Wichita State (10-8, 0-0) at East Carolina (15-8, 0-0)
Greenville, N.C. | Max R. Joyner Family Stadium
Friday, March 6 | 4:00 PM CT
Saturday, March 7 | 1:00 PM CT
Sunday, March 8 | 10:00 AM CT
TV: ESPN+ 
Stats: Statbroadcast.com
 

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QUICK HITS
• Wichita State opens American Conference play on the road at East Carolina this weekend.
• Wichita State is 7-3 over its last 10 games.
• Wichita State is coming off a 2-2 weekend in Columbia, Mo. with wins over Drake and losses to Missouri and Miami (OH).
• Ausha Moore is riding a 6-game hitting streak. During that hit streak she is 12-for-15 at the plate with 2 doubles, 4 home runs, 11 runs scored and 7 RBIs.
• Moore was named American Player of the Week on March 2.
• Jade Sanders threw the program's 22nd no-hitter in the 8-0 run-rule win over Creighton on Feb. 21. It was the first no-hitter since Chloe Barber's 5-inning no-no on May 5, 2024.
• After failing to hit a home run over the first 5 games, Wichita State has hit 23 over its last 12.
• Freshman Kinzey Woody hit her first career home run vs. Creighton on Feb. 21 - a walk-off grand slam.
• Wichita State ranks 24th nationally in fielding percentage at .978. Wichita State has committed just 11 errors over its first 18 games.
• Wichita State is scheduled to face eight NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago (Mississippi State, Arkansas, Clemson, Miami (OH), Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic, South Florida, Oklahoma).
• Wichita State was picked to finish 3rd by the league's coaches in the 2026 American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. Florida Atlantic received 8 first place votes and was picked to win the league. USF came in 2nd.
• Seven Shockers return in 2026, led by 2025 American Conference Co-Freshman of the Year, Ryley Nihart.
• Wichita State welcomes 14 newcomers into the fold in the way of seven transfers, two junior college transfers and five freshmen.
• A pair of highly decorated McLennan Community College transfers hope to follow in CC Wong's footsteps. Wong, a former Wichita State All-American, spent two seasons at McLennan and was the 2022 Co-National Player of the Year. This season Trinity Allen and Mickayla Tosch bring their talents to Wichita. Allen was the 2025 NJCAA National Player of the Year and two-time All-American. Tosch was also a two-time NJCAA All-American and two-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner.

SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA
East Carolina is 8-2 over its last 10 games and enters the conference opening weekend at 15-8 overall. ECU reloaded its roster in the offseason, adding eight transfers and four freshmen. Sarah Stone headlines the eight transfers, coming to the Pirates after spending her career at Indiana where she was an All-Big Ten member. Stone was named to D1Softball's Preseason Mid-Major D100 List. Stone started the first 13 games of the season and was hitting .405, but has not played since Feb. 20. Jenna Krol hits .394 with 3 doubles, a triple, a home run and a team-high 19 RBIs. Julia Apostolakos leads the Pirates in the circle. She's thrown a team-high 64.0 innings and is 8-4 with a 3.17 ERA, 42 strikeouts, 25 walks and 6 complete games.

SERIES HISTORY
All but one meeting between Wichita State and East Carolina has taken place since the Shockers joined the American in 2018. The two programs first met back on March 20, 1999 on a neutral field. Wichita State had its 12-game win streak snapped last year in Wichita when the Pirates avoided a season sweep with a 5-3 win in 9 innings. The Shockers have won 12 of the last 13 and holding a commanding lead in the series, 19-4. Wichita State has lost just one time in Greenville.

LAST MEETING VS. THE PIRATES
Wichita State went 2-1 vs. East Carolina in 2025, taking the first two games by scores of 11-2 (5) and 9-8 before falling in 9 innings in the finale, 5-3. The Shockers won the series opener behind a two-home run game from Lauren Lucas and a complete game in the circle from Ryley Nihart. On Saturday the two teams played a wild, back-and-forth affair that saw Wichita State erase a 3-0 deficit behind a 6-run 4th inning. The Pirates and Shockers would exchange crooked numbers in the 5th and 6th innings, sending the game to the 7th inning tied at 8. Sami Hood walked it off with an RBI single in the 7th following a leadoff double from Jodie Epperson. The finale would be another nail-biter that would go to extra innings tied at 3-3. In the Top of the 9th, the conference home run leader, Emma Jackson, drilled a go-ahead 2-run home run over the wall in left-center. The win for ECU in the finale snapped a 12-game losing streak vs. the Shockers.

