Home run resurgence sends Wichita State softball back to AAC tournament title game

If the Wichita State softball team was going to reach the NCAA postseason for a fourth straight year, it was going to need to hit like those teams of the past.

The Shockers have turned back the clock this week at Wilkins Stadium in the American Athletic Conference tournament, as their offense has suddenly become as lethal as ever.

WSU hit double-digits for the third straight game, thanks to three home runs that scored eight runs, and the Shockers routed the top seed Florida Atlantic 12-2 in a run-rule five-inning victory on Friday.

The Shockers (28-21) will face No. 2 seed Charlotte (37-16) in Saturday’s AAC tournament championship game at 11 a.m. at Wilkins Stadium on a nationally televised ESPN2 broadcast with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament at stake. Charlotte blanked North Texas 2-0 in the other semifinal.

“Even in the first game (of the tournament), it just felt right. It felt like us,” WSU All-America slugger Addison Barnard said. “We kind of had an up-and-down season, some games didn’t feel like us. But this week everything has just clicked and it feels like us again.”

It’s possible it is a must-win game for the Shockers to play in a regional, although victories over Tulsa (No. 62 RPI) and FAU (No. 38 RPI) the past two days certainly bolster a résumé that was considered just outside of the tournament bubble entering the week.

After taking down back-to-back opponents who took two of three games against the Shockers in the regular season, WSU will try to make it a third straight opponent with a win against Charlotte on Saturday that would clinch the program’s first AAC tournament title since 2021.

“It’s almost like a revenge tour,” said Barnard, who has headlined the show.

Because the fourth-seeded Shockers were the higher-seeded team, they batted first and set up in the visitor’s dugout at Wilkins Stadium. That just meant the party started earlier, as Barnard continued her otherworldly hitting tear.

In the game’s second at-bat, Barnard blasted a two-run home run over the left-field fence to set the tone immediately. It was her sixth home run in her past eight at-bats, which spans the three tournament games this week at Wilkins Stadium.

“Those are crazy numbers for ‘MLB The Show,’” WSU teammate Bailey Urban said of Barnard. “And she’s doing this in real life.”

“I was like, ‘What the heck?’ I don’t even know what’s going on at this point, but I’m here for it,” Barnard said about her home-run eruption. “I’m just trying to stay relaxed and doing my thing and good things are happening.”

WSU led 4-1 after two innings after C.C. Wong delivered an RBI single and Taylor Sedlacek produced a sacrifice fly. The third inning is when the Shockers turned the game into a blowout.

Sami Hood (single), Lainee Brown (fielder’s choice) and Caroline Tallent (hit by pitch) loaded the bases, then Jess Garcia plated a run with a sacrifice fly to center field.

That brought up No. 9 hitter Krystin Nelson, who shook off a 1-for-26 start to the season by hitting .396 since March. WSU already had a 5-1 lead, but Nelson delivered what felt like the dagger with a three-run home run that bounced off the top of the wall in right-center field and exited the field for just her third home run of the season.

“Krystin is the best 9-hole (hitter) in this game,” Urban said, a phrase that was repeated several times afterward. “She turns the lineup over like nobody’s business. And that was Exhibit A.”

“It feels amazing with my teammates having my back,” Nelson said. “They always tell me I’m the best 9-hole. So my teammates having that confidence in me allows me to be able to execute like that.”

After walks to Wong and Barnard, Urban smacked the second three-run homer of the inning on a no-doubter to left field to build an 11-1 lead.

While WSU has remained one of the best power-hitting teams in the country, no team has come close to matching the program’s two-year run from 2021-22 when the team hit a combined 224 home runs. This year’s Shockers (75 home runs) are well off that sizzling pace, but three home runs in the first three innings on Friday felt like a return to the magic of the long ball.

Making the feat even more impressive was that it came against a top-50 pitching staff, as WSU’s offense belted out 12 runs on nine hits — the most runs FAU has allowed all season.

From there, it was up to the WSU pitching staff to close out a run-rule and preserve as much energy as possible for a fourth game in four days in Saturday’s championship. Chloe Barber navigated traffic to hold FAU to two runs through three innings, then Alison Cooper came on in relief to close out the game with two scoreless innings.

WSU head coach Kristi Bredbenner said afterward that she is undecided on the starter for Saturday’s championship game, but was leaning to either Barber or Cooper with the off-chance of an appearance from sophomore Alex Aguilar. She’s expecting to use multiple arms regardless of who starts.

“Right now we’re playing with some confidence and something to prove and they definitely don’t want it to end,” Bredbenner said. “We’re doing a good job of staying in the moment. That’s huge and that’s what the (2021) team did when we won the conference tournament. Even when we got down, we were able to fight and fight and fight. So if you want to compare this group to that team, that’s a great comparison because they ended up winning the conference tournament and were one of the best teams to play here at Wichita State.”