photo by: AP Photo/Doug Murray

Kansas outfielder Ava Wallace (7) celebrates scoring a run with Kansas head coach Jennifer McFalls during an NCAA softball game against Missouri State on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 in Boca Raton, Fla.

Building consistency for the Kansas softball team has “kind of been our nemesis at times,” as head coach Jennifer McFalls puts it.

It might be a good sign for KU as it enters 2026, then, that it returns almost the entirety of its lineup from the 2025 campaign. A handful of players who have been deeply influential for the Jayhawks in recent years are among a group of seven seniors looking to lead KU beyond its previous losing season — 22-28, 6-18 Big 12 — and back into postseason contention.

“They’re hungry,” McFalls told the Journal-World. “I mean, they want to win. And I think that this is a group that has been so close the last couple of years that … they’ve just raised the bar and they’re kind of holding their teammates accountable for the same thing.

“So it’s been amazing, because I feel like we’re all on the same page, from coaching staff all the way down through our players right now. They’re really working extremely hard to get better every day and get themselves prepared.”

With the exception of Olivia Bruno, a two-way standout and second-team all-conference pick last season who was both KU’s best power hitter and most consistent pitcher, nearly every Jayhawk of note from the batting order is back from 2025. That provides opportunities for additional growth for even the most experienced team members, longtime senior standouts like shortstop Hailey Cripe (.329, 1.003 OPS with 10 home runs in 2025), center fielder Presley Limbaugh (the team leader in batting average each of the last two years), second baseman Campbell Bagshaw and right fielder Aynslee Linduff.

Within the group of seven seniors are four captains — Bagshaw, Cripe, Linduff and infielder Emma Tatum — of whom McFalls said, “All the things that you want from culture leaders are in those four captains.”

“They’re very dependable,” she added. “You know, they’re not just athletes that are barking orders, they walk the walk too. I think just the way they go about their business every day has been infectious around their teammates. They handle things in the locker room. They’re super positive. Their work ethic is tremendous.”

Between those four as well as Limbaugh, promising sophomore outfielder Ava Wallace (who had two home runs and seven RBIs in two at-bats in one of her appearances last season), two-way lefty Anna Soles, third baseman September Flanagan, stolen-base leader Madi Hays and versatile defender Kadence Stafford, KU returns 10 of the 13 players who appeared in its season-ending Big 12 tournament loss to Baylor last year.

One hole from that lineup is at catcher, where KU lost Natalie Marshall but does bring back 30-game starter Bailey Amezcua. McFalls has high hopes for freshman Ella Boyer, from Spring, Texas, to see time either behind the plate or at third base and account for the power the Jayhawks lost with Bruno’s graduation.

“She has some of the most power I’ve probably ever seen in person,” Bagshaw said on the Big 12’s preseason softball livestream.

Boyer headlines a group of six freshmen, who otherwise provide reinforcements primarily in the outfield and the circle.

“All of them are tremendously hard workers,” Bagshaw said. “I mean, they push us every single day. They came in and they didn’t skip a beat. They started firing hot.”

The Jayhawks’ division of labor in the circle will have to be quite elaborate this season. KU has a whopping nine arms at its disposal, most of whom are new to the Jayhawks; a majority are underclassmen and two are transfers.

“It’s definitely a good problem to have,” McFalls said.

The coach has credited Lizzy Ludwig, KU’s most experienced returning pitcher who was once an all-freshman selection with a 2.72 ERA in 2023, for her dedication to offseason improvement. The highest-ceilling pitcher of all could be sophomore Kaelee Washington, a Topeka native out of Santa Fe Trail High School with a 4.24 ERA in 69 1/3 innings last year.

“We always say Kaelee Washington’s a big, strong girl,” McFalls said. “She’s put together extremely well … Her mindset’s starting to match her body type a little bit. She’s wanting the ball more. She’s pitching with a lot more confidence.”

“Her power and her ability to just place the ball wherever she pleases is truly amazing,” Bagshaw added. “And she’s tough. I feel like I’ve hit off her every single day and yet I show up and I’m still struggling to figure out what she’s going to throw me.”

Also returning with a second offseason under her belt is fellow sophomore Kennedy Diggs. With both Bruno and Katie Brooks gone after high-usage campaigns, it remains to be seen how McFalls and pitching coach Laura Heberling will deploy other options like their trio of freshmen or Wichita State transfer Chloe Barber.

Barber will look to recapture the form from her distinguished freshman campaign with the Shockers after something of a downturn in her second collegiate season.

“I think she’s just a kid that is about confidence and having the support system that she’s looking for,” McFalls said. “And I think maybe this is a situation for her that she may not feel as much pressure having to be the one every day, you know? I think she’s excited that she has a pitching staff around her to help with a lot of those innings.”

Pitcher and utility player Ellie Loveless, one of a pair of rare JUCO transfers for McFalls’ club, both from McLennan Community College, is working her way back from an injury suffered last spring. The other former Highlander, Tehya Pitts, is a speedy outfielder who began her career at East Texas A&M and provides KU another left-handed bat and “great energy.”

“I think those are two kids that were D-I players just weren’t at the right programs at the right time,” McFalls said. “But I think that Chris Berry down at McLennan does a phenomenal job of developing players. I’ve known him for a long time, (assistant coach Justin Lewis) has known him for a long time, and we just had a really good connection with him, and we felt like these were two players that could potentially really help us in the lineup.”

The Jayhawks were picked to finish ninth of 11 teams in the Big 12’s preseason poll and didn’t have any players named to the preseason all-conference team.

Before they get the chance to prove their league foes wrong, they’ll have to go through the usual nonconference grind away from home, which begins on Friday with games against Bethune-Cookman (8 a.m. Central) and Illinois State (1 p.m.) in Tampa, Florida. The difficulty ramps up quickly over the course of the weekend.

“This will be the first time, I think, that we’re not starting off opening day with a top-10 team in the country, but so I think that’s really good for us to get a couple games under our belt,” McFalls said. “Obviously, we’ve played USF several times. They’re always going to have a really strong program. And then on day three, we’ve got Michigan and Florida.”

The Jayhawks will remain in the Sunshine State for their first 16 games before a weekend in Arkansas, a midweek date with Wichita State and then a home series against Utah State for their first action at Arrocha Ballpark beginning March 6. League play starts the following weekend at Houston.

With so many of the same players in place, there will undoubtedly be a degree of familiarity to the whole enterprise. But Cripe and Bagshaw, during last week’s Big 12 media event, maintained that this year’s team can be more competitive.

“This is the most tight competition we’ve ever had, and that speaks volumes to what we do at practice and how we show up every single day,” Bagshaw said. “Everybody wants to play, everybody wants to be on the field, and so that’s what kind of separates us is we want to compete in everything we do on and off the field, and we see that translate to the game.”

Added Cripe: “We are a very determined group that wants to work hard. We’re not taking reps off, we’re not taking the easy way out. We’re wanting more reps, we’re wanting more work, and I think that that determination and that grit and that want to just leads to a greater love for the game and the ability to just play at a higher level.”

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

KU junior Hailey Cripe lines her barrel up to hit her second home run of the game against Kansas City on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

KU junior Campbell Bagshaw catches a UCF hit that was popped up in the infield during the Jayhawks’ game on Sunday, May 4, 2025, at Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence, Kansas.

photo by: Carson Field/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas’ Aynslee Linduff swings at a pitch against Baylor in the Big 12 tournament at Devon Park in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

KU freshman Kaelee Washington delivers a pitch to a UCF batter on Sunday, May 4, 2025, at Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence, Kansas.