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.

After losing 10 consecutive games to conclude the regular season, the Kansas softball team slid to seventh in the Big 12 Conference and will play last-place Houston to open the league’s postseason tournament Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The Big 12 championship at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City is nearly 50% larger and a day longer this season after the league added three softball programs — including Houston — last offseason. The Jayhawks looked to be in position to completely bypass the first day, which includes only the bottom four teams, but suffered a sweep at home against fellow newcomer BYU over the weekend, allowing the Cougars to sneak into sixth place on tiebreakers.

The three losses against BYU ran the gamut, from the error-laden opener on Thursday to a 12-2 run-rule defeat Friday to a 3-0 loss on senior day Saturday that saw KU held to two hits.

It all amounted to the nadir of a slump that also featured tough series against two of the top teams in the country, Texas and Oklahoma State, and a midweek blip at home against Kansas City, as KU finished the regular season at 27-24-1 (11-16 Big 12).

The Jayhawks have been led in the circle by pitchers Katie Brooks and Kasey Hamilton, who have combined on the year to start 46 games. Hamilton, the primary starter, was at her best from late February to late March, a period during which in the span of a month, she allowed zero earned runs in nine of her 11 appearances, pitching seven complete games during the stretch. She’s had a more challenging go of it later in the year (albeit often going against tougher competition) and has been credited with just one win since March 24.

Sophomore outfielder Presley Limbaugh missed a month of action but has started all 35 games she’s played, and since returning has been held hitless just twice. She is far and away the leader in batting average for the Jayhawks at .379. Catcher Lyric Moore and infielder Hailey Cripe have six home runs apiece on the year; Cripe is one of two players, along with senior outfielder Angela Price, to start every game this season. On the whole, KU’s offense has largely lagged behind the Big 12 statistically, as it is last in slugging percentage and last in on-base percentage on the season, but has still seen a wide variety of contributors chip in.

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Kasey Hamilton celebrates after striking out a BYU batter on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at Arrocha Ballpark.

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: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore infielder Hailey Cripe bats against Kansas City on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at Arrocha Ballpark.

In its first year in the Big 12, Houston has experienced struggles much more focused on pitching, where it has a team ERA of 6.05, the worst in the league. Transfers Paris Lehman (Nicholls), Shelby Smith (Seton Hall) and Tamya Waiters (UT Arlington) have combined to make the majority of the starts, led by Smith, who is 10-14 with a 5.17 ERA.

Smith has also batted .330 as a two-way player, but the real standout quality of the Houston offense has been the power in its starting lineup, led by 11 home runs from infielder Jazmyn Rollin (an Arizona State transfer who is slugging .642) and eight each by Lair Beautae, Bree Cantu and Turiya Coleman.

photo by: AP Photo/Michael Wyke

Houston pitcher Tamya Waiters during an NCAA softball game against Indiana State on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, in Houston.

photo by: AP Photo/Michael Wyke

Houston third baseman Jazmyn Rollin, right, fields the infield grounder to first baseman Bree Cantu, left, for the out against Indiana State during an NCAA softball game on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, in Houston.

photo by: AP Photo/Michael Wyke

Houston batter Lair Beautae connects for a hit against Indiana State during an NCAA softball game on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, in Houston.

When KU and UH met earlier in the year in Houston, the Jayhawks picked up a road sweep from March 22-24 in a series of hard-fought games. In the 4-3 opener, Cripe hit a go-ahead two-run home run and turned a solo double play late; in the 11-4 Saturday matchup, two lesser-used Jayhawks hit grand slams; in the 2-1 closer, Hamilton threw a complete game and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning.

The Cougars have rarely gotten that close in conference play. They beat eventual regular-season champion Texas 12-10 in their first-ever Big 12 game and run-ruled Iowa State a week later, but have won just as many league games in 21 tries since. The closest they got to a series win was in Provo, Utah, when they led BYU 15-13 in extra innings but allowed a walk-off grand slam.

If the Jayhawks can beat Houston for a fourth time this year, they will turn around to face powerhouse Oklahoma, which is merely the No. 2 team in the conference this season, on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The KU program has shown its capacity for upsets in the past, such as when it beat Oklahoma State 8-7 in a game played over the course of two days in last year’s tournament. However, KU has not beaten OU since 2016; it’s lost 22 straight, with half of those losses coming in fewer than seven innings.

KU last won the Big 12 tournament outright in 2006, including a victory over OU in the final.

The postseason is still a possibility for KU, although the Jayhawks were decidedly on the NCAA Tournament bubble even prior to the BYU series — D1Softball had them as the second-to-last team in the picture, and College Sports Madness as the second team out, on April 30. KU has not made the tournament since 2015, though McFalls took the Jayhawks to the National Invitational Softball Championship two seasons ago, where they lost in the semifinals to Baylor.