Twice as nice: Wichita State Shockers softball wins AAC tournament championship
The Wichita State softball team has completed a championship sweep in the American Athletic Conference.
After winning the AAC regular season title for the first time in program history, the Shockers won the AAC tournament title in Tulsa on Saturday for the first time in program history with a 7-4 win over Central Florida. It is the second time WSU has completed a championship sweep, last winning both Missouri Valley titles in 2016.
With a top-25 ranking, a top-30 RPI and two AAC championships, the Shockers (39-11-1) expect to receive a No. 2 seed in an NCAA Regional when the postseason field is announced on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. Sunday. Regional sites WSU could be headed to include Stillwater (Oklahoma State), Norman (Oklahoma) or Fayetteville (Arkansas).
“At the beginning of the year, these were our goals,” WSU senior Ryleigh Buck said. “We wanted to win the conference championship outright. We wanted to win the tournament. We’ve been working all year for this, many of us for years and years. We want to keep it going. We’re not done. We have so much still in us.”
It was a familiar winning formula for WSU, which has shattered its program record for home runs in a season and rank third in the country in long balls, as the Shockers scored all seven runs in the championship game Saturday on three homers. The three long balls on Saturday upped WSU’s season total to 94 home runs.
WSU recovered from a shaky start, trailing 3-0 after the top of the third inning, when freshman Addison Barnard added to her single-season school record with her 21st long ball of the season, this one a two-run shot in the bottom of the third inning to provide WSU with its first sign of life.
The Shockers took control of the game in the fifth inning when Sydney McKinney reached on a single, Barnard drew a walk, then senior Madison Perrigan, the all-time career leader in home runs, bombed one over the left-field fence for a three-run shot to put WSU up 5-3. One out later, Buck skied a two-run home run over the center-field fence for a 7-3 lead.
“She threw me about three of the same pitches the previous at bat, so that’s the pitch I was looking for and when I saw it, I capitalized,” Perrigan said. “The momentum that you felt after that, the intensity of the moment, it just shows that this is what athletes live for, moments like these. It was a Cinderella moment and it really amped me and the team up. I was really excited I could get the job done for my teammates.”
Bailey Lange earned her 21st win of the season in the circle, allowing four earned runs in six innings, while Caitlin Bingham closed out the game in the seventh inning for her third save. UCF had the tying run at the plate in the seventh inning with two outs, but Bingham was able to induce a game-ending ground ball.
The Shockers, which won their third conference tournament title in program history, also dominated the all-tournament team, placing Buck, Lange, Perrigan, Sydney McKinney and Barnard on it, while Barnard was awarded the Most Outstanding Player.
To reach the championship game, the top-seeded Shockers defeated the hosts from Tulsa, 9-4, highlighted by a grand slam by Lauren Mills for her 10th home run of the season.
This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 3:17 PM.
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