NCAA Division I Softball-A Midseason Look
The 190 Missouri and Kansas Softball athletes who compete in Division I are off to excellent seasons. We have conference and national leaders. Take a look at their accomplishments thus far this season
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Playing On Sports covers the graduates of 1,000 high schools located in Kansas and Missouri who compete in 11 sports in any of the 1,100 NCAA Division I, II, or III colleges and universities.
Our best athletes go on to play the sport they love in college. It is impossible to keep track of them because our lives are busy. And then there is the Transfer Portal. Contact is lost. Until now. Playing on Sports is the only publication that delivers so much information on so many athletes as they compete at the next level. No longer are they “Out of sight, out of mind”.
Every athlete is identified by their name, sport, position, class, high school, college, and collegiate conference.
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This Series
Playing On Sports covers four Spring Sports. This is the Second Leaderboard and Mid-Season Review. They are all Kansas and Missouri athletes competing at any of the 1.100 NCAA colleges and universities. That is why we break them down into logical groups. Batters and Pitchers. Division I, II, and III.
Here is a list of the articles in this series:
Baseball - Division I - 130 Batters and 143 Pitchers - See them all here!
Baseball - Division II - 261 Batters and 240 Pitchers - Coming Soon!
Baseball - Division III - Coming Soon!
Softball - Division I- 147 Batters and 43 Pitchers - This is it!
Softball - Division II - 187 Batters and 63 Pitchers - Coming Soon
Softball - Division III - Coming Soon!
Men’s Lacrosse - Introductory Edition - See it here!
Men’s Lacrosse - All Divisions - Coming Soon!
Women’s Lacrosse - Introductory Edition - See it here!
Women’s Lacrosse - All Divisions - Coming Soon
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The Basketball Series
We will be wrapping up the Basketball season very soon. You won’t want to miss our comprehensive accounting of awards won and statistics generated. In each edition you will see, athlete by athlete, who earned what season honor, and who placed highly in a statistical category. You will see photos and hear from their collegiate coaches. You will also have complete season stats for every athlete from Missouri and Kansas who occupied a spot on an NCAA Basketball roster.
We include academic honors along with athletic honors. Some of these awards come a few weeks after the season is over. The wait is very worthwhile.
Men’s Basketball - Division I - 111 Athletes - Coming Soon!
Women’s Basketball - Division I - 122 Athletes - Coming Soon!
Men’s Basketball - Division II - 152 Athletes - Coming Soon!
Women’s Basketball - Division II - 166 Athletes - Coming Soon!
Men’s Basketball - Division III - 116 Athletes - Coming Soon!
Women’s Basketball - Division III - 91 Athletes - Coming Soon!
That’s right! All 758 athletes. Who is All-Conference? All-America? Player of the Year? Who scored the most? Who got the most steals? You see the awards of those honored and statistics for each of the 758 athletes. You can’t find all of this in one place anywhere else. This is your opportunity to get your free subscription right now:
Highlighting Division I Softball
There are many Softball players who deserve to be highlighted. They don’t even all fit on the leaderboards below. An example is Mac Morgan (Sherwood/Univ of Texas) who would have the second best ERA if she had a few more Innings Pitched. Those will come and she will be highlighted in the future.
Paige Rocha (Platte County/Southern Illinois Univ.-Edwardsville) is off to a great start in her junior campaign. She leads the Ohio Valley Conference in Batting Average, Hits, At Bats, and Doubles. Lexy Smith (Holt/Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City) leads the Summit League in Batting Average and has only struck out once out of every 11.25 At Bats. Rylea Smith (Parkway North/Univ. of Kentucky) Is batting at a .364 clip, getting 39 hits and stealing nine bases out of nine attempts.
It didn’t take long for Abby Ulsas (Rockwood Summit/Saint Louis Univ.) to get acclimated to collegiate ball. As a freshman, she is batting .374 with 37 Hits and 24 Runs. This week Abby was named the Atlantic-10 Conference Rookie of the Week, the second time she has been so honored. As the lead off batter she got five hits in 12 at bats in a three game series at George Washington. In the third game she delivered the game winning hit with two outs in the seventh inning. Abi Chipps (Jefferson-Festus/Indiana State Univ.) is the most difficult batter to strike out of all the Missouri and Kansas Softball athletes She strikes out only once every 25.5 At Bats. She is also the leader with 11 steals in 13 attempts.
There are several pitchers who are having very good seasons. I will highlight two here, but the others will get much attention before the end of the season. What does NiJaree Canady (Topeka/Stanford) do after last year when she was the Division I Freshman of the Year with an ERA of .56? Well, she starts her sophomore year with an even lower ERA of .52. That leads all of Division I, just as her 172 strikeouts is the most at this point in the season. (Hint…..Second place is 30 strikeouts fewer) Nijaree strikes out 11.47 batters for every walk she gives up. That is the third best ratio in the Division I.