LAST TIME OUT
Wichita State was run-ruled in 5 innings by Kansas, 9-1, Wednesday night in its 2026 home opener. The Jayhawks hit three home runs and scored 5 runs in the Top of the 5th. Ausha Moore provided the lone run on a 3rd inning solo home run. Wichita State closed out tournament play in Columbia, Mo. at the Mizzou Invitational. The Shockers went 2-2 with both wins coming against former MVC rival, Drake. Their two losses came in a 12-4 run-rule loss to Missouri and a one-run shootout vs. Miami (OH), 8-7. Wichita State hit .323 as a team over the four games, including nine home runs. Moore led the hitting attack, going 8-for-10 with two doubles, three home runs, five RBIs and another six runs scored. In the two wins over Drake, Wichita State overcame a 2-0 deficit to walk-off the Bulldogs, 3-2. The Shockers then run-ruled Drake the next day, 10-1.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ausha Moore picked up her first American Conference Player of the Week award on March 2. Moore crushed the ball at the Mizzou Invitational, going 8-for-10 with two doubles, three home runs, six runs scored and five RBIs over four games. It is the first POW for Wichita State this season. D1 Softball also tabbed Moore the Mid-Major Player of the Week.

OH MY GAUSH
Ausha Moore has been scalding at the plate over her last five games. She is hitting .846 (11-for-13) with two doubles, three home runs, 10 runs scored and six RBIs. During that stretch she has also been walked five times and hit by a pitch twice. Moore is slugging 1.692 and has an OBP of .900. She has raised her season batting average to .442 and leads the team in runs (17), hits (19), home runs (4), total bases (33), slugging percentage (.767) and OBP (.609).

HOLY TRINITY
After starting the season in a mini slump, Trinity Allen is beginning to find her swing. The reigning NJCAA Player of the Year has a hit in 7 of her last 8 games. Allen is 8-for-16 (.500) at the plate with two doubles, a home run and seven RBIs. For the season, her batting average has shot up to .423, which is third best on the team.

NO-NO
Jade Sanders tossed the program's 22nd no-hitter in the 8-0 run-rule win over Creighton on Feb. 21. Sanders struck out 10 and walked only two in 6.0 innings of work. Its the first no-hitter since Chloe Barber's on May 5, 2024 vs. Memphis. Sanders' 10 strikeouts are the most in a no-hit performance by a Wichita State pitcher since Margo Pruis struck out 13 in her no-hitter on March 11, 2006 vs. Northern Colorado.

GRAND FASHION
Wichita State freshman Kinzey Woody hit her first career home run - a walk-off grand slam - on Feb. 21 vs. Creighton. It was the first grand slam since Addison Barnard vs. Tulsa in the American Conference Championship on May 9, 2024 and the first walk-off home run since Barnard on April 20, 2024 vs. UAB.

TOUGH SLEDDING
Wichita State has never shied away from playing a tough schedule, and that is no different in 2026. The Shockers are scheduled to play six teams ranked or receiving votes in the Preseason NFCA Top 25: No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 13 Clemson, No. 22 Mississippi State and No. 24 Oklahoma State. Florida Atlantic received votes.

COLLECTING THE ACCOLADES
The Shockers had a First-Team All-Conference honoree for the 12th consecutive season in 2025. Lauren Lucas earned First Team All-Conference honors this season. The streak began in 2013 with Erin Carney.

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON
Head Coach Kristi Bredbenner started a new tradition in 2021 to reward players who hit home runs. Instead of a normal high-five for her players as they round the bases, Bredbenner began tossing a piece of Hi-Chew candy to her home run hitters. Former Shocker Madyson Espinosa should be credited for introducing the chewy candy to Coach B at the first tournament of the season down in Conroe, Texas, and thus a new tradition was born. The tradition enters season No. 5 in 2025, so be on the lookout for flying candy.

THE BRED-WINNER
Kristi Bredbenner is the longest tenured head coach in Wichita State softball history, which has resulted in 431 wins in 15 seasons. Bredbenner has the second-highest winning percentage in school history (.574) behind current Florida softball coach Tim Walton. She is Wichita State's all-time wins leader after surpassing Jim Maynard on April 24, 2022.

UP NEXT
Wichita State meets Oklahoma State in Stillwater for a midweek tilt, March 11 at 6 p.m.