With a little more than two weeks before the 2025 softball season begins, the American Athletic Conference (AAC) released its softball preseason poll on Thursday morning. The poll is voted on by the coaches.
Wichita State was picked to win the conference for the second straight season.
The Shockers received four first-place votes. Florida Atlantic University and the University of North Texas received three.
Last season, the Shockers finished 28-22 and 60th in the RPI rankings. The season ended with a loss to the University of Charlotte in the AAC Championship title match.
Despite Addison Barnard, WSU’s and the AAC’s all-time homerun leader graduating after last season, the Shockers will retain 47% (7-15) of their run scorers. WSU will also add firepower from the plate with the return of graduate student Lauren Lucas, who missed last season due to injury. In 2023, she tallied 42 runs on a .384 batting average.
All-conference juniors Taylor Sedlacek and Sami Hood and sophomore ace Chloe Barber return to this year’s roster, too. Sedlacek and Hood combined for nearly 20% (57-289) of the team’s runs from a season ago and Barber boasted 143 strikeouts, good for 80th in the country.
