How Addison Barnard plans to follow up her record-breaking season for WSU softball
How does Addison Barnard follow up her debut that will go down as one of the greatest hitting seasons in Wichita State softball history? By forgetting it ever happened.
After becoming WSU’s single-season record-holder in home runs (22) and runs batted in (61), Barnard is back for her second season with the Shockers and the sophomore sensation is already attracting All-American buzz.
Barnard exploded in the college softball world last season after being a relatively low-profile recruit from a small town in Nebraska. Her humble beginnings have allowed her to mentally wipe the slate clean and enter this season with the mindset of proving herself all over again.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to play last year, so going from not knowing if I was going to play to having some success was pretty crazy,” Barnard said. “There was time where I could take it all in and really enjoy it, but now it’s just like, ‘OK, let’s move on.’ This is a new season now.”
It’s a new season, but Barnard showed she’s back to her old ways in Wichita State’s season-opening tournament in Huntsville, Texas where she led the team to a 4-1 start and ultimately earned American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors.
Consider what she accomplished in her first 16 at-bats of the season: eight hits for a .500 batting average, four walks, three home runs and seven RBIs. Barnard also reached base 12 times in her 20 plate appearances, scored on 11 of those 12 chances and stole nines bases, which is even more impressive when factoring in Barnard stole nine bases in 52 games during the entire 2021 season.
It should also be noted that Barnard moved into ninth place all-time in WSU program history with 25 career games, which she accomplished in just 57 games, and is on pace to move into second place on the list as just a sophomore. She also set a school record by scoring five runs in a single game in WSU’s 16-9 win over Sam Houston last Sunday.
“It’s incredible when you think about it because most of the time when you have an outstanding freshman year, it’s easy to have a sophomore slump,” WSU coach Kristi Bredbenner. “You put so much pressure on yourself to repeat it, but the thing about Addie is she takes it one step at time. She comes from humble beginnings and she’s always had to work hard coming from where she’s come from. She wants to be the best and nothing has changed there. It’s a new year, but at the same time, she still has that hunger to be the best.”
The success and national recognition from her first year of college softball didn’t change Barnard, who returned home to her family farm in Beatrice, Nebraska and did the same things she’s always done. She took care of her cows, helped around the house and practiced softball in her spare time.
There is a new indoor practice facility in Beatrice and Barnard would go daily with former high school teammate Olivia Aden, who is a sophomore softball player at Nebraska Omaha. The two would play catch and throw each other batting practice, while working on defensive drills together too.
Barnard isn’t motivated by individual goals. She doesn’t pay attention to where she’s at on the all-time home runs leader list or what her batting average is. She only cares about winning and trying to lead the Shockers back to an NCAA Regional and this time advance.
“I’m very determined to try to help my team get back to a high level and go even further this season,” Barnard said. “We’re going to be younger, but we have so much depth and I’m really excited to see what we can do. I just want us to get back to that level again and show people that we can play with the best teams.”
In order for Wichita State to return to that level, the team is counting on Barnard maintaining her high level of play. To repeat numbers similar to last season, Barnard knows she will have to adjust now that there is a full season of scouting available on her swings.
“There’s no doubt the secret is out about her,” Bredbenner said. “People see the numbers and see the video. She’s going to have to adjust and understand her weaknesses and work on them. But she’s a kid who loves watching video and loves trying to get better. She’s all in. She’s got the fundamentals down, now it’s about the mentality and prepping for the opponent and picking pitches and understanding what you’re swinging at.”
Bredbenner stressed to Barnard to study her own weaknesses and understand pitchers were going to do everything they can this season to avoid giving her balls that she can elevate and drive out of the park. Barnard went to work shoring up those weaknesses and trying to turn them into strengths.
“I tried to train myself to hit a lot of different pitches, even if they’re not the one I’m looking for,” Barnard said. “Like really low pitches or really high pitches, just so that when I do get a good pitch it’s going to look even better. When you get in that batter’s box, you’re not going to get served up every time, so I just trained myself to be able to hit what’s available to me.”
No longer will she be followed in the line-up by Madison Perrigan, WSU’s all-time career home runs leader and arguably the most clutch hitter for the Shockers last season. But batting in the No. 2 hole behind Sydney McKinney, the reigning AAC Player of the Year, and in front of Neleigh Herring, Lauren Mills and Zoe Jones, who all provide plenty of pop, should make the top of WSU’s lineup a headache for opposing pitchers to deal with again.
After shattering the team record for home runs in a season with 103 bombs in 55 games played last season, WSU finished with 11 deep balls in its first five games last weekend. The Shockers have a tall task this week at the Razorback Invitational, where they will play No. 8 Arkansas twice (on Thursday and Saturday), No. 25 Illinois (on Friday), Longwood and Western Illinois from Thursday to Saturday this week.
“We have so much depth on the team this year,” Barnard said. “It’s so hard because there’s only nine positions on the field, but you look at the next person up at each position and everybody can hit the crap out of the ball. I think it’s going to be a fun year and we’re going to do really good.”
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