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Who would have thought that the catalyst of HCKB's success at Wichita State would have been a player she had recruited to Emporia State and then to the Shockers 2 years later. HCKB took the Wichita State job in Cacy Williams' freshman year at ESU. Cacy redshirt that year due to injury and then hit .376 with 10 home runs for the Hornets as a redshsirt freshman before HCKB convinced her to join the Shockers for the 2014 season.
The Shocks were coming off a 19-33 season in 2013 (their 5th consecutive losing season) and were picked to finish 8th in the MVC in 2014. Williams and other members of that 2014 team changed attitudes and work ethics to push the Shockers out of their streak of five losing seasons. "It's really when I fell back in love with the game," Williams said. "Kristi has a knack for figuring out what every athlete needs. They just let me be myself. I was super-aggressive. That really changed everything." Grip It and Rip It had arrived.
Williams, from Platte City, Mo., hit .424 in 2014 with 16 home runs and 14 doubles to earn MVC Newcomer of the Year and MVP honors. The Shockers went 34-23, 21-6 in the MVC, and won the program's first regular-season conference title.
In 2015, Williams hit .292 with nine home runs and 16 doubles. In 2016, she led WSU to another MVC title and their first NCAA regional since 2005. She hit .365 with 14 home runs to earn All-Midwest Region honors for a second time.
For her career, Williams hit .360 with 39 home runs, 135 runs batted in and 35 doubles. Her batting average ranks fifth on WSU's career list and she is second with a .673 career slugging percentage. Her home run total ranked first at WSU when her career ended and is now tied for third.
https://goshockers.com/news/2024/1/2...-williams.aspx
The only other softball player in the Shocker Hall of Fame was Janet Kohl Hoskin who was at Wichita State from 1968-1972 in the formative years of women's sports at Wichita State. She was inducted as a Volleyball, Basketball, Softball, Field Hockey player. She also coached at Wichita State form 1973-1976. It sound like she was elected more as a pioneer of women sports than for her excellence as a softball player although that doesn't diminishe her worthiness to be in the Shocker Hall of Fame.
I am a little surprised that Cacy is the first to be inducted since that time. There are perhaps 4 or 5 players pre-HCKB that perhaps could be considered. However, Cacy will be the first of HCKB's players to be inducted into the Shocker Hall of Fame but she will not be the last and Cacy and het teammates certainly lit the fire that has propelled Shocker softball to the current popularity.
The Shocks were coming off a 19-33 season in 2013 (their 5th consecutive losing season) and were picked to finish 8th in the MVC in 2014. Williams and other members of that 2014 team changed attitudes and work ethics to push the Shockers out of their streak of five losing seasons. "It's really when I fell back in love with the game," Williams said. "Kristi has a knack for figuring out what every athlete needs. They just let me be myself. I was super-aggressive. That really changed everything." Grip It and Rip It had arrived.
Williams, from Platte City, Mo., hit .424 in 2014 with 16 home runs and 14 doubles to earn MVC Newcomer of the Year and MVP honors. The Shockers went 34-23, 21-6 in the MVC, and won the program's first regular-season conference title.
In 2015, Williams hit .292 with nine home runs and 16 doubles. In 2016, she led WSU to another MVC title and their first NCAA regional since 2005. She hit .365 with 14 home runs to earn All-Midwest Region honors for a second time.
For her career, Williams hit .360 with 39 home runs, 135 runs batted in and 35 doubles. Her batting average ranks fifth on WSU's career list and she is second with a .673 career slugging percentage. Her home run total ranked first at WSU when her career ended and is now tied for third.
https://goshockers.com/news/2024/1/2...-williams.aspx
The only other softball player in the Shocker Hall of Fame was Janet Kohl Hoskin who was at Wichita State from 1968-1972 in the formative years of women's sports at Wichita State. She was inducted as a Volleyball, Basketball, Softball, Field Hockey player. She also coached at Wichita State form 1973-1976. It sound like she was elected more as a pioneer of women sports than for her excellence as a softball player although that doesn't diminishe her worthiness to be in the Shocker Hall of Fame.
I am a little surprised that Cacy is the first to be inducted since that time. There are perhaps 4 or 5 players pre-HCKB that perhaps could be considered. However, Cacy will be the first of HCKB's players to be inducted into the Shocker Hall of Fame but she will not be the last and Cacy and het teammates certainly lit the fire that has propelled Shocker softball to the current popularity.