rv Wichita State at rv/rv San Diego State
San Diego, Calif. | SDSU Softball Stadium
Feb. 16 | 8 PM CT
 

---

Torero Classic
San Diego, Calif. | USD Softball Complex
Feb. 17: vs. Utah Tech (9 AM CT) | vs. Boise State (2 PM CT)
Feb. 18: vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (2 PM CT) | at San Diego (7 PM CT)
Feb. 19: vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (11 AM CT)

QUICK HITS
• Wichita State is receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25.
• Wichita State is 21-25 in season openers and 9-3 under 12th year head coach Kristi Bredbenner.
• Wichita State has won nine of its last 10 season openers.
• After playing just 11 home games in 2022, Wichita State has 27 games at Wilkins Stadium in 2023.
• Wichita State will face 12 teams that made it to the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
• Wichita State received three first place votes in the AAC Preseason Poll and was picked to finish 2nd, just one point behind first place UCF.
• Lauren Lucas was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 13.
• Lucas currently ranks 1st nationally in doubles and 3rd in hits.
• Addison Barnard has 56 career home runs, placing her in 2nd on the Wichita State home run list.
• Barnard finished the 2022 season leading the nation in home runs per game and RBI per game, and ranked second in home runs, RBI and slugging percentage.
• Barnard's 33 home runs broke her own single season record.
• Barnard became the first known player in NCAA history with 30+ home runs and 25+ stolen bases.
• Barnard ranks 4th among NCAA DI active players in career home runs. Barnard and Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings are the only non-seniors or grad students in the Top 25.
• Sydney McKinney led the nation in hits and batting average in 2022.
• McKinney is the NCAA DI active leader in hits and ranks 6th in batting average.
• McKinney is the program's all-time hits and batting average leader and also owns single season records for runs and on base percentage.
• McKinney and Barnard were named to the USA Softball Top 50 Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List.
• McKinney and Barnard are D1 Softball (First Team) and Softball America (Second Team) Preseason All-Americans.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
Another 2022 NCAA Tournament team, San Diego State is 4-1 after its opening weekend in 2023. The Aztecs' lone defeat came vs. No. 22 Arizona State. SDSU is hitting .346 as a team, led by AJ Murphy at .533 and Bella Espinoza at .526. In the circle, Dee Dee Hernandez is 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA in 10.2 innings. Dani Martinez is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 9.0 IP.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and San Diego State have met only once prior to Thursday's meeting. The Aztecs won that meeting in 2014.

LAST MEETING
Wichita State hosted San Diego State on March 6, 2014, as part of the Shocker Softball Classic. The Aztecs won 11-5 in the opening game of the tournament.

SCOUTING UTAH TECH
Utah Tech is 3-2 after opening the 2023 campaign at the Hawaii Tournament. Utah Tech is hitting .264 with just one home run, eight doubles and a triple. Tanya Windle leads the team in average (.438), doubles (2), triples (1) and RBI (6). Lauren Almeida has the lone home run to go with a .417 average. Sauren Garton sports a team-best 0.51 ERA in 13.2 innings and a 2-0 record in the circle.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Utah Tech have never met on the softball field.

SCOUTING BOISE STATE
A tough opening weekend saw Boise State go just 1-4. Three of those four losses came to No. 10 Georgia and No. 15 UCF. The Broncos have hit seven home runs, but are hitting just .235 overall. Seren Huchingson hits .462 with a home run and four RBI. Eliyah Flores has two homers and six RBI. The pitching staff was roughed up in Orlando. Through five games they have a 14.59 ERA and opponents are hitting .423.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Boise State have faced each other five times prior to the Torero Classic. The Shockers hold a 3-2 lead in the series history with the first meeting on March 5, 2010 on a neutral field. All five matchups have come at a neutral site tournament.

LAST MEETING WITH THE BRONCOS
Wichita State won its second straight over the Broncos on Feb. 21, 2016. After falling behind by three runs in the first inning, the Shockers came from behind to win 6-5. Wichita State scored five runs in the top of the fourth off a pair of two-run doubles from Laurie Derrico and Paige Luellen.

SCOUTING FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON
Fairleigh Dickinson is 3-2 through the first five games of the season with wins over Dayton, Stetson and Providence. The Knights are hitting just .216 as a team with two home runs and 20 runs. Cassidy Triska is hitting .333, followed by Courtney Mahoney at .308. Mahoney has a home run and 6 RBI. Alayna Savaglio is 2-0 in the circle with a 1.11 ERA in 12.2 IP.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State has faced Fairleigh Dickinson on the softball field just once prior to this weekend. The Shockers won the only meeting in 2019.

LAST MEETING WITH THE KNIGHTS
Wichita State wrapped up a 5-0 weekend at the LA Tech Invitational with an 8-0 shutout of Fairleigh Dickinson on Feb. 17, 2019. The Shockers needed only 6.0 innings thanks to home runs from Wylie Glover and Neleigh Herring.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO
The hosts of the Torero Classic, San Diego, is off to an 0-5 start to 2023 with two losses at No. 2 UCLA. The Toreros have scored only 10 runs through five games and are hitting only .233. Izzy Owen hits .438 to lead San Diego. The pitching staff was roughed up a bit on opening weekend. They have a team ERA of 11.85 and opposing teams have a .436 batting average.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and San Diego will meet for the first time this weekend in San Diego.

