KU softball preview: Jayhawks look for leaders to step up – Lawrence Journal-World

Feb 5, 2025 – 8:01am
photo by: Carter Gaskins/Special to the Journal-World
KU’s Aynslee Linduff (39) and coach Jennifer McFalls share a moment Saturday, March 30, 2024, at Arrocha Ballpark.
The Kansas softball team’s postseason hopes were hanging by a thread by the time the NCAA selection show rolled around on May 12.
The Jayhawks had squandered a scorching start to conference play, their best in 27 years, and one that earned them rankings in three national Top 25 polls by the end of March.
They closed the year by winning just six of their final 22 games, a stretch that included a 10-game losing streak immediately prior to the Big 12 tournament.
That was how they found themselves in head coach Jennifer McFalls’ basement, gathered as a group to watch the show, only to see team after team earn a chance at postseason play that ultimately eluded KU. The Jayhawks are still looking for their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2015.
“I thought that that was extremely important for this team to be in the same room, to not get our name called, and it’d be painful,” McFalls told the Journal-World. “It was painful. I think the ones that were returning left right away, like, ‘We’re never going to go through this again.’”
“As a team,” shortstop Hailey Cripe said, “we were very unsatisfied with how everything went.”
In the months since, McFalls said, it has been particularly important for her veteran players to impress upon the incoming freshmen — there are six this year, to go with an unusually high three transfers — what they’ve learned.
“You’re always in the spotlight and every single game and every matchup matters,” McFalls said.
This year’s Jayhawks have had a lot of growing to do since they arrived on campus in the fall. Longtime program fixtures like ace Kasey Hamilton and catcher Lyric Moore are gone, among other consistent starters like center fielder Angela Price and third baseman Ashlyn Anderson.
One of the biggest adjustments for the players, though, has been to the coaching staff. KU has gone through its first full offseason with pitching coach Laura Heberling, who joined the Jayhawks in the winter prior to the 2024 season, and brand-new hitting coach Justin Lewis, who replaced the retired Rich Wieligman.
“I think they’ve really connected well with Justin and love his approach,” said McFalls, who is entering her seventh season at the helm. “I just like how he’s very honest and clear and direct with what his expectations are, so I think that’s been really helpful for our team.”
Lewis, who previously served as the head coach at Nicholls, has meshed well at KU, where McFalls appreciates his “really aggressive mindset that he has, especially on the base paths.”
“I think that this year our goal is to work ahead of the pitcher, which obviously that’s always the goal, is to be aggressive, but we’re a little more free in our swings, I feel like,” Cripe said. “I feel like he’s given us the opportunity to have some trial and error in his first offseason here with us.”
There is certainly plenty of room for improvement at the plate, as KU was last in the Big 12 in on-base percentage and slugging percentage last season; the Jayhawks also stole the fewest bases of any team in the league.
They bring back some key offensive pieces, including preseason all-conference selection Presley Limbaugh, the junior outfielder whose .393 batting average in 2024 ranked among of the best single-season marks in program history, as well as Cripe, her classmate who led the team in home runs (seven), doubles (11) and RBIs (39).
photo by: Carter Gaskins/Special to the Journal-World
KU’s Presley Limbaugh (4) swings at a pitch Saturday, March 30, 2024, at Arrocha Ballpark.
photo by: Aiden Droge/Kansas Athletics
Kansas’ Hailey Cripe makes a throw during the game against BYU on Saturday, May 3, 2024, in Lawrence.
“Her attitude is amazing,” McFalls said of Cripe. “I just think she’s really special, I really do. And she wants everybody around her to be as good as she does, and she wants everybody around her to work as hard as she does. I’m really excited to see her perform this season and just hope she has an unbelievable year.”
Other returning players who started in the field include infielders Campbell Bagshaw and Sara Roszak and outfielders Aynslee Linduff. Topeka native Olivia Bruno could be in for an interesting senior season. The 5-foot-10 righty has primarily played first base and as a designated player in recent years but has not quite regained the offensive form of her breakout freshman season. This year, McFalls views her as a promising outfield option, and she could also see increased responsibility in the circle after pitching 11 times in 2024.
