Sydney McKinney

Personal: McKinney is the daughter of Jason and Andreia McKinney. Her father played basketball at Mid-America Nazarene, and she has two sisters and one brother. Her sister, Madison, played softball at Avila University from 2016-21.

2023 Championship Season: In her first Championship Season, McKinney recorded 680 leaderboard points, with 620 of those points coming from wins. She started in 9 out of the 12 games and had a batting average of .222, with six hits in 27 at-bats. Her best performance came on August 5 against Team Garcia, where she went 2-for-4 for her only multi-hit game of the season. McKinney earned 100 or more leaderboard points in five games throughout the season.

2023 AUX Season: McKinney earned 744 leaderboard points, including 520 win points, during her first professional campaign. She received MVP 3 honors on June 18 in Team Leach's 7-6 victory over Team Taylor. She started in eight games and led the league with a .429 batting average. McKinney recorded 12 hits, including two triples, and drove in three runs. She also scored five runs and had a six-game hitting streak to start her professional career, with four multi-hit performances. She went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a triple against Team Leach on June 18. She was one of 14 players selected in the Athletes Unlimited Softball College Draft.

International Experience: McKinney was a member of the Team USA roster for the 2022 Japan All-Star Series.

College Experience: McKinney was a five-year letter winner and started all 244 games from 2019-23. She had a career batting average of .451 with 28 home runs and 132 runs batted in. She finished her career ranked fifth in NCAA Division I history with a school-record 378 career hits. She was a three-time NFCA All-Central Region performer and earned First-Team distinction as a fifth-year senior. She was a Top 10 Finalist for the 2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award and was honored as the 2021 and 2023 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Additionally, she was a four-time All-AAC First Team selection and a member of the 2019 AAC All-Rookie Team. 

McKinney guided the Shockers to back-to-back at-large invitations to the NCAA Championship field in 2022 and 2023. She finished her career as the Shockers’ career and single-season leader in hits, batting average, runs scored, and total bases. She is also second in school history with 16 career triples and ranks fourth in school history with 48 career doubles. As a fifth-year senior, McKinney started in all 56 games and batted .520 with 103 hits, breaking her own program single-season mark. She also collected 13 doubles with seven triples and tallied 33 multi-hit games, including five outings with four hits. McKinney authored a 34-game hitting streak which included the final 18 games of the 2022 season and the first 16 games of the 2023 campaign.

During the 2022 campaign, McKinney led NCAA Division I in batting average (.522) and hits (97) while breaking her own school records in both categories. She was one of two players in the country to post a .500 or better batting average during the season. She was a Top 25 Finalist for the 2022 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award and earned Second-Team All-America honors from Softball America and D1Softball. McKinney tied the school single-game record with five hits against Memphis in the AAC Tournament on May 12, 2022. McKinney became the first player in program history to earn NFCA All-America accolades after being named to the 2021 All-America Third Team. She established program single-season records with a .439 batting average and 87 hits as a third-year sophomore. She started all 55 games and belted seven home runs with 31 runs batted in. McKinney led the Shockers to the 2021 American Athletic Conference title and NCAA Norman Regional appearance. 

As a true freshman in 2019, McKinney started 55 games and spent time at second base and third base. She ranked third on the team with a .329 average and team-best 57 hits.