Wichita State softball wins American title, strengthens NCAA bubble case
The Wichita State softball team is hoisting another trophy.
For the third time in the last six seasons, the Shockers can call themselves champions in the American Conference. WSU clinched a share of the regular-season title on Saturday afternoon at Wilkins Stadium, closing the regular season with a 10-5 win over Memphis that delivered the program’s fifth conference championship under coach Kristi Bredbenner.
It was not without one final test.
Even against last-place Memphis, even on senior day, even with a championship celebration waiting, the Shockers had to steady themselves after the Tigers rallied for a 5-5 tie with three runs in the top of the fifth inning.
The answer came from the bottom of the lineup.
No. 9 hitter Mackenzie Rooney, already with a home run earlier in the game, lined a two-run single through the right side of the infield in the bottom of the fifth to put WSU back in front, 7-5. It was the swing that moved the Shockers from a tense finish to another championship moment.
WSU added three more insurance runs in the sixth inning, including an RBI single from senior Jodie Epperson, who was one of the players honored before the game. Two more runs scored later in the inning on a wild pitch and a throwing error by Memphis, giving the Shockers enough breathing room to finish off the sweep.
It was also another monster weekend from Ausha Moore, who smashed her 22nd home run of the season, tied for third-most in program history with Addison Barnard. She finished 3 for 4 at the plate on Saturday, increasing her batting average to .399 to go along with 22 home runs, 57 RBIs and 53 runs.
By the end, WSU had completed the kind of late-season surge that looked difficult to imagine two months ago.
After a 7-6 start in conference play, the Shockers won their final 14 American games, sweeping UTSA, Charlotte, North Texas and Memphis to finish tied with South Florida atop the league standings. WSU has now won 15 of its last 16 games overall and enters the postseason with a 35-16 record.
That is a significant return to form for a program that had dipped below 30 wins in each of the previous two seasons. The Shockers are back above that mark, back in the championship picture and back on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a resume that has become increasingly difficult to ignore.
The regular-season title is the fifth conference championship in program history, all coming under Bredbenner. Three of those have come in the American with WSU also winning league crowns in 2021 and 2023.
Now the Shockers will try to do something they have only done once before: win the American tournament title. The only time WSU has won the postseason tournament championship came in 2021, which also remains one of the best seasons in program history.
That will be the surest way for WSU to guarantee another NCAA Regional appearance.
The Shockers are aiming for their eighth NCAA Tournament bid in program history and sixth under Bredbenner, joining the 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 teams that reached the NCAA postseason.
They appear to be right on the cut line entering the American tournament.
WSU is ranked No. 44 in the latest RPI rankings, putting the Shockers in position to make a compelling at-large case but not in a place where they can feel completely comfortable. That is why the Memphis sweep was so important.
After WSU had its 12-game winning streak snapped Tuesday in a 10-0 run-rule loss at Kansas — a disappointing result in a midweek game between two NCAA bubble teams — the Shockers could not afford to compound the damage with a bad loss against Memphis, which entered the weekend ranked No. 199 in the RPI.
They did not leave anything to chance.
WSU beat Memphis 8-2 on Thursday, rolled to a 15-2 run-rule win on Friday and finished the sweep Saturday, avoiding its worst loss of the season and protecting the resume it had spent all season building. The Shockers finished the regular season 24-1 against teams outside the top 100 of the RPI. They also paired that consistency with nine top-100 wins, including a Quad-1 road victory at No. 14 Oklahoma State.
That combination — few damaging losses, a top-45 RPI, a league championship and a scorching finish — gives WSU a real case against the middle-of-the-pack power-conference teams it will be measured against on Selection Sunday.
The Shockers shared the regular-season title with South Florida, but the Bulls earned the No. 1 seed for the American tournament because they won two of three games against WSU in March. That leaves WSU as the No. 2 seed for next week’s tournament, which will be hosted by East Carolina from May 6-9 in Greenville, N.C.
WSU will still receive a double-bye into the single-elimination semifinals and will play its first game at approximately 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 8. The Shockers will face the winner between the No. 3 seed and either the No. 6, No. 7 or No. 10 seed. The championship game is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN2.
There is still work left for WSU to do if it wants to remove all doubt from its NCAA Tournament case. But Saturday brought a moment worth appreciating on its own.
A team that looked stuck in the middle of the league standings in March finished the regular season with a trophy in May.
And now the Shockers will head to Greenville trying to turn one trophy into another.
This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 2:41 PM.
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