Softball | 4/22/2025 5:35:00 PM
By
Paul Suellentrop
Left fielder
Ellee Eck woke up Tuesday morning feeling antsy, not super-strong or hyped, or a few hours from joining an exclusive power club at Wichita State.
"Honestly, I felt kind of nervous," she said. "This is a good game to attack. Build confidence going into the weekend. I had to tell myself to calm down in the box."
By Tuesday afternoon, Eck had every reason to feel super-strong and hyped for a weekend series against Charlotte. She hit three home runs in Wichita State's 15-2 win over Kansas City in five innings at Wilkins Stadium.
"She barreled the ball up," coach
Kristi Bredbenner said. "Three hard barrels and three hard home runs."
Right fielder
Lauren Lucas and
Taylor Sedlacek also homered.
Camryn Compton,
Sami Hood and
Krystin Nelson doubled for WSU (24-21-1).
For all the offensive fireworks, two defensive plays also stood out. Hood, at shortstop, robbed Leilani Bustamonte of a base hit by diving toward third base and snagging a line drive. Centerfielder
Jodie Epperson ended the game by catching a fly ball and throwing out a runner at the plate.
Eck bats leadoff and registered seven career homers – all this season – entering the game. Her career stats will look much different from
Addison Barnard (93 homers) and Lauren Mills (43), but she will join them in the record book for most homers in a game.
"That's a good group to be standing with," Eck said.
Eck, who played three seasons at Stanford before transferring to WSU, smacked an 0-1 pitch just over the fence in right-center in the first inning. She homered to center in the third to drive in three runs and give the Shockers an 11-0 lead. In the fourth, she hammered a 3-2 pitch halfway up the bleachers in right field to drive in two runs for a 15-1 lead.
That capped a 3-for-3 day with six RBI against the Kangaroos (5-33). She also almost beat out a sacrifice bunt in the second inning.
"The third one did feel the best – that was the one I knew off the bat it was going," she said. "The second one was good, too, just a line drive."
Eck got three at-bats last season at Stanford. She and Bredbenner talked often about the need to see live pitching and get into a groove as 2025 opened. She started the season red-hot, cooled a bit, and is now heating up again.
After Tuesday's outburst, she is hitting .324 – up from .284 on March 26 – with nine of her homers in that span.
"She's really coming into her own," Lucas said. "There's a lot of confidence coming. As soon as she has success, she's able to build off that and feel very confident in the box."
Putting in time with assistant coach
Elizabeth Economon is also helpful. Lucas and Eck are regulars before and after practice taking swings and working with Economon. Eck also gets tips from her father, Doug. He is an admirer of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and enjoys analyzing videos of baseball hitters with his daughter.
"We watch a lot of baseball players, and breakdowns of their swings," she said. "He will text me and send me videos. I still want to be myself, but we can make small adjustments here and there that are for the better."
Those adjustments are paying off over the past month for Eck. Tuesday, she had a day Dad - and Ohtani - would approve of.
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
