The RoundHouse | 4/6/2018 10:24:00 AM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
Sit in the bleachers at Wilkins Stadium and you will sit near the Buck family, most from Wellington and all there to cheer for Wichita State softball's sophomore first baseman.
 
Parents. Grandparents. Nieces. A brother and two sisters.
 
"They're awesome," Ryleigh Buck said. "I have a lot of family and friends that come up and they're really supportive."
 
Yelling for Ryleigh Buck is a growing trend this season as she benefits from a running start into the batting order. She is hitting .319 with six doubles and two home runs, up from a .175 batting average in 26 games last season. She started all 33 games, hitting throughout the lineup and moving to No. 5 over the previous six games. In last weekend's sweep at UConn, she went 3 for 10 with two walks, a double, triple and home run.
 
Wichita State (21-12) resumes American Athletic Conference play at 3 p.m. Saturday against Tulsa (23-14) at Wilkins Stadium. The teams play a doubleheader at noon Sunday.
 
There are plenty of good reasons for Buck's improvement, starting with continuity.
 
She transferred to Wichita State last spring from Central Florida, where she didn't play or practice in the fall of 2016 due to a medical condition. She worked out in a private facility all fall before deciding to attend Wichita State in November 2016. On Feb. 10, 2017, she played second base in Wichita State's opener.
 
"It was definitely stressful," she said. "I was down in Florida, away from my family, the whole time trying to figure out where I could go and where I could play."
 
The decision to transfer to Wichita State determined her next step.
 
 Coming in here – they made me feel at home," she said. "They made it feel like family."
 
While the off-the-field transition went smoothly, it took longer for Buck to find her swing again after the layoff from practice and live pitching. 
 
"She was never able to get the pace of the game," Wichita State coach Kristi Bredbenner said. "She was always coming in from behind. It ultimately led to a lot of frustration. Here's she's got all these people here supporting her, wanting her to do well, and she's struggling."
 
Time helped. Buck said she made minor changes to her swing in the fall.
 
 "We had the whole off-season to get it all figured out," she said. "Then I was ready to go. My swing felt good and I felt like I was ready this year, compared to last year."
 
Wichita State's fall practices and scrimmages put Buck back on schedule with everyone else in the softball world. Adjustments from high school to college that she didn't make as a freshman started to become clear as a sophomore.
 
"She worked on (her hitting) all summer and then she was able to play all fall and realize 'I'm still good, I just have to figure out how to be good at this level now,'" Bredbenner said.
 
Buck got hot early in the season with a 6-for-10 stretch in three games that raised her average to .400. Against Texas, she went 2 for 4 and drove in three runs with a double that sparked the Shockers to a 7-5 win. 
 
"She's got a lot more confidence this year," Shocker third baseman Mackenzie Wright said. "She just got thrown into the fire. Now, she's really comfortable and we all feel like she's been here way longer than she has."
 
Buck credits Wright's words and enthusiasm with helping through the ups and downs of 2017. Wright said Buck's willingness to put in extra time carried her into a stronger sophomore season. Teammates voted her the team award for work ethic.
 
"She's one of the hardest workers in the weight room and the batting cage and we all recognize that," Wright said. 
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.