🥎 Bruno Honored by Big 12 After Standout Freshman Season

IRVING, Texas – Kansas freshman first baseman and pitcher Olivia Bruno has been named to the All-Big 12 Second Team and to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, it was announced Wednesday by the conference. 

This marks the fourth-straight year the Jayhawks have had a player on the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. Bruno, a true freshman from Topeka, who started 47 of the 48 games she appeared in, is second on the team in batting average at .315 and tied for the team lead in home runs with 10. She had 30 RBI in the regular season, which is one behind Ashlyn Anderson for the team lead. 

Bruno got better as the season went on and was the team’s top hitter in conference games with a .353 clip. She started all 18 conference games and had six home runs and 13 RBI in league play. 

The freshman also saw some time in the circle this past season and was 2-3 with a 4.72 ERA in 29 2/3 innings pitched. 

Bruno enters Thursday’s Big 12 Tournament on a nine-game hitting streak. In her most recent game against Iowa State, she went 1-for-3 with her 10th home run of the season. 

The former Washburn Rural High School standout was a two-time all-state honoree and helped lead her team to back-to-back regional championships. 

Bruno and the Jayhawks will face No