Live Stats

WICHITA, Kan. – On Feb. 12, the Wichita State softball team will begin its 2016 season as the team heads to College Station, Texas to play in the Aggie Classic, hosted by Texas A&M.
 
The Shockers will play five games in three days, playing Colorado State twice, #24 Texas A&M twice and #7 UCLA once.
  
Tournament Site: Aggie Classic (College Station, Texas)
 
Stadium: Aggie Softball Complex
 
Dates: Feb. 12-14, 2016
 
Live Stream: All Games vs. Texas A&M (SEC Network+/WatchESPN)
 
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/tamu/softball/
 
Live Audio: All Games vs. Texas A&M: http://www.12thman.com/watch/?Live=325
  
Game 1: WSU vs. Colorado State (Feb. 12, 10 A.M.)
 
Game 2: WSU vs. 24 Texas A&M (Feb. 12, 5:15 P.M., SECNetwork+/WatchESPN)
 
Game 3: WSU vs. Colorado State (Feb. 13, 10 A.M.)
 
Game 4: WSU vs. 7 UCLA (Feb. 13, 12:15 P.M.)
 
Game 5: WSU vs. 24 Texas A&M (Feb. 14, 12:15 P.M., SECNetwork+/WatchESPN)
  
WSU vs. Colorado State
 
Record: 3-6              Last Meeting: 2015             Under Bredbenner: 1-1
 
WSU vs. Texas A&M
 
Record: 0-7              Last Meeting: 2011              Under Bredbenner: 0-0
 
WSU vs. UCLA
 
Record: 0-2              Last Meeting: 2015             Under Bredbenner: 0-1 
Scouting Texas A&M: The Aggies are returning 14 letterwinners from the 2015 team that reached the NCAA Regional final after posting a record of 40-20. Among those returners are senior pitcher Katie Marks, sophomore Tori Vidales and senior outfielder Cali Lanphear.
 
Series History vs. Texas A&M: Wichita State has faced the Aggies seven times with the last meeting coming in 2011, but the Shockers have never faced Texas A&M during the Bredbenner era.
 
Aggie Standouts: Senior pitcher Katie Marks had a fantastic 2015 season, posting a record of 14-3 with an ERA of 3.06. Tori Vidales is coming off of a great freshman season as well, hitting .368 with 20 homeruns and 56 RBIs. Cali Lanphear was also a big a contributor, batting average of .297 while hitting nine homeruns and collecting 41 RBIs.
 
Scouting Colorado State: The Rams were 27-29 overall in 2015 and had a record of 8-16 in conference play. Colorado State also has 12 letterwinners returning from a team that finished seventh in the Mountain West last season.
 
Series History vs. Colorado State: Against Colorado State, the Shockers are 3-6 with the last meeting coming last season in 2015. The Shockers are just 1-1 against Colorado State during the Bredbenner era.
 
Ram Standouts: Haley Hutton who started all 56 games and had a team-high batting average of .363 led the 2015 Rams. Hutton also led the team in runs (44), hits (65), triples (4), and walks (34). Hutton is returning for the 2016 season along with other key contributors, Savannah Clark and Madison Kilcrease. Clark started 55 of the 56 games and was third on the team in batting average (.318) and hits (54), while tied for first with 36 RBIs. Kilcrease started just 43 games but appeared in 53, hitting .283.
 
Scouting UCLA: The Bruins return 14 letterwinners, six starters and three pitchers from last year's team which went 51-12, placed second in the Pac-12 and advanced to the Women's College World Series. UCLA was recently picked to finish in second place in the Pac-12 behind Oregon. Along with their second place prediction, the Bruins have been ranked seventh in both the USA Today Preseason Poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings.
 
Series History vs. UCLA: Wichita State is 0-2 all-time against the Bruins with the last meeting coming last season, making the Shockers 0-1 versus the Bruins during the Bredbenner era.
 
Bruin Standouts: The Bruins are returning two key contributors for the 2016 season in senior Allexis Bennett and junior Delaney Spaulding. Bennett finished the 2015 season as a top 10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, and was a First Team All-American. Bennett was also ranked fourth in the nation with a batting average of .492 and led the team with 27 multiple hit games, 21 stolen bases and a .529 on base percentage. Spaulding was a Second Team All-American after leading UCLA in RBIs (72), runs scored (69), doubles (20), and was tied for the team lead in homeruns (20).
  
Eight of Nine Starters Returning: Wichita State is returning every starter from the 2015 team except catcher Melanie Jaegers, who was a big contributor for the Shockers, hitting .282 and starting all 57 games. Among the position starters returning for Wichita State is Cacy Williams (first base/right field), Liz Broyles (second base), Kelli Spring (shortstop), Mackenzie Wright (third base), Brittany Fortner (left field), Ashley Johnson (center field) and Macklin Hitz (first base). Overall, these returners combined for a batting average of .328 while collecting 202 of the team's 272 RBIs and also hitting 35 of the team's 44 homeruns.
 
2015 All-MVC: The trio of returners, Fortner, Wright and Williams, along with Jaegers who graduated were all named 2015 First Team All-MVC, while Malone, Broyles and Spring were named Second Team All-MVC.
 
Fortner's Historic Season: Fortner finished her junior season with a .416 batting average (second in team history for a single season, tied for the Valley lead), 74 hits (tied the all-time hits record in a season in team history, led the Valley), 47 runs scored (led the Valley, third in team history for a single season), 45 RBIs (third in the Valley, third all-time in a single season in team history), 18 doubles (tied for second in the Valley, set the all-time team mark for doubles in a single season this season), 121 total bases (second in the Valley, second all-time in a single season in WSU SB history), a .502 OB% (second in the Valley) and 0.82 runs scored per game (led the Valley)
 
Climbing the ranks: Fortner is currently tied for third all-time in the Shocker record book with 41 doubles, needing five more to take over second place. Williams is also in the top 15 in doubles and needs just 3 more to jump into the top 10.
 
Williams is in ninth place with 100 runs scored needing just seven more to jump into the top five.
 
Fortner is also 14th in hits (168), ninth in homeruns (17), eight in RBIs (92), ninth in total bases (264) and 14th in walks (60).
 
Williams is also tied for third in homeruns (25) and tied for 14th in RBIs (85).
 
Missouri Valley favorites: Wichita State was picked as the 2016 MVC preseason favorite, as voted on by the Valley coaches. The Shockers collected 84 points and three first-place votes to make this the second year in a row that the Shockers have been the Missouri Valley favorites.
 
2016 Preseason All-MVC: After being named to the All-MVC First Team a season ago, Fortner, Wright and Williams have all been selected for the preseason All-MVC First Team.