Our Ladies Can Hit in a Sport Where Most Can't
Low softball scores result from several things. The closeness of the mound. The aerodynamics of the ball. The underarm pitching motion. That makes the local performances at the plate pretty special.
If you missed the previous Spring NCAA coverage, you an find good content here:
Today, I am reviewing the Missouri and Kansas graduates who are hitting in Division I Softball.
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This list is made up of 188 ladies. Of those, 147 have gotten up to the plate. Most of the others are pitchers who have pitched, but have not batted. I will mostly focus on the 69 who have at least 75 at bats. All numbers are as of Friday, April 28.
Before we get to the numbers, let’s look at the demographics of all 188. They come from 117 high schools from throughout Missouri and Kansas. The two schools with the most are Lee’s Summit North with 7 and Blue Springs South with 6. Interestingly, with these two states stretching 641 miles wide, those two schools are only 19 miles apart. Special note needs to go to Andale, a small town outside Wichita. Andale High may only have 376 students, but they have 4 alums playing DI softball, three players with the last name. Some come from big schools like those in the Lee’s Summit School District and Troy Buchanan. And they come from a school with 31 students. More on Norborne High below.
They are now in the dugouts at 75 colleges and universities, including 11 teams in the Top 25. They are at Duke to the East and Stanford to the West. Those schools are in 25 of the 33 DI Softball conferences. Yes, flyover country has the nation covered when it comes to softball.
Now let’s focus on the 69 who have 75 or more official at bats. There are 20 who are hitting .300 or better, with 4 topping .400. Leading the way is Sydney McKinney (Norborne/Wichita State). The leadoff shortstop also has the most at bats. Her .524 batting average is 2nd in NCAA Division I. The area’s second best batting average is owned by sophomore Laney Credeur (Kingston/Louisiana-Lafayette) who is hitting at a .421 clip. Yes, the top two batters are from Norborne, which has 31 students and Kingston which has 197 students. Small town America at it’s competitive best. The top true freshman is Ashley Marietta (St. Mary’s-Colgan/Saint Louis University). St. Mary’s-Colgan has 164 students. I am beginning to detect a theme here! It doesn’t matter where you are from, if you can hit the ball, you can hit the ball. Small town folks as well as big town folks. Also hitting for high average are Hannah Burnett (Independence/Grand Canyon Univ.) at .406, and sophomore Paige Rocha (Platte County/Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at .400. Ashton Maloney, a redshirt freshman out of Liberty is hitting .383 for No. 5 ranked Texas. And Lauren Mills (Seaman/Wichita State Univ.) would lead her team in hitting if it weren’t for Sydney McKinney. Lauren’s .383 would be welcome on any team.
Sydney McKinney didn’t slip in with the highest batting average with AB’s just over the minimum. She has the most AB’s in the region with 170. The second most is 149 by Grace Banes (Piper/Univ. of Iowa) There are 69 ladies who have 75 or more official AB’s.
Laney Credeur edges out Sydney McKinney in slugging percentage, .763 to .747. But neither are known for the long ball. They do it by hitting single after single. Only 21 of Sydney’s 89 has hits stretched longer than a single. But, those 89 hits are the most in the country. Laney’s numbers are structured similarly, just with fewer AB’s. Lindy Milkowski (Olathe West/Eastern Illinois) has a slugging percentage of .738, which is powered by 14 home runs in 126 AB’s.
What happens when you have the nation’s second leading batting average and your team hits .338? You score a lot of runs. You have to score runs to win and no one in Division I has scored more runs so far this year than Sydney McKinney. That is a big reason Wichita State is 42 and 8. Hannah Burnett (Independence/Grand Canyon Univ.) comfortably leads the Western Athletic Conference with her 55 runs scored. Natalie Sullivan (Troy Buchanan/Saint Louis Univ.) and Chloe Rhine (Rockwood Summit/Saint Louis Univ.) are No. 1 and 2 in the Atlantic-10 Conference with 43 and 35 runs, respectively. And I want to point out Natalie is a sophomore, and Chloe is a freshman.
Of course, many times runs are scored because another batter hits them in. Softball is certainly a teamwork sport. Lindy Milkowski (Olathe West/Eastern Illinois) leads the Ohio Valley Conference with her 43 RBI. The 42 RBI by Julia Crenshaw (Fort Zumwalt West/Univ. of Missouri) is Top Ten in the SEC. Close behind at 42 is Kara Daly (Jefferson City/Univ. of Missouri) Both Julia and Kara are sophomores.
The basepaths don’t go quiet after Hannah Burnett (Independence/Grand Canyon Univ.) gets on with her .406 average. Her 31 stolen bases is more than twice the second most in the Western Athletic Conference. She has been thrown out only once. As a freshman, Abby Ford (Ozark/Missouri State) leads the Missouri Valley Conference in steals with 25.
As I noted above many of the players who have not gotten to the plate are pitchers. But, that doesn’t describe all of them. Kiersten Nixon (Troy Buchanan/Tennessee-Martin) has pitched 54 innings and recorded 101 AB’s. She is hitting .287 and her 6 home runs boosts her slugging percentage up to .525. Not only does Clara Edwards (Clay Center Community/Univ. of South Dakota) lead the Summit League in Inning’s Pitched, she has 66 AB’s. And she is just a sophomore.
As you can see, the softball players coming out of Missouri and Kansas are making their marks throughout Division I. The attached spreadsheet contains detailed statistical data in 22 categories for all 188 athletes. They are listed in total AB’s order.
I will be similarly reviewing baseball and softball for all three NCAA divisions. Don’t miss out! Get your free subscription now!