Alana Vawter (Staley/South Carolina) has an ERA of 1.84. She is striking out 3.35 batters for every walk she gives up and is holding opposing batters to a batting average of .213. In the off season Alana transferred for her fifth year of eligibility granted due to Covid to South Carolina from Stanford. While at Stanford, she was NiJaree Canady’s rotation-mate. (Rotation-mate isn’t a real word, but it should be!). Alana had an amazing run while at Stanford, one of the top Softball programs in all of Division I. Her 77 wins is the fourth most in Stanford history. She is fifth best all-time with an ERA of 1.75, 537 KO’s, 26 shutouts and 679.0 innings pitched. She also has one of the nine perfect games pitched throughout Stanford’s history.
Please read on and review the eleven leaderboards below. You then can move on to every local athlete in the attached spreadsheets.
A Word About Accuracy
Playing On Sports strives to have the most complete and accurate information available. But errors and omissions can happen. If you see any error or omission, please let me know! You can send a message directly to me here:
The Spreadsheets
Don’t miss the spreadsheets attached at the end which contain eight biographical details along with 23 Batting statistics 27 Pitching statistics for all 190 Division I Softball athletes.
The data contained in the leaderboards are as of 3-30-2024 and is provided by each college.
Batting Average (Min. of 75 At Bats)
.443 - Paige Rocha - Junior - Infield - Platte County - Southern Illinois Univ.-Edwardsville - Ohio Valley Conference
.420 - Lexy Smith - Junior - Utility - Holt - Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City - Summit League
.391 - Kinsey Fiedler - Junior - Infield - Lee’s Summit North - Univ. of Washington - Pac 12 Conference
.374 - Abby Ulsas - Freshman - Infield - Rockwood Summit - Saint Louis University - Atlantic-10 Conference
.364 - Rylea Smith - Fifth Year - Outfield - Parkway North - Univ. of Kentucky - Southeastern Conference
Total At Bats
122 - Paige Rocha - Junior - Infield - Platte County - Southern Illinois Univ.-Edwardsville - Ohio Valley Conference
107 - Rylea Smith - Fifth Year - Outfield - Parkway North - Univ. of Kentucky - Southeastern Conference
106 - Julia Crenshaw - Junior - Catcher - Fort Zumwalt West - Univ. of Missouri - Southeastern Conference
106 - Kara Daly - Junior - Third Base - Jefferson City - Univ. of Missouri - Southeastern Conference
102 - Abi Chipps - Senior - Utility - Jefferson-Festus - Indiana State University - Missouri Valley Conference
102 - Jess Willsey - Sophomore - Infield - Marquette - Univ. of Evansville - Missouri Valley Conference
Total Hits
54 - Paige Rocha - Junior - Infield - Platte County - Southern Illinois Univ.-Edwardsville - Ohio Valley Conference
39 - Rylea Smith - Fifth Year - Outfield - Parkway North - Univ. of Kentucky - Southeastern Conference
37 - Abby Ulsas - Freshman - Infield - Rockwood Summit - Saint Louis University - Atlantic-10 Conference
36 - Abi Chipps - Senior - Utility - Jefferson-Festus - Indiana State University - Missouri Valley Conference
34 - Kinsey Fiedler - Junior - Infield - Lee’s Summit North - Univ. of Washington - Pac 12 Conference
34 - Lexy Smith - Junior - Utility - Holt - Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City - Summit League
Total Runs
38 - Kate Kobayashi - Fifth Year - Outfield - Park Hill South - Miami Univ.-Ohio - Mid-American Conference
28 - Paige Rocha - Junior - Infield - Platte County - Southern Illinois Univ.-Edwardsville - Ohio Valley Conference
25 - Sydney Ross - Graduate Student - Catcher - Lee’s Summit North - Univ. of Nebraska-Omaha - Summit League
24 - Abby Ulsas - Freshman - Infield - Rockwood Summit - Saint Louis University - Atlantic-10 Conference
24 - Kinsey Fiedler - Junior - Infield - Lee’s Summit North - Univ. of Washington - Pac 12 Conference
Total Runs Batted In
32 - Kate Kobayashi - Fifth Year - Outfield - Park Hill South - Miami Univ.-Ohio - Mid-American Conference
29 - Sydney Ross - Graduate Student - Catcher - Lee’s Summit North - Univ. of Nebraska-Omaha - Summit League
29 - Julia Cottrill - Senior - Catcher - Andover Central - Texas A & M University - Southeastern Conference
26 - Julia Boyet - Senior - Infield - Cor Jesu Academy - Univ. of Delaware - Coastal Athletic Association
26 - Campbell Bagshaw - Sophomore - Infield - Washburn Rural - Univ. of Kansas - Big 12 Conference
Toughest to Strike Out (At Bats per Strike Out) (Min. of 75 At Bats)
25.50 - Abi Chipps - Senior - Utility - Jefferson-Festus - Indiana State University - Missouri Valley Conference
