on second. And getting anybody, but especially her in scoring position, is pretty much any kind of ball that you can hit through the infield we’ll score on.”

Minor has a .440 average with seven home runs, 35 RBIs and has scored 56 times with 17 stolen bases.

You can look at her hitting, but the first thing that stood out about Minor throughout this season has been her defense.

Minor has one outfield assist and has not committed an error

“It is just very athletic,” Gasso said. “I see her athleticism. In the outfield, she can pretty much chase anything down. Her arm has gotten stronger. She is very dynamic at the plate. I think she had to learn about elite pitching. We faced some, had to learn some things. She swings hard, all the time.

“She might mis-hit some, but it is going through because she is swinging hard. Very short, very short swings. It is not the big, all the way around Kendall Wells kind of swing. It is like to-contact, and it is fast, strong. I would expect that she would say that she expected to be this good because she has that type of confidence and that athleticism and was trained well coming in here.”

It was Minor who gave the initial spark for the OU victory against visiting Georgia on Sunday. It had been a while since she had hit a home run, but that seventh one was right on time.

Does not matter where the pitch is located, Minor can go get it.

OU is going to need that type of confidence going forward. Including the series coming up at Texas A&M.

If the Sooners can grab one of the three games, they will clinch the SEC regular season championship.

Would not be surprising if Minor is a big reason as to why that can happen.

“The biggest thing I’m learning about myself is just trusting in my training,” Minor told SoonerScoop. “Just because it’s really hard to, you know, when you come from travel ball, like you don’t know what you’re going to get when you’re going into each game. And then the preparation that it takes going into these games, it’s like, you know exactly what is going to happen.

“And just seeing how people pitch to me and change their plan. It’s just, I really like how it’s tailored to each person, and how you just get a different thing. And so, yeah, just trusting in myself, and just you know that I’m a better hitter than most of these pitchers.”

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