#25, Outfield, L/R

Sydney McKinney

Wichita State University '23

Hometown: Norborne, Missouri

Two-Time AAC Player of the Year (2021, 2023)

Sydney McKinney is a 5-foot-7 professional softball infielder from Norborne, Missouri. She was acquired in the 2nd Round of the 2026 Expansion Draft following a collegiate career at Wichita State.

Personal Life

Career: Spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Marshall University before joining the staff at Wichita State as a graduate assistant in 2025.

Family: Father played basketball at Mid-America Nazarene. Sister, Madison, played softball at Avila University.

Hobbies: Painting, trying new coffee shops, and playing with slime.

Professional Experience

Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball, AUX & AUSL (2023–2025)

2025 AUSL All-Star Cup: Closed the season in 23rd place with 830 leaderboard points. Started all 10 games, posting a .219 batting average with two doubles and three runs scored.

2025 AUSL Regular Season: Starter in 23 games who led the AUSL with a .486 average. Finished second in the league with 36 total hits and a .500 on-base percentage. Authored a .649 slugging percentage and three home runs.

2024 Championship Season: Accumulated 1,050 leaderboard points. Ranked third in the league with a .362 batting average and tied for third with 17 hits.

2024 AUX Season: Posted a sixth-place finish with 1,198 leaderboard points. Led the league with a .429 batting average, 15 hits, and four walks.

2023 Championship Season: Recorded 680 leaderboard points, hitting .222 with six hits.

2023 AUX Season: Secured 744 leaderboard points in her inaugural campaign. Led the league with a .429 batting average and tallied 12 hits, including two triples.

International Experience (2022–2026)

Team USA: Member of the Team USA roster for the 2022 Japan All-Star Series and the 2026 National Team pool.

College Experience: Wichita State (2019–2023)

Career Statistics: Started all 244 games of her career. Authored a .451 batting average and finished fifth in NCAA Division I history with a school-record 378 career hits. Shockers’ career and single-season leader in hits, batting average, runs scored, and total bases.

Graduate Year (2023): Led NCAA Division I with a .520 batting average and 103 hits, breaking her own single-season mark.

Senior Year (2022): Set a school record by hitting .522, becoming one of two players in NCAA Division I to hit .500 or better.

Junior Year (2021): Set program single-season records with a .439 batting average and 87 hits.

Freshman & Sophomore Years (2019-2020): Paced the team with a .410 batting average during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Ranked third on the team with a .329 average as a true freshman in 2019.

Awards & Honors

All-America: Three-time NFCA All-America selection (First-Team in 2023).

Conference Honors: 2021 and 2023 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Four-time All-AAC First Team selection.

National Honors: Top 10 Finalist for the 2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award.

YEAR	G	GS	PA	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG%	OPS	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HP	SO	LOB	TB	SF	SH	SB	CS
2026 All-Star Cup	4	4	11	11	.364	.364	.364	.728	1	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	4	-	-	-	-
2026 Spark	15	15	58	54	.370	.414	.426	.840	12	20	3	-	-	6	3	1	2	9	23	-	-	-	1
2025 All-Star Cup	10	10	35	32	.219	.242	.281	.523	3	7	2	-	-	5	1	-	6	-	9	-	2	-	-
2025 AUSL Postseason	2	2	7	7	.143	.143	.143	.286	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-
2025 Bandits	23	23	78	74	.486	.500	.649	1.149	15	36	3	-	3	14	2	-	11	15	48	-	2	2	2
2024 Championship*	15	7	52	47	.362	.400	.362	.762	8	17	-	-	-	2	3	-	3	-	17	-	2	1	-
2024 AUX Softball	12	6	42	35	.429	.488	.543	1.031	6	15	2	1	-	4	4	1	1	-	19	1	1	-	-
2023 AUX Softball	8	-	32	28	.429	.484	.571	1.055	5	12	-	2	-	3	3	-	5	-	16	-	1	1	-
2023 Championship*	13	7	27	27	.222	.222	.222	.444	4	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	-	6	-	-	1	1
Career Totals	102	74	342	315	.375	.407	.454	.861	54	118	10	3	3	34	16	2	37	444	143	1	8	5	4

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Splits

DATE	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	PA	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG%	OPS	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HP	SO	LOB	TB	SF	SH	SB	CS
8/15/2026	Team Klingler	Team Brown	3	3	.333	.333	.333	.666	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
8/14/2026	Team Ricketts	Team Klingler	3	3	.667	.667	.667	1.334	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
8/9/2026	Team Ricketts	Team Corrick	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
8/8/2026	Team Corrick	Team Garcia	3	3	.333	.333	.333	.666	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Highlights

Early two-run blast by Sharlize Palacios lifts Team Klingler over Team Brown 2-1

Team Klingler secured two wins in Series 2 of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) All-Star Cup, the latest a 2-1 victory over Team Brown. The win was locked in by the first inning when Sharlize Palacios lifted a homer over the left field wall to put two runs on the board. She brought around […]

Awards & Honors

Two-Time AAC Player of the Year (2021, 2023)

Represented Team USA at 2022 Japan All-Star Series

2021 American Athletic Conference Champion

Wichita State Record-Holder in Hits (378)

Three-Time NFCA All-Central Region

5th in NCAA Division I History with 378 Hits

6/23/2026-
Sydney McKinney was reinstated from the temporary inactive list
5/20/2026-
Spark placed Sydney McKinney on the temporary inactive list
12/2/2025Spark
Spark drafted Sydney McKinney in the expansion draft: [Round 2, Pick 2 (4)]
1/30/2025Bandits
Bandits drafted Sydney McKinney in the inagural draft [Round 9, Pick 1(33)]

DATE	TEAM	TRANSACTION
6/23/2026		Sydney McKinney was reinstated from the temporary inactive list
5/20/2026		Spark placed Sydney McKinney on the temporary inactive list
12/2/2025	Spark	Spark drafted Sydney McKinney in the expansion draft: [Round 2, Pick 2 (4)]
1/30/2025	Bandits	Bandits drafted Sydney McKinney in the inagural draft [Round 9, Pick 1(33)]