LUCAS NAMED AMERICAN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Lauren Lucas took home the first American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honor of the season on Feb. 13. Lucas started all five games, and finished with a slash line of .647/.684/1.176 and an OPS of 1.860. The Little Elm, Texas, native racked up a home run, six doubles, five runs scored, 12 RBI and 20 total bases.

SHOCKER SLUGGERS RETURN
Wichita State returns 100 of the 121 home runs hit from the 2022 team. Led by Addison Barnard (33), Wichita State brings back one of the nation's best offenses in 2023. Lauren Mills (16), Zoe Jones (15), Sydney McKinney (13), Lauren Lucas (10), Jessica Garcia (5), Lainee Brown (4), Bailey Urban (3) and Krystin Nelson (1) combined to hit the century mark in homers.

PITCHERS BEWARE
Wichita State obliterated the single season home run record for the second straight season in 2022. The Shockers crushed 103 in 2021, only to see the 2022 team set a new mark of 121. It only took 42 games for the 2022 team to match that number of 103. Wichita State has finished second nationally in home runs each of the last two seasons, behind only Oklahoma.

ALL HAIL THE HIT QUEEN
• Sydney McKinney is Wichita State's all-time hits leader with 289 in her career. She passed Britnee Barnett on April 29, 2022 vs. ECU with No. 251.
• McKinney has a career batting average of .439. That number places her among the elite in all of college softball. She ranks 6th on the active list for career batting average in NCAA DI.
• Her 289 career hits rank No. 1 among active NCAA DI players.
• McKinney is just 11 hits shy of 300 for her career. She is only 44 hits shy from etching her name in the NCAA record book for career hits.
• McKinney has 184 career runs scored - the most in school history.
• McKinney shattered her own single season record for batting average. She set it at .439 in 2021 and hit a nation-leading .522 in 2022.
• With a career OBP of .490, McKinney currently holds the top spot in that category as well at Wichita State.
• She broke into the top 10 list on April 24 with her ninth career triple.
• Her 38 career doubles place her in T-7th on the school's all-time list.

ONE OF THREE
Wichita State is one of only three schools in the country, joining Oklahoma and Arkansas, to return multiple NFCA All-Americans from a season ago. The Shockers of course bring back NFCA Second Team All-Americans Addison Barnard and Sydney McKinney.

TOUGH SLEDDING
Wichita State has never shied away from playing a tough schedule, and that is no different in 2023. The Shockers will play eight teams either ranked or receiving votes in the Preseason NFCA Top 25. Three of those are top 10 matchups against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 5 Oklahoma State.

THE AMERICAN STANDARD
Since Wichita State entered the American Athletic Conference in 2018, the Shockers have been the league's top offensive team in the league. Not counting the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, Wichita State has led the American in batting average (2021, 2022), slugging percentage (2018-22), on base percentage (2019-22), runs (2019-22), hits (2022), RBI (2019-22), doubles (2018, 2021-22), home runs (2018-22), total bases (2018-22) and walks (2019, 2021).

A PAIR OF PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Wichita State senior Sydney McKinney and junior Addison Barnard picked up a pair Preseason All-American honors. The duo were named First Team All-Americans by D1 Softball and Second Team All-Americans by Softball America.

PRESEASON TOP 100 LOVE
Junior Addison Barnard and senior Sydney McKinney were named to the D1 Softball Preseason Top 100 on Jan. 10. Barnard checked in as the No. 3 player in the country behind only Oklahoma's Tiare Jennings (No. 1) and Oklahoma State's Kelly Maxwell (No. 2). McKinney came in at No. 18, making Wichita State one of only two schools (Oklahoma) with multiple players in the top 20. The duo also made the Extra Elite 100 College Rankings with McKinney at No. 6 and Barnard at No. 27, and the Softball America Top 100 with McKinney at No. 18 and Barnard at No. 21.

HOME SWEET HOME
Just a season ago Wichita State took on the role of road warrior. The Shockers have 27 home games at Wilkins Stadium compared to only 11 in 2022. During the month of March Wichita State only leaves Wichita once. Seventeen of those 27 home games take place in the month of March, including matchups against 2022 NCAA Regional teams: Stanford, Nebraska, Missouri State, Arkansas, Minnesota and South Florida.

IN THE AMERICAN RECORD BOOKS
Wichita State is well-represented in the American Athletic Conference record books. Currently Sydney McKinney holds the single-season record for batting average, hits, on base percentage and runs. Addison Barnard is the single-season record holder for home runs, RBI, slugging percentage and total bases. On the career charts, McKinney already enters her final season holding the top spot in batting average, on base percentage and hits. She is four runs shy of taking over the spot and 63 away from the most total bases in American history. Barnard needs four home runs and 46 RBI to surpass Wichita State's own Madison Perrigan for the most all-time in the American history.

BARNARD TABBED AAC PRESEASON POY
D1 Softball tabbed Addison Barnard as the preseason AAC Player of the Year on Feb. 2. The publication predicted Barnard to repeat as the conference's top player in 2023 after earning the honor in 2022. D1 Softball projected Wichita State to finish first in the American, followed by UCF and South Florida. Freshman Sami Hood was named the Freshman of the Year. D1 Softball released the top 20 players in the American Athletic Conference for 2023, and Wichita State led the way with five players in the top 10 - No. 1 Barnard, No. 3 Sydney McKinney, No. 4 Lauren Lucas, No. 7 Zoe Jones and No. 9 Lauren Mills.

UP NEXT
Wichita State wraps up the month of February in Denton, Texas at the North Texas Invitational. The Shockers will face Northwestern State and North Texas, Feb. 25-26.