22.25 - Lexy Smith - Junior - Utility - Holt - Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City - Summit League
15.14 - Julia Crenshaw - Junior - Catcher - Fort Zumwalt West - Univ. of Missouri - Southeastern Conference
13.50 - Grace Banes - Senior - Infield - Piper - University of Iowa - Big Ten Conference
11.57 - Olivia Branstetter - Freshman - Infield - Liberty - Univ. of South Alabama - Sun Belt Conference
Total Stolen Bases
11 - (11 of 13) - Abi Chipps - Senior - Utility - Jefferson-Festus - Indiana State University - Missouri Valley Conference
10 - (10 of 12) - Avery Hobson - Senior - Outfield - Belton - University of Washington - Pac 12 Conference
10 - 10 of 12) - Natalie Sullivan - Junior - Outfield - Troy Buchanan - Saint Louis University - Atlantic-10 Conference
9 - (9 of 9) - Rylea Smith - Fifth Year - Outfield - Parkway North - Univ. of Kentucky - Southeastern Conference
8 (8 of 8) - Rylee Boone - Sophomore - Outfield - Prairie View - Western Illinois University - Ohio Valley Conference
ERA (Min. of 75 Innings Pitched)
0.52 - (107.1 Innings Pitched) - Nijaree Canady - Sophomore - Righthanded Pitcher - Topeka - Stanford University - Pac 12 Conference
1.84 - (98.2 Innings Pitched) - Alana Vawter - Fifth Year - Righthanded Pitcher - Staley - Univ. of South Carolina - Southeastern Conference
2.33 - (75.0 Innings Pitched) - Katie Brooks - Junior - Righthanded Pitcher - Bolivar - Univ. of Kansas - Big 12 Conference
2.53 - (130.0 Innings Pitched) - Camryn Stickel - Senior - Righthanded Pitcher - Raymore-Peculiar - Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City - Summit League
2.55 (110.0 Innings Pitched) - Clara Edwards - Junior - Righthanded Pitcher - Clay Center - Univ. of South Dakota - Summit League
Total Strikeouts
172 - Nijaree Canady - Sophomore - Righthanded Pitcher - Topeka - Stanford University - Pac 12 Conference
92 - Clara Edwards - Junior - Righthanded Pitcher - Clay Center - Univ. of South Dakota - Summit League
86 - Camryn Stickel - Senior - Righthanded Pitcher - Raymore-Peculiar - Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City - Summit League
85 - Maggie Chapin - Sophomore - Righthanded Pitcher - Shawnee Mission Northwest - Longwood University - Big South Conference
81 - Makenna Kliethermes - Senior - Righthanded Pitcher - Blair Oaks - Univ. of Mississippi - Southeastern Conference
Strikeout/Walk Ratio (Min. of 50 Strikeouts)
11.47 - Nijaree Canady - Sophomore - Righthanded Pitcher - Topeka - Stanford University - Pac 12 Conference
3.41 - Clara Edwards - Junior - Righthanded Pitcher - Clay Center - Univ. of South Dakota - Summit League
3.35 - Alana Vawter - Fifth Year - Righthanded Pitcher - Staley - Univ. of South Carolina - Southeastern Conference
3.21 - Cierra Harrison - Sophomore - Righthanded Pitcher - Lee’s Summit North - Univ. of Missouri - Southeastern Conference
3.05 - Annuh Junge - Graduate Student - Righthanded Pitcher - Marquette - Charleston Southern University - Big South Conference
Opposing Batting Average (Min. of 75 Innings Pitched)
.130 - Nijaree Canady - Sophomore - Righthanded Pitcher - Topeka - Stanford University - Pac 12 Conference
.213 - Alana Vawter - Fifth Year - Righthanded Pitcher - Staley - Univ. of South Carolina - Southeastern Conference
.224 - Kasey Hamilton - Senior - Lefthanded Pitcher - Washburn Rural - Univ. of Kansas - Big 12 Conference
.245 - Maggie Chapin - Sophomore - Righthanded Pitcher - Shawnee Mission Northwest - Longwood University - Big South Conference
.251 - Camryn Stickel - Senior - Righthanded Pitcher - Raymore-Peculiar - Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City - Summit League
Here is the spreadsheet that has eight demographic details and 23 statistics for each of the 147 batters. The data is as of 3-30-2024 and is provided by each college or university. The athletes are sorted first by high school, then by last name.
Here is the spreadsheet that has eight demographic details and 27 statistics for each of the 43 pitchers. The data is as of 3-30-2024 and is provided by each college or university. The athletes are sorted first by high school, then by last name.
I hope you enjoyed this content. If you did, please share with others via social media, email, or the share button you will find below. Coming during the season will be mid-season stat leaderboards for both Women’s and Men’s Lacrosse, in addition to Baseball and Softball. Also coming are wrap up articles for both Men’s and Women’s Basketball Don’t miss any of it! The subscription is free!