Inside the swing of NCAA softball home run leader Addison Barnard of Wichita State
Addison Barnard isn’t exactly the most physically imposing player in the college softball world.
The Wichita State sophomore stands just 5-foot-6, an unassuming stature for the No. 1 home run hitter in the country.
“A lot of people would walk right by her and not think twice about it,” Wichita State hitting coach Elizabeth Economon said. “There’s nothing really crazy about her, except the way she swings that bat.”
When Barnard picks up a bat, she transforms from a soft-spoken farm girl raised in a tiny town in Nebraska to arguably the most dangerous hitter in NCAA softball.
Her numbers border on ridiculous: she has seven more home runs (30) and eight more runs batted in (75) than any player in the country, despite having played in just 44 games, and ranks second in slugging percentage (1.105). Her current home run pace — 0.54 per game and 1 every 5.9 at bats — is the best in Division I history and her 30 home runs is tied for the seventh-best season all-time.
“Addie delivers the barrel into the zone unlike any other hitter I’ve ever seen,” Economon said. “Her hands are so quick and she just has this intense speed. She’s going in attack mode every time she swings. She’s not trying to hit anything soft. If she’s going to swing, she’s going to unload on it and it’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.”
WSU will need that power this weekend for what could be the most important weekend in program history, as the Shockers face No. 21-ranked UCF in a three-game series at Wilkins Stadium that will determine the American Athletic Conference championship with NCAA Regional implications for WSU.
The Shockers (31-13, 13-2 AAC) entered Friday’s 6 p.m. game one back from UCF (42-11, 14-1 AAC) in the conference standings. A series win would not only deliver WSU its second straight AAC title, but also seemingly lock up another postseason bid. Saturday’s game started at 1 p.m. with Sunday’s finale set for noon.
“This is the closest thing to postseason softball that Wilkins Stadium has ever had,” WSU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “These are two top-25-caliber teams that have been battle-tested all year and have a history of really good games. And then you talk about what’s on the line and I hope we have a good showing with the fans. If they’re not at Wilkins this weekend, then they’re going to miss out on something pretty epic.”
Barnard is no stranger to hitting home runs: she holds the Beatrice High School career record with 61 and that was with many teams intentionally walking in throughout her career.
But no one saw this kind of a power surge coming in college, not even herself.
“As a little kid, if I would have told myself where I would be today, I never would have believed it,” Barnard said. “It just goes to show that the harder you work, the more it pays off.”
Barnard credits her work in the weight room to her success at the plate in college. She said she had lifted weights occasionally in high school, but most of her strength came naturally from working on her family’s farm.
When she arrived in Wichita, Barnard was taught by seniors like Madison Perrigan, Ryleigh Buck, Kaylee Huecker and Bailee Nickerson about the importance of the weight room. It didn’t take long for Barnard to become a diligent worker in the weight room, targeting upper-body strength, and eventually being named the Female Athlete of the Year by Shocker strength and conditioning coaches.
“The stronger you are, the less pretty your swing has to be,” Barnard said has become her mantra.
There’s a lot of truth to that statement, Economon said.
“Because her swing is built so well and she’s able to keep the bat on path with the ball for so long, she’s able to be late and still hit it out opposite field,” Economon explained. “And when she does get caught out in front of a pitch, that’s where her upper-body strength can take over. She has such good swing mechanics that help her make good contact and then once the contact is made, her strength just takes over.”
There was concern about Barnard putting too much pressure on herself to follow up a historic rookie debut last season when she set the single-season home run (22) and RBI (61) record to go along with a .323 batting average.
Not only has Barnard avoided a sophomore slump, she’s elevated her performance to even higher historic levels: in eight less games, she’s already topped her home run (30) and RBI (75) marks from last season, to go along with a giant leap in stolen bases (25) and batting average (.427).
Barnard was notably absent from the top-25 cut-down list for the national player of the year, despite having one of the best statistical seasons in college softball, which coaches believe was a result of skepticism coming from the AAC.
“My response to that would be how come more people aren’t doing it?” Economon said. “If it’s that easy, why aren’t more people doing it? It’s because it’s not easy to do. You still have to time it and put a bat on it and be strong and have good hand-eye coordination. If the criticism is the pitching that she’s facing, then I guess everybody’s numbers should be better. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s one of the very best.”
Believe it not, Barnard has actually battled with her own doubts this season.
“I was putting so much pressure on myself to do what I did last year (during the fall), then it finally hit me that I didn’t need to do that,” Barnard said. “I just needed to play my game and control the controllables.
“I think every softball player has doubts. It’s hard to play softball. It’s hard to be a student-athlete. Everybody is going to go through a little slump. It’s easy when you’re going through a slump to be like, ‘Crap, I don’t want to go up there.’ But instead of that, I started thinking, ‘I’m one hit away from getting out of this slump” and that’s when it turned around for me.”
Barnard’s sophomore leap is even more impressive considering teams entered this season with a full season of scouting on her, which has resulted in Barnard facing more off-speed pitches than ever before.
Another factor has been the bats surrounding her in the lineup. Sydney McKinney is second in the country in batting average (.490), while Lauren Lucas (.411 average, nine home runs), Zoe Jones (.336 average, 11 home runs) and Neleigh Herring (.339 average, five home runs) follow her in the lineup.
“She’s surrounded by so many good hitters, so it kind of forces the other team’s hands because our lineup is stacked,” Bredbenner said. “We continue to pass the bat to another threatening hitter in our lineup and that’s why they’ve all done so well. You can only pass the bat so far before you start walking in a run.”
Bredbenner said even with all of the success, which is now being recognized nationally with player-of-the-week honors, Barnard is still as humble as she was when she first came to WSU with no expectations of playing right away.
“I just want to be the best teammate that I can be,” Barnard said. “It’s a team game and I want to help my team win as many games as possible. As long as the team is winning, then I’m happy.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 11:50 AM.
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