How Shocker slugger overcame injury to reach top 10 in career home runs in NCAA history
When the start of your career is historically good, anything less than elite can feel like a disappointment.
Trust the word of Addison Barnard, who experienced the meteoric rise from mild-mannered Nebraska farm girl to record-breaking slugger for the Wichita State softball team and then learned with accolades come expectations, none higher than from herself.
There is no footnote to her 2023 statistics that explain the major reason why her power numbers were considerably down; she played virtually the entire season with a torn labrum in her left shoulder that required offseason surgery.
Barnard knew outsiders judged her solely by her numbers. And her numbers — a testament to her ability that a down season included only 14 home runs and 36 RBIs — were down.
“That was really tough for me, mentally,” Barnard said. “I came expecting to be able to do my normal stuff, but I didn’t really realize just how bad (the injury) was going to affect me. I went through a lot, but pushing through that mentally helped me grow so much. Softball is such a mental game, and being able to overcome that was huge for me.”
Barnard has been fully healthy — physically, but also mentally — for her final season with the Shockers. There’s still pressure to perform, like any All-America candidate feels, but she is no longer consumed by crushing anxiety and is enjoying swinging away pain-free again.
The result has been Barnard cementing her place among college softball’s best home-run hitters of all time.
After a two-homer game this past weekend against UAB at Wilkins Stadium, Barnard has 17 long balls this season, tied for eighth-most in the country. More importantly, Barnard’s latest bomb moved her into sole possession of 10th place for career home runs in the NCAA record book. Her career per-game pace (0.44) is just off the all-time home runs leader Jocelyn Alo (0.46) of Oklahoma.
“She’s a tough kid, and when you consider she played through a pretty significant injury last season, she had a pretty good run,” WSU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “Even with one arm, she was still one of our best power hitters last year. And now we’re excited to have her back at 100%.”
It took Barnard a while to adjust to her limitations last season. In situations where Bredbenner would typically give her the green light to swing away, the coach called for the program’s all-time home run leader to instead lay down a bunt to advance the runner.
“Sometimes I handled it well and sometimes I got really frustrated because I know what I’m capable of and I wasn’t really up to that standard,” Barnard said. “Seeing other people recognize that was difficult, but at the end of the day, I had to remember I had to do whatever I could to help the team win.”
It didn’t take long for opponents to realize when scouting Barnard that she was struggling hitting on the inside of the plate. And that’s where the majority of pitchers attacked her relentlessly.
As the season progressed, Barnard actually stopped hitting inside pitches during batting practice because of the pain in her lead shoulder.
“I would feel fine, and then all of a sudden a foul ball would really hurt and I would have to call a timeout,” Barnard said. “I never knew when it was going to come, but when it came, I definitely felt it.”
Even with the breakout season of CC Wong, WSU’s lineup isn’t quite as explosive as it has been in the past, which has limited Barnard’s run-scoring opportunities. Still, the center fielder and No. 2 hitter in the lineup is hitting .375 with a career-best .479 on-base percentage. Her home-run pace (0.43 per game) is right on her career average.
Along with Sydney McKinney, another multi-time All-American, Barnard has secured her place at the very top of the program’s best. She holds the WSU single-season records for home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, slugging percentage and total bases, while she is the career leader in home runs (86), RBIs (215), stolen bases (65) and slugging percentage (.852).
In 2022, she became the first player in NCAA history to record at least 30 home runs and 25 stolen bases in the same season. She is one of six players in NCAA history with 70 career home runs and 50 career stolen bases and the only active player with 80 career home runs and 60 career stolen bases. Her 33-homer season in 2022 ranks No. 1 all-time in NCAA history for per-game pace (0.63). Barnard has been regarded as a top-35 player nationally by Softball America and D1 Softball.
And now the Beatrice, Nebraska, native is in the midst of attempting to secure a third straight NCAA Regional berth for the Shockers, who are fighting for their postseason lives with a 21-19 record and No. 48 ranking in the RPI.
WSU plays a key road series at North Texas beginning Friday before wrapping up the regular season with a homestand against Memphis on May 3-5. The Shockers also host the American Athletic Conference tournament at Wilkins Stadium from May 8-11.
