OSU Mizuno Classic
March 18-19 | Stillwater, Okla. | Cowgirl Stadium

Friday, March 18
Wichita State vs. Kansas City - 12 pm
Wichita State at #10 Oklahoma State - 2:30 pm

Saturday, March 19
Wichita State vs. Kansas City - 12 pm
Wichita State at #10 Oklahoma State - 5 pm

QUICK HITS
• Wichita State is set for its final regular season tournament of 2022 with a trip to Stillwater for the OSU Mizuno Classic.
• Wichita State is 7-3 in its last 10 games.
• Wichita State is coming off a 3-0 showing at the Jayhawk Invitational with wins over SEMO, Iowa and Kansas. The Shockers then won their midweek matchup at Omaha.
• Addison Barnard has 34 career home runs, placing her in 5th on the Wichita State home run list.
• Barnard is tied for 2nd in the nation with 12 home runs.
• Barnard is 5th in the country in stolen bases with 21. Her 21 steals already surpass her total from 2021.
• Barnard is the only player in the country with 10+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases.
• Sydney McKinney is riding a 17-game hitting streak. She ranks 1st nationally in hits and 4th in batting average.
• Neleigh Herring is 10th on the career home run list with 26.
• Wichita State claimed the first two American Player of the Week honors of 2022: Addison Barnard (Feb. 14) and Sydney McKinney (Feb. 21). Zoe Jones (Feb. 28), Lauren Lucas (Mar. 7) and Lauren Mills (Mar. 14) have been named to the weekly honor roll.
• Wichita State ranks in the Top 30 nationally in home runs per game (2nd), total home runs (3rd), scoring (5th), slugging percentage (6th), doubles per game (10th), on base percentage (14th), batting average (13th), doubles (14th) and walks (21st).
• Sydney McKinney cracked the top 10 hits list at Wichita State. With her 219 hits, she sits in 6th all time. McKinney set the single season record a season ago with 87.
• Sydney McKinney and sophomore Addison Barnard were named preseason All-Americans by Softball America, becoming the first Shocker duo to earn preseason All-American honors in school history.
• Wichita State was ranked No. 25 (NFCA, USA Softball, Softball America) in three of the four major polls entering the season.
• Wichita State was picked by the league's coaches to repeat as American Athletic Conference Champions in the preseason coaches poll.
• The Shockers garnered four first place votes and finished with 33 points in the preseason coaches poll. South Florida was picked second with 31 total points, followed by UCF (29).
• Wichita State has only 11 home games on the schedule for 2022, which is tied for the fewest in school history (1983).
• Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner is just 14 wins away from becoming Wichita State's all-time winningest coach. Jim Maynard sits in first with 313 career wins.
• Bredbenner recorded her 300th career win at Wichita State on March 14 vs. Kansas.

SCOUTING KANSAS CITY
Kansas City is 4-16 to start the 2022 season, having lost four in a row. The Roos are hitting just .230 as a team with 13 home runs and 55 RBI. Kloe Hilbrenner leads Kansas City with a .371 average, 3 home runs, 6 doubles and 11 RBI. A familiar face is now suiting up for Kansas City in former infielder Sydney Nichols. Nichols played two seasons at Wichita State before transferring after the 2021 season.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State holds a commanding 39-9 lead in the all-time series with Kansas City, formerly UMKC. The series dates back to 1993 with the Shockers winning the first five meetings. Wichita State has won seven straight over the Roos.

LAST MEETING WITH THE ROOS
Wichita State won both matchups a season ago, the first coming in Stillwater, 9-3. The Shockers then won a close matchup in Wichita on April 13, 4-3, behind a Ryleigh Buck go-ahead home run in the bottom of the 6th.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State is ranked in the Top 15 in all four major polls, as high as No. 9 in the ESPN/USA Softball Top 25. Katelynn Carwile leads OSU with a .413 average and 7 doubles. Chyenne Factor has a team-best 6 home runs, while Julia Cottrill has driven in 13 runs. OSU is powered by its pitching staff as they sport a 2.32 ERA and 228 strikeouts. Kelly Maxwell is 7-0 with a 1.15 ERA, 99 strikeouts and 5 complete games in 60.2 innings.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Oklahoma State have formed a budding rivalry over the last handful of years. Despite Oklahoma State leading the all-time series, 83-14, Wichita State has won six of the last 10 meetings. Eight of those 14 wins have come during the Bredbenner era. The Shockers won two of the three matchups a season ago.

LAST MEETING WITH THE COWGIRLS
After the two teams split two games in Stillwater in 2021, Wichita State claimed the rubber match on April 27 in Wichita. The Shockers used a Neleigh Herring go-ahead home run in the 6th inning to come away with a 3-2 win.

LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State went 3-0 in Lawrence at the Jayhawk Invitational, March 13-14. The Shockers defeated SEMO (14-0), Iowa (14-3) and Kansas (9-2). They outscored their three opponents by a combined score of 37-5 behind 12 home runs.

BREDBENNER REACHES MILESTONE
Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner recorded her 300th career win at Wichita State on Monday, March 14 vs. Kansas. She is just the second coach in program history to record 300 wins.

MILLS HOMERS WAY TO HONOR ROLL
Junior Lauren Mills earned a spot on the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on March 14. The Topeka native was a perfect 4-for-4 in two games with three home runs and six RBI. She recorded her first multi-home run game of the season vs. SEMO on March 13.

ANOTHER HOME RUN RECORD FALLS
Wichita State broke the single game school record with eight home runs in its 14-0 win vs. Southeast Missouri on Sunday, March 13 in Lawrence, Kan. Seven different Shockers recorded a homer, including two from Lauren Mills.

