Serena Settlemier didn’t want to settle for an ordinary senior season.

“I just felt it’s my last year,” said Settlemier, a Kansas University softball player, “and I wanted to have something good to accomplish.”

So far, so : well, Settlemier has been much, much better than good.

The 5-foot-7 native of Kelso, Wash., is leading the Big 12 Conference:

¢ In home runs with 16. No one else in the league has more than nine. Every time she homers, Settlemier adds to her school and career records in that category.

l In RBIs with 42. That number is six shy of the school record set 26 years ago by June Koleber.

¢ In slugging percentage at .882. The school record is .682 by teammate Destiny Frankenstein last year.

¢ Grand slams with four. No documentation exists, but those four bases-loaded homers are believed to be a school record.

“Serena has always been a dangerous hitter,” KU coach Tracy Bunge said, “but until this year she controlled only the inside part of the plate. Now, she’s made the adjustment to where she can hit the outside pitch to right-center.”

Settlemier’s production hasn’t been limited to the batter’s box. In the circle, she has recorded an 11-4 won-lost record with a 1.39 earned-run average, the fourth lowest ERA in the league.

Settlemier, who works as the designated hitter when not pitching, gives Kansas the league’s most feared cleanup hitter and, while she doesn’t compare to Texas standouts Cat Osterman and Meagan Denny as a pitcher – who does? – Settlemier and Kassie Humphreys give Bunge the best 1-2 pitching pair north of the Austin, Texas, city limits.

Humphreys, a 5-11 junior, boasts the league’s sixth lowest ERA at 1.60. Opponents are hitting a measly .163 against her, yet her won-lost record is only 7-11 because she’s been the losing pitcher in the bulk of the Jayhawks’ dozen one-run losses.

Kansas (18-17) will go into today’s 3 p.m. game against No. 19 Nebraska at Arrocha Ballpark with a 1-3 league record. All three defeats have been by one run. Nebraska is 2-2 in league play and 24-6 overall.

Earlier this season at a tournament in Tulsa, Okla., Settlemier threw a three-hit, 4-0 shutout against the Cornhuskers, but Bunge said she was undecided whether to use Settlemier or Humphreys today.

Nebraska also has a talented pitching tandem in Molly Hill (13-1, 1.35 ERA) and Ashley DeBuhr (11-5, 1.63 ERA). Hill’s lone loss was to Settlemier in Tulsa.