Wichita State softball uses hometown connection to lure LSU

When a national power calls and offers to play a game at your softball stadium, there is one appropriate reply.

“I’ll take that any day,” Wichita State softball coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “Any time you can get an SEC opponent to travel, north of all places, and play … It doesn’t do anything but help us.”

So that is how the Shockers will play LSU, a Women’s College World Series semifinalist the past two seasons, at Wilkins Stadium on March 16. That game is part of a challenging non-conference schedule for WSU, which is coming off its NCAA regional appearance in 2016.

The Shockers also play NCAA champion Oklahoma (March 1), super-regional participant Missouri (March 29) and NCAA teams Nebraska (March 20) and Tulsa (April 6) at home.

Bredbenner said LSU coach Beth Torina wanted Maize High’s Emily Griggs, a junior outfielder, to play in her hometown. The Tigers fit their trip to Wichita into the following weekend’s Kansas Classic in Lawrence.

“It just worked out perfect,” Bredbenner said.

So did the rest of the schedule, which Bredbenner wants to use to build an NCAA at-large resume. The Shockers, who went 36-21 last season and defeated Tulsa and lost to the Sooners in the NCAA regional at OU, finished 2016 No. 43 in the RPI rankings. A similar status will put them in play, should they fail to win the Missouri Valley Conference’s automatic bid.

“That’s my end goal — to have a safety net,” she said.

The schedule should give WSU, which starts practice Monday, a chance.

The February tournaments are filled with a mix of elite opponents such as Arizona State, Missouri and California, and good RPI opportunities such as Houston, Tulsa, Boston College and Texas Tech. With significant roster losses — two-time MVC Player of the Year Cacy Williams among them — Bredbenner scheduled tournaments that will help her team grow into its new identity.

“We toned it down a bit,” she said. “We don’t necessarily want to schedule four or five tough tournaments.”

OU’s visit for the home opener in March signals a change. MVC play starts later that month and a series of mid-week games against top opponents begins. The Shockers travel to Oklahoma State (March 8) and Kansas (April 11).

WSU’s recent success makes scheduling easier.

“People are much more willing to play,” Bredbenner said. “My first couple years, we weren’t a good RPI opponent. We’ve changed that mind-set.”

State champions — Wichita State track and field schedules one of its most significant meets early in the season.

It’s significant because WSU coaches place great emphasis on the team aspect of the sport and because of the competition. On Thursday at the Heskett Center, Kansas and Kansas State join the Shockers in a triangular meet that’s in its third season.

The schools compete for a traveling trophy and the host school — K-State in 2015, Kansas in 2016 — won the first two.

“The team thing is the big thing for this meet, more than any other meet outside of the MVC meet,” WSU assistant director of track and field John Wise said. “We’re obviously pulling out all the stops to win it.”

That means top athletes such as sprinter/hurdler Nikki Larch-Miller will compete in as many as three or four events. Track is a sport in which athletes sometimes gradually work their way into top shape, and avoid peaking before national meets. The timing of this meet doesn’t allow for a casual approach that can confuse fans and obscure the meaning of performances.

Field events begin at noon. Running events begin at 5 p.m. and are scheduled to end at 7:32 with the 1,600-meter relay.

“It’s the most fan-friendly meet you can go to,” Wise said. “We’ll get the running events in in about two hours.”

Worth noting — WSU’s First Pitch Banquet is Feb. 2 at Koch Arena. Former Los Angeles Dodgers Rookie of the Year Steve Sax will speak. Tickets are $125. For information, call the WSU ticket office at (316) 978-3267. … WSU’s Giulia Guidetti is No. 93 in the women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings. The Shockers open the season on Friday in the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Rancho Mirage, Calif. … Among the 176 athletes with a 3.0 (or higher) grade-point average on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the fall semester are men’s basketball players Brett Barney, Zach Bush, Rashard Kelly, Markis McDuffie and Daishon Smith, and women’s players Rangie Bessard, Jaleesa Chapel, Ellie Lehne, Diamond Lockhart and Brittany Martin.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Wichita State softball uses hometown connection to lure LSU."