Several Jayhawks earn all-Big 12 honors ahead of postseason run

Best seasons in program history don’t typically come without a few individual honors that helped a team deliver.

And the Kansas softball team certainly received its share of those such honors this week.

Freshman Ella Boyer was a unanimous Freshman of the Year pick by the Big 12 Conference coaches. She also joined outfielder Anna Soles on the all-Big 12 first team and was one of three Jayhawks named to the conference’s all-freshman team.

Pitchers Blakely Barber and Lila Partridge also were among the top freshmen in the conference this season in the eyes of the coaches.

Senior infielder Hailey Cripe was named the Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year and she joined centerfielder Presley Limbaugh on the conference’s all-defensive team. Limbaugh also was a second-team all-Big 12 honoree.

In addition to the players bringing home all-conference recognition, KU coach Jennifer McFalls was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year by the USA Today Sports Network.

Put all of that together and you’ve got by far the Jayhawks’ best season under McFalls, who took over in 2018, and led the team to 34 wins (and counting) so far this season. The win total also marks the most wins by a Kansas softball team in more than a decade.

In addition, this year’s Jayhawks also have set program records in conference wins (14), home runs (80), doubles (94), runs scored (354) and RBIs (336).

While those numbers and honors have been great, the goal McFalls’ team is truly chasing is postseason wins.

The 5th-seeded Jayhawks will open Big 12 tournament play at 11 a.m. central time on Thursday with a first-round matchup against No. 4 seed UCF on ESPN+.

Regardless of what happens this week in the Big 12 tourney, McFalls believes her team has done enough to keep playing in NCAA Tournament games that follow.

This season, Kansas racked up 18 top-100 RPI wins, 10 top-50 RPI wins and four top-25 RPI wins. The Jayhawks also enter the postseason with an RPI ranking of No. 39 and finished the season 6-2 in Big 12 series, which was tied for the second best mark in the conference.

“I think we’re sitting in a really good place,” McFalls said this week. “I think playing a team like UCF on Thursday, if we win it only helps us. If we lose, I don’t think it kills us. I think we’re in a really good position.”