It won’t be long before Wichita State softball star Sydney McKinney starts reaching a rarefied air in the world of college softball.
McKinney essentially rewrote the WSU record books during his illustrious All-American career, and he hit another milestone in the Shockers’ 12-0 victory Sunday over Fairleigh Dickinson in San Diego—his 300th career hit.
She’s already shattered WSU’s all-time career record, which was previously 250 set by Britnee Barnett from 2005 to 2008, and now McKinney is closing in on all-time status. She’s unlikely to catch the all-time NCAA leader in Arizona’s Alison McCutcheon with 405 career hits, but McKinney only needs 57 more hits to make the all-time top-10.
McKinney is currently hitting .771 for the Shockers (8-3) after the first 11 games of the season, as he upped his average further with a 3-for-3 performance in Sunday’s win to close out the Torero Classic. He also has a 29 game hitting streak, which is the 11th longest in NCAA history.
Outside of McKinney’s greatness, however, it was a mixed week of results for the Shockers, as they crushed their competition as they outscored Utah Tech, Fairleigh Dickinson and San Diego by 37-0 totals in four wins, but lost the two games. which offered potential pick-up wins in a 3-2 loss at San Diego State last Thursday and then a six-inning 8-0 loss to Boise State last Friday. Both opponents finished last season in the top 50 in the RPI.
San Diego State took a 3-0 lead after two innings, but McKinney answered with a solo home run in the third inning, then Lauren Lucas hit an RBI double in the sixth. 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 ruled by a 3-run home run by the Broncos in the sixth inning.
Also notable of the weekend was sophomore Alison Cooper pitching the 20th no-hitter in program history in WSU’s 13-0, five-inning win over San Diego. Cooper allowed two base runners to walk, but was otherwise perfect.
WSU has another opportunity for road victories in the construction resumption coming this weekend when it travels to Denton, Texas for the North Texas Invitational. The Shockers will play North Texas, who started 7-2 this season and were a top 50 RPI team last season, at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and 3:00 p.m. Northwestern State at 11am Saturday and 10am Sunday.