LUCAS GRABS SPOT ON HONOR ROLL
Sophomore Lauren Lucas was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on March 7. The Little Elm, Texas, native hit .455 (5-for-11) against Nebraska and SDSU with a double, two home runs, three walks, four runs and six RBI. Lucas homered in back-to-back games vs. Nebraska and South Dakota State. She recorded a career-high three hits and drove in a career-high three runs in the March 4 game vs. South Dakota State.

SPEED AND POWER
Sophomore Addison Barnard is in a league of her own when it comes to combining speed and power. Barnard is the only player in the NCAA to have at least 10 home runs and 20 or more stolen bases this season. Through 22 games in 2022 Barnard has 12 home runs, 21 stolen bases and 29 RBI.

HONOR ROLL
Junior Zoe Jones was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 28. Jones hit .400 in four games at the Niner Invitational, including three doubles and scoring seven runs.

A GRAND WEEKEND
Entering last weekend's Niner Invitational, Wichita State had hit 19 home runs on the season, but zero grand slams. That changed in a big way in Charlotte. The Shockers crushed three grand slams in three days - two of them belonging to Addison Barnard. The other came off the bat of freshman Cassie Passwaters. It was her first career home run.

MCKINNEY CLAIMS FIRST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Sydney McKinney added her first American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honor (Feb. 21) of the season following another stellar weekend. McKinney hit .438 (7-for-16) in four games to go with a double, two triples, two home runs, five runs, five RBI and a 1.125 slugging percentage. This is the third career Player of the Week honor for McKinney after picking up two a season ago.

THE BOMBS ARE BACK
Wichita State graduated four seniors in the every day lineup in 2021, including 44 of the team's 103 home runs. It would be natural to question the offense in 2022 with as much production that Wichita State lost. At the opening tournament in Huntsville (Feb. 11-13), Wichita State hit 11 home runs in the five games, which was six more than the Shockers hit on opening weekend a year ago. Wichita State is coming off a slugging weekend in Lawrence where they hit 12 homers in three games. Through 22 games Wichita State has 46 home runs.

BARNARD TABBED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Addison Barnard took home the first American Player of the Week honor of the season on Feb. 14. The Beatrice, Neb., native hit .500 (8-for-16) over the weekend at the Bearkat Classic (Feb. 11-13). Barnard recorded 3 home runs, 7 RBI, 4 walks, 9 stolen bases and 11 runs.

WANTED FOR THEFT
Sophomore Addison Barnard stole a career-high three bases in the opener vs. Dayton (Feb. 11), becoming the first Shocker to swipe three bags in a game since Mackenzie Wright had 4 on Feb. 27, 2016. She added two more in both games vs. Sam Houston and Houston Baptist. Barnard finished opening weekend with nine steals in 10 attempts. After the first month of play Barnard ranks fifth in the nation with 21 steals. That is the second most in a season at Wichita State. The single season record is 25.

DOWN GOES ANOTHER SCHOOL RECORD
Sophomore Addison Barnard is making it a habit of putting her name in the record books. Barnard broke the single game school record for runs, scoring five at Sam Houston on Sunday, Feb. 13. She scored 11 runs over the weekend after previously setting a career high with four against Dayton on Feb. 11.

HOME RUN LIST
Sophomore Addison Barnard needed only 54 career games to crack the top 10 home run list at Wichita State. Barnard now has 34 career home runs, placing her in fifth all time at Wichita State. To put that in perspective, among active players in NCAA Softball, Barnard is already in the Top 50. She is one of just two sophomores in the nation with 32 or more career home runs. The top 50 active home run leaders by age: 46 seniors, 2 juniors and 2 sophomores.

ELITE COMPANY
Junior Sydney McKinney has a career batting average of .411. That number places her among the elite in all of college softball. She ranks 16th on the active list for career batting average in NCAA DI. She is only one percentage point from moving into the top 13.

RPI - WEEK TWO
Wichita State checked in at No. 41 in the second RPI rankings on March 13. The Shockers have already faced seven teams in the Top 75, including No. 12 Charlotte, No. 29 Arkansas, No. 33 Illinois, No. 38 Minnesota, No. 46 Nebraska, No. 56 Iowa, No. 69 South Dakota and No. 73 South Dakota State. Wichita State still has games against No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 19 UCF, No. 49 South Florida, No. 80 Houston and No. 92 Kansas.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Junior Zoe Jones didn't waste any time etching her name in the Wichita State record books. The Texas Tech transfer tied a single game record with three doubles vs. Sam Houston on Feb. 13.

HERRING A SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE
Senior Neleigh Herring was named one of 30 candidates for the 2022 Senior CLASS Award, it was announced on March 8. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior or graduate student and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot.

PITCHERS BEWARE
Wichita State obliterated the school record for home runs in a single season in 2021. The Shockers crushed 103 - a mark that ranked second nationally behind only the defending National Champion, Oklahoma Sooners. Through 22 games in 2021, Wichita State had hit 39 home runs. Through 22 games in 2022... Wichita State is at 46 - seven more than the record-breaking Shockers had at this point a year ago.

ROAD WARRIORS
Wichita State has only 11 home games on the schedule for the 2022 season, which is tied for the fewest in school history. The 1983 team also played only 11 home games, but competed in just 29 games total. The Shockers' first 29 games this season are all away from the friendly confines of Wilkins Stadium. Wichita State's home opener isn't until March 23 vs. Kansas.

THE BRED-WINNER
Kristi Bredbenner is the second-longest tenured head coach in Wichita State softball history, which has resulted in 300 wins in 11 seasons. Bredbenner has the second-highest winning percentage in school history (.554) behind current Florida softball coach Tim Walton. She is just 13 wins away from becoming Wichita State's all-time wins leader.

UP NEXT
Wichita State welcomes Kansas to Wilkins Stadium on Wednesday, March 23 for the Shockers' 2022 home opener at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.