Five Wildcats Earn Softball All-Conference Honors

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. - After securing the second seed in the Heart Tournament for the second straight year, Baker softball had five players named to the 2024 Heart Softball All-Conference Teams, including three first-team honorees, as the league announced their postseason awards today.

The Wildcats had three players represented on the first team ballot with Kira Baker, Savannah Bray and Mary Grace Hess, while Madi Ball and Riley Phillips was named to the second team.

Baker, a sophomore from Eudora, Kan., earns her second straight first team all-conference selection after going 16-3 with an incredible 0.85 ERA and 170 strikeouts in her 123 innings pitched this year. She tossed 14 complete games and recorded four shutouts, while finishing the regular season by allowing just two runs in her final seven appearances.

Joining her ace pitcher on the first team list for the second straight year, Bray led the Wildcats in slugging (.714), home runs (10), doubles (12) and games played (44). The junior slugger from Olathe, Kan. recorded a pair of multi-homer games with two home runs against Columbia and two against Missouri Valley and ranked second in the conference with 10 total home runs.

After collecting honorable mention honors last season, Hess received a first-team nod this year as she finished as the team-leader in hits (54) and RBI (38). The senior from Burlington, Kan. hit .415 during the regular season and closed out the campaign with a hit in 14 of her last 15 games, including a blistering six-game stretch where she went 15-for-20 with 11 RBI.

In her first year as a Wildcat, Ball, a freshman from Blue Springs, Mo., slugged nearly .600 (.590) and matched Hess with a team-leading 12 doubles, while adding three triples and two home runs. She tallied a season-high five RBI with a home run and a double against Concordia in the second non-conference tournament of the season.

Phillips, a senior from Lansing, Kan., was selected to the second team after playing 43 games as the BU shortstop. She earned a .385 average with 52 hits,28 RBI, seven doubles, four triples and two home runs. She hit the game-winning home run for the Wildcats in their 3-1 walk-off victory over Grand View back in March.

Winning nine of their final 10 games, the Wildcats closed out a 2024 regular season that saw them go 32-12 overall and eclipse the 30-win mark of the second straight year.

As the No. 2 seed, Baker opened up with its first game of the Heart Softball Conference Championships earlier today and fell to No. 7 Missouri Valley, 5-4. They will play an elimination game later today (May 3) at 5 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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