Texas State Tournament
San Marcos, Texas | Bobcat Softball Stadium
Feb. 10: vs. Villanova (10 AM) | at Texas State (3 PM)
Feb. 11: vs. Kent State (3 PM) | vs. Villanova (5:30 PM)
Feb. 12: at Texas State (12 PM)
Video: Friday & Sunday vs. Texas State (ESPN+)
Stats: Statbroadcast.com

QUICK HITS
• Wichita State opens the 2023 campaign in San Marcos, Texas at the Texas State Tournament.
• Wichita State is receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and ESPN/USA Softball Top 25.
• Wichita State is 20-25 in season openers and 8-3 under 12th year head coach Kristi Bredbenner.
• Wichita State has won eight of its last nine 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.
• Addison Barnard has 55 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.
• Wichita State ranked in the Top 25 nationally in home runs per game (2nd), home runs (2nd), scoring (2nd), slugging percentage (2nd), batting average (3rd), on base percentage (2nd), doubles per game (19th) and walks (24th) in 2022.

SCOUTING VILLANOVA
Villanova is coming off a 32-24 campaign in 2022, which saw them win the BIG EAST Tournament, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats lost both games of the Orlando Regional. Villanova hit .259 as a team in 2022 with 51 home runs. Villanova returns Chloe Smith who led the team in hits and batting average. In the circle, Villanova returns a pair of talented pitchers in Kelsey White (3.17 ERA) and Caroline Pellicano (1.45 ERA). White also swings the bat where she hit .302. The strength of last year's team was in the circle where the Wildcats combined to post a 2.73 ERA and opponents hit .261.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Villanova have never met on the softball field prior to 2023.

SCOUTING TEXAS STATE
Texas State put together a strong 2022 season, finishing with a 38-19 record, but missed the NCAA Tournament after falling in the Sun Belt Conference Championship game to Louisiana. The Bobcats went 19-8 in the Sun Belt a year ago where they hit .281 as a team. Texas State relied more on speed than power. They hit only 24 home runs all season, but stole 90 bases. As a freshman last season, Ciara Trahan led the Bobcats in batting average (.335), hits (61) and runs (35) to go with 27 RBI and 14 stolen bases. Sara Vanderford led the Bobcats in home runs (7) and RBI (38), while hitting .306. In the circle, Texas State was stout behind its ace Jessica Mullins, who returns in 2023. Mullins went 27-13 with a 1.80 ERA and 253 strikeouts. She threw 241.0 of Texas State's 374.0 innings. Mullins is one of the top returning pitchers in the country.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Texas State have met 14 times prior to the matchup this weekend. The Shockers are 10-4 all-time vs. Texas State after winning the first six meetings, but Texas State defeated the Shockers twice in 2020. This is the second time Wichita State will participate in the Bobcat Classic after doing so in 2020.

LAST MEETING WITH THE BOBCATS
Wichita State lost both meetings in the 2020 Bobcat Classic by scores of 5-3 and 9-1 in six innings. In the first game Wichita State fell behind 3-0 before scoring three in the top of the sixth to tie the game, only to see Texas State answer with two go-ahead runs in the bottom half. In game two, Texas State put three runs on the board in the first and never looked back. They added four in the fifth and two in the sixth to walk it off.

SCOUTING KENT STATE
In 2022, Kent State finished the season 20-28 overall and 11-17 in the MAC. Kent State hit only .233 as a team with 33 home runs and just 183 total runs scored. Madyson Cole led the Golden Flashes with a .297 average and added eight home runs and 22 RBI. Emily Lippe is the returning home run leader after recording nine a season ago and driving in 27 runs. In the circle, Kent State finished with a team ERA of 3.04 and 353 strikeouts. The Flashes lost their top pitchers from 2022 to graduation, so Kylie Ringler will look to provide a bigger role in 2023. Ringler appeared in 11 games, making seven starts and went 5-3 with a 3.14 ERA.

SERIES HISTORY
Wichita State and Kent State have met only twice before the meeting this weekend in Texas. The Shockers are 2-0 vs. the Golden Flashes, but the two teams haven't met since 1998. The first-ever meeting took place on a neutral field on April 1, 1994.

LAST MEETING WITH THE GOLDEN FLASHES
Wichita State shut out Kent State 5-0 on Feb. 28, 1998.

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 ecord 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 275 in her career. She passed Britnee Barnett on April 29, 2022 vs. ECU with No. 251.
• McKinney has a career batting average of .430. 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 275 career hits rank No. 1 among active NCAA DI players.
• McKinney is just 25 hits shy of 300 for her career. She is only 57 hits shy from etching her name in the NCAA record book for career hits.
• McKinney has 174 career runs scored - the most in school history.
• McKinney is on pace to shatter her own single season record for batting average. She set it at .439 a season ago and is currently No. 1 in the nation at .522.
• With a career OBP of .482, 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 35 career doubles place her in T-9th 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. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 7 Arkansas.

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 continues its February road show with a West Coast trip to San Diego. The Shockers will face San Diego State for a midweek matchup on Feb. 16, before competing in the Torero Classic, Feb. 17-19.