Ausha Moore isn’t just avoiding a sophomore slump. She’s turning it into a sophomore surge.

“I feel like I had a freshman slump,” Moore said. “I don’t feel like I had a very good freshman year.”

It wasn’t as bad as she makes it sound. Call it an adjustment year.

Moore hit .283, started all 57 of North Texas’ games, drove in 26 runs and hit five homers. As she saw it, she “could only get better, couldn’t get any worse.” 

But even with steady production by most metrics, something about the game didn’t fully feel right.

Toward the end of the season, Moore said she struggled mentally, and she wasn’t alone in her experience of that season. She then bet on herself and entered the transfer portal, searching for more than just a change of scenery, but a place where the game might feel right again.

It was a chance to rediscover the hitter she knew she could be. A chance to find a program and culture that could bring out the best version of her on and off the field. A chance to call somewhere her forever home.

At first, however, the transfer portal felt uncertain. Moore said she feared there may not be a phone call or text.

“That might sound crazy, I guess, but that’s just how I felt,” Moore said. “I mean, I hit .280, had 30 strikeouts. I didn’t feel like I put my best foot forward to even begin to go somewhere else.

“I know the type of hitter that I could have been, and I don’t feel like I was that my freshman year.”

Enter Wichita State. 

Assistant coach Elizabeth Economon had done the bulk of Moore’s recruitment while the Del City, Okla., native attended Carl Albert High School. Though Moore initially attended North Texas, she never left the Shockers’ radar. 

The WSU coaching staff had seen flashes of what she could become — moments throughout last season that hinted at more than just talent. Moore even hit a three-run home run during the quarterfinals of the conference tournament that sent the Shockers packing.

“I thought, ‘Okay, this kid’s pretty special,’” head coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “(She) went to UNT and we faced her and she hit two jacks against us and had some really good at bats. You saw that there is a lot of potential in her.”

So when Moore’s name popped up in the portal, Wichita State didn’t hesitate.

“For us, it was an immediate text,” Bredbenner said. “Coach E texted her. I texted her, creating that conversation right away because we knew she could be a game changer for us.”

What started as an uncertainty became a chance for Moore to reset. And not just her career, but how she felt about the game itself. 

A chance to grow into what she and the coaching staff envisioned. A chance, maybe, to fall back in love with softball.

After one visit to campus, she was sold. The conversations with the coaching staff made her feel she belonged, both as a player and a person.

“The fact that they came back around really showed me the type of coaches that they were,” Moore said. “As soon as I stepped on campus, I kind of knew that this is where I wanted to go.”

Not long after, she committed. That decision is now defining Moore’s season and, in many ways, reshaping how she feels about the game. 

The latest example came last weekend against Charlotte.

That’s when Moore rifled a program record-tying three home runs and set a new mark with nine RBIs in a single game during Sunday’s series finale. None of them were cheap either.

Her first one, in the second at bat of the game, traveled over the center field wall after the 49ers’ pitcher served Moore one down the middle. Her second, in the same inning, was carried past the fence in left field — a grand slam that shut the door on Charlotte before it could find any footing. 

Moore’s trifecta was complete when, on a 3-1 count in the third inning, she sent one to right field for her third homer of the afternoon on a pitch in the outer half of the zone.

“I was just seeing the ball big that day and the opportunity kept presenting itself,” Moore said. “I just had a ton of belief in myself that I could do it. 

“The energy was high and we knew going into that weekend that we needed to get a sweep, and so I was just really proud of our team for doing that.”

The numbers — and the belief behind them — reflect that transformation.

Through 43 games this year, Moore leads the team and conference in home runs (18), RBIs (48), batting average (.386), on base percentage (.572), walks (38) and hit by pitch (13). Her strikeout numbers have dipped drastically from 29 last season to 13 this year.

“It’s exciting,” Economon said. “It’s also reassuring that what we’re doing is working because we’re seeing a lot of growth there. 

“We’re seeing a lot of growth in a lot of our players. So, I think our system and our processes are good. When you see output and success, then you feel like, ‘Okay, good, we’re going to stay the course, we’re going to keep doing our things.’”

Now, Moore is entering the conversation as one of the program’s top players — being mentioned alongside names like CC Wong, Addison Barnard, Lauren Lucas and Sydney McKinney. She isn’t ready to put herself there yet, though. 

But as it stands, Moore is up there. Her slugging percentage (.912) ranks third all-time in a single season, only behind the numbers Barnard put up in 2022 and 2024. Moore’s home run total ranks fifth in program history, and her on base percentage would place her in second, behind only Wong’s .579 set in 2024.

“I would have never thought that I would even be in the conversation,” she said. “I still have a long way to go before I can even be considered in those realms. 

“It’s definitely driving me to be the best that I can be.”

Economon sees that drive through Moore’s work ethic. It’s the same kind of drive that hinted this turnaround might be possible from the beginning and that the comparisons aren’t empty words.

Before fall practices began, while most newcomers were still adjusting to campus, Moore was ready to get to work immediately.

For Economon, that mindset stood out.

“It was a breath of fresh air,” she said. “We’ve had great players here in the past, and she (Moore) knows that. And a lot of the other newcomers, they’ve seen that.

“We talk about the CC Wongs and the Lauren Lucases and Syd McKinneys and Addie Barnards. Like, those are people that everybody’s familiar with. So they know there’s work to be done. 

“As soon as they were interested, I was like, ‘All this feels familiar. This feels good.’ So, they were engaged from the get-go and they bought in on the process.”

It’s a process that has already reshaped Moore’s career. More quietly, it restored something she didn’t fully realize was gone.

“I always had the talent, but I feel like I didn’t always have the belief in myself to go out there and do it,” Moore said. “I feel like just consistently proving to myself that I am capable has been the biggest factor for me. Working with the coaches really helped.”

Economon sees the difference not in just performance, but in Moore’s presence.

“When you see the work paying off, I think it’s more rewarding,” she said. “The success, the on-field stuff is always rewarding. 

“But to see how happy she is or how comfortable she is, that’s the best part because I think happy, comfortable, confident people play better softball.”

More importantly, Moore’s relationship with the game feels different now. Not just improved, but restored.

The growth, the confidence, the production — they can only tell part of the story. What’s changed most is how she feels when stepping onto the field.

For the first time since arriving on a college campus, Moore has found something that once felt out of reach. 

A place where she can fully be herself.

A place where the game feels like it once did. 

A place she can call a forever home, which Moore said is what Wichita State has meant to her.

“They’ve given me another chance to love the game again,” Moore said. “I feel like I fell out of love with it my freshman year. They’ve given me the opportunity and the space to feel safe enough to open up to them and be who I am.

“Hitting good or bad, it doesn’t matter — I’m surrounded by people who love me and who want to see me succeed, and I think that’s the biggest prize I could ask for.”