The hits keep on coming: Wichita State star Sydney McKinney climbing NCAA record book
It won’t be long until Wichita State softball star Sydney McKinney begins reaching rarified air in the world of college softball.
McKinney has essentially rewritten WSU’s record books during her illustrious All-American career, and she reached another milestone in the Shockers’ 12-0 win Sunday over Fairleigh Dickinson in San Diego: her 300th career hit.
She has already shattered WSU’s all-time career record, which was previously 250 set by Britnee Barnett from 2005-08, and now McKinney is approaching all-time status. It’s unlikely she can catch the all-time NCAA leader in Arizona’s Alison McCutcheon with 405 career hits, but McKinney only needs 57 more hits to enter the top-10 all-time list.
McKinney is currently hitting .771 for the Shockers (8-3) after their first 11 games of the season, as she upped her average even more with a 3-for-3 performance in Sunday’s win to close out the Torero Classic. She also has a 29-game hitting streak, which is tied for the 11th-longest in NCAA history.
Outside of McKinney’s greatness, however, it was a mixed week of results for the Shockers, which crushed their out-matched competition by outscoring Utah Tech, Fairleigh Dickinson and San Diego by a combined 37-0 in four victories, but lost the two games that offered potential resume-building wins in a 3-2 loss at San Diego State this past Thursday and then an 8-0 loss in six innings to Boise State this past Friday. Both opponents finished last season ranked in the top-50 of the RPI.
San Diego State took a 3-0 lead after two innings, but McKinney answered back with a solo home run in the third inning, then Lauren Lucas delivered a RBI double in the sixth inning. The Shockers were never able to threaten again after that.
WSU’s offense was silenced in the Boise State loss, as the Shockers finished with just three hits and were run-ruled with a walk-off, 3-run home run by the Broncos in the sixth inning.
Also of note from the weekend was sophomore Alison Cooper throwing the 20th no-hitter in program history in WSU’s 13-0, five-inning win over San Diego. Cooper allowed two baserunners on walks, but was otherwise perfect.
WSU has another opportunity to notch resume-building road wins coming up this weekend when it travels to Denton, Texas for the North Texas Invitational. The Shockers will play North Texas, which is off to a 7-2 start this season and was a top-50 RPI team last season, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, while also playing Northwestern State at 11 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.
This story was originally published February 20, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
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