To achieve a 30-win season for the first time as a collegiate head coach, Jennifer McFalls admits, has taken a bit longer than she would have thought.
KU hired McFalls, a longtime Texas assistant, in the fall of 2018. The Jayhawks struggled early and got disrupted, like so many programs, by the pandemic; by 2023 she had them on the right track, won a Big 12 tournament game for the first time and earned a contract extension.
In mid-April of 2024, the Jayhawks were 27-14-1 overall, 11-7 in the Big 12, and looked to be on track for the first NCAA Tournament berth of McFalls’ tenure. They then finished the season 1-11.
After regressing in 2025, KU finds itself at something of an inflection point as it heads down the home stretch of the 2026 season. The combination of steadfast senior leadership and an uncommonly impactful freshman class has buoyed the Jayhawks into postseason contention at 30-15 (11-7 Big 12). After a 1-3 week against fellow tournament teams, KU is projected as the first team out of the tournament field by Softball America.
Especially with road games at ranked Oklahoma State looming during the final weekend of the year, that makes the Jayhawks’ imminent home series against Iowa State (27-19, 7-11 Big 12), beginning Friday at 5 p.m., a critical one for their season.
“It’s no secret that that’s been our No. 1 goal this whole season, is putting ourselves in position to get to postseason play,” McFalls said on Wednesday. “So as a matter of fact, yesterday, I was just really transparent with them about where we’re at, where we’re standing in the Big 12 right now and what these two next weekends really look like.
“Iowa State is no sleeper by any means. They’re fighting to get into the Big 12 tournament, so they have a lot on the line coming into this weekend.”
Indeed, whatever happens with ISU and OSU (and the Wichita State midweek game in between), KU will, barring a calamity, get a final chance to make its case against the rest of the top eight teams in the league in Oklahoma City in the Big 12 tournament.
The Jayhawks’ seven seniors, who will play their final games at Arrocha Ballpark this weekend, have borne witness to the full arc of the last four seasons. They had to sit in McFalls’ basement in 2024 and watch an entire tournament selection show that did not include Kansas’ name being called, then endure last year’s setbacks. This year, they say, they’re having more fun.
Shortstop Hailey Cripe said that in past years, going out to practice, “it was a place that it was like, ‘What are the attitudes and mentalities that we’re going to get today?’, and we were always guessing.”
“There definitely were) times where it felt like maybe if slumps were happening that we just were like, ‘Ugh, got to go out to practice today,'” pitcher Lizzy Ludwig said. “But now with this group, seeing them every day’s like a breath of fresh air. Walking up to the field, I’m so excited to be there and to be with them even if we are on a losing streak or whatever. This year there hasn’t been too high of highs or too low of lows. We’ve been very steady.”
Ludwig is right; KU has not swept or been swept this season in Big 12 play. In fact, it had won every conference series until it went on the road to UCF and dropped two out of three this past weekend.
Any given single win could be the difference from here on out, but the players hope to continue to do what they’ve done all year without succumbing to the pressure.
“I personally have changed the language on that,” McFalls added. “I’m not telling you where we’re at today to add pressure. I’m telling you where we’re at today to talk about the opportunities we have moving forward.”
She said that the Jayhawks are operating with a dramatically different mentality as opposed to two years ago at this time when things went awry.
“I think we have grown so much mentally and physically, just with our leadership that we have from our senior class,” McFalls said. “They know they’re good, and they believe in that. Half the battle’s been a mental piece, and you know, we’ve worked, we put a lot of time in that this fall and this spring in focusing on our mental toughness.
“And so every time they step out on the field now, they think they’re going to win, they believe they’re going to win, they’re playing to win, they’re not playing not to lose.”
Ludwig said that looking back to her freshman year, “we had this on our minds the whole time and really wanted to build a program to the best of our ability. So it’s kind of panning out really well in exactly how we thought.”
“For the four years that we’ve been here, it’s something that we’ve talked about every single year,” Cripe added of the possibility of the postseason. “So with it being our last go-round, for it to actually be a possibility, I think, is just really cool. It makes it exciting to go out on the field and have something to play for.”
Kansas pitcher Lizzy Ludwig delivers a pitch during the Jayhawks’ game against Utah on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence.
FRESHMAN STANDOUTS
As much as Cripe, Ludwig and fellow seniors like Campbell Bagshaw and Aynslee Linduff will have to say about how this season wraps up for the Jayhawks, a big reason why they are in this position in the first place is the impressive level of production they have gotten from their freshmen.
Blakely Barber, from Georgetown, Texas, and Lila Partridge, from Petaluma, California, have established themselves as some of KU’s most reliable options in the circle. Each recently pitched her first career complete game, in Partridge’s case the lone win from the UCF series. Neither has totally locked down opponents, but Barber has allowed more than three runs just once, and Partridge has conceded just 11 earned runs in 28 2/3 innings over the last month.
“They have just grown tremendously in what they do,” McFalls said. “Lila has such a presence in the circle, and she’s just fun to watch, you know? She never gets super rattled, and that’s what you’re looking for in a pitcher. I mean, the pressure is real on those kids, and she just handles it so well. So proud of her maturity and growth, and same with Blakely Barber. So it’s exciting to just think about the future of those two freshmen.”
Meanwhile, catcher Ella Boyer is having one of the best power-hitting seasons for any Jayhawk ever, regardless of class.
“Who doesn’t talk about Ella Boyer, to be honest?” Cripe said.
On April 4, she hit her 17th home run of the season to move into a tie for second place all-time for single-season homers at KU. The freshman from Spring, Texas, batting .350 with a 1.324 OPS, had been basically impossible for opposing teams to pitch to all year — until recently.
Baylor walked her eight times in a three-game series. But then last week, in four total games against Missouri and UCF, she went just 1-for-13 with two walks — not her first cold streak of the year but one that came at a pivotal time.
“People are starting to get a lot of information on her and figure some things out and maybe find out some of her weaknesses, and that’s where we’ve had some other players kind of pick up the back end of that for her,” McFalls said. “Her attitude has been awesome. She’s gone to work.”
Boyer said teams may be pitching to her “a little bit more cautious than other times.”
“But it’s honestly just a growing point for me,” she said, “learning from myself and to push myself to get better and understand certain at-bats and where I need to take from a mental standpoint and how I need to approach it.”
Cripe said that over the course of the season, Boyer has been able to both perform at a high level for the Jayhawks and revel in watching her teammates succeed: “The joy that she has for her teammates, I think, makes it so easy for her to just be good at what she does,” Cripe said.
“As a pitcher, she’s the best person behind the plate,” Ludwig added. “She’s rooting for me and it’s very genuine.”
The single-season home-run record of 22 by Serena Settlemier in 2006 is still within reach if Boyer catches fire again. If she gets within striking distance of Settlemier, it probably means a positive conclusion to the season for KU as a whole.
Kansas pitcher Blakely Barber delivers a pitch during the game against Missouri on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Lawrence.
Freshman catcher Ella Boyer yells in celebration after scoring for Kansas against Arizona State on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Lawrence.
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World
Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World
Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World