McFalls called Bruno “one of the hardest-working players I’ve ever coached and been around.”
photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World
Kansas junior Olivia Bruno bats against BYU on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at Arrocha Ballpark.
“I think she’s been really dialed in both as a pitcher and as a hitter,” McFalls said. “She really is a great athlete. She’s a big, strong young lady that she moves well and obviously has a cannon of an arm, so we just thought we were a little bit thin in the outfield this year. I’ve kind of been watching her over the last couple years move around in the outfield shagging balls — I’m like ‘Man, she can cover some ground.’”
Cripe highlighted teammate Kadence Stafford as a player to know this season. The sophomore from Arkansas brings wide-ranging versatility in the field, to the point that McFalls said she was likely one of the best defensive players she has ever coached.
KU’s trio of transfers will largely provide depth at various positions — the speedy Madi Hays (UTSA) in the outfield, Haley Webb (Indiana State) at catcher and Candace Yingling (Cal/Cal State Fullerton) at first base, as she can also provide power at the plate.
Bailey Amezcua, a freshman catcher from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and one of two Jayhawk position players named to Softball America’s freshman watchlist along with Karsen Griggs, has a strong chance to contribute right away behind the plate.
“I think she’s really coachable,” McFalls said. “She wants the opportunity to be a big part of this team. She loves the Jayhawks, she loves to practice every day, she’s got a really good arm behind the plate and that’s exciting. I think she works well with our pitching staff.”
That staff features a couple of familiar names led by last year’s ERA leader Katie Brooks, a senior starter. The staff features an array of contrasting styles this year; for example, Brooks has good velocity, while Lizzy Ludwig is more of a drop-ball pitcher. Freshmen Kennedy Diggs and Kaelee Washington are also in the mix, as is Bruno; the lefty Anna Soles, a two-way player who pitched just one inning last year, is out several weeks with an injury.
photo by: AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
Kansas starting pitcher Katie Brooks delivers to a Missouri batter during an NCAA college softball game on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, in Lawrence.
photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World
Kansas sophomore Lizzy Ludwig pitches against BYU on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at Arrocha Ballpark.
“I think (Heberling) figures out what the strengths are (of) each one of our pitchers,” McFalls said. “And that’s what we’re having to focus on, and that’s something that’ll be a little bit different for us this year, is just truly pitching by staff and by committee, trying to think about matchups.”
In general, McFalls said she’s excited to see who will claim significant roles on the team over the course of the season.
“I think there’s so many moving parts with this team, I’m just kind of excited to see who’s going to step up and really kind of put this team on their back,” she said. “We’ve got some good leadership and we’ve got a lot of players that, to be real honest, I am just hopeful that they get rewarded for their work ethic.”
The Jayhawks’ fortitude will be tested by an early-season slate that sends them on the road for five weeks to places like Boca Raton, Florida, and Long Beach, California, largely for weather reasons, before they actually get to play at Arrocha Ballpark on March 12. The key, Cripe said, is to remain focused on one game at a time — with so many coming in such rapid succession.
“In these weekends we’re playing about four to five different teams and sometimes jumping from one game to the next is pretty hard,” she said.
KU’s first games are against Clemson and Florida Atlantic on Thursday.
The Big 12, meanwhile, looks quite a lot different without perennial contenders Oklahoma and Texas at the top.
“I don’t look at it like the Big 12 dropped off at all, really,” said McFalls, a former assistant coach for the Longhorns. “I mean, yes, we lost two big powerhouses, but the schools that we gained (Arizona, Arizona State and Utah) are all really, really solid, and I think the Big 12 is going to be really interesting to see how some things pan out.”
McFalls said she thinks KU has a chance to position itself well for the postseason by reaching the top five in the 11-team league. Her fellow coaches, however, ranked the Jayhawks ninth in the preseason poll.
“I think one of the most important things is just to remember that we’re Jayhawk softball, we’re Kansas softball,” Cripe said, “and regardless of where we’re picked, we’re always going to pick ourselves over our opponents.”
McFalls said she believes KU already indicated with its 2024 season that “we’re a lot better than people gave us credit for.”
“To be real honest, I’m OK with (the ranking) because I think that’s really motivating for this team because I think deep down inside we feel like we’re better than that,” she said. “We know that. We proved ourselves that last year. But you know, we got to go play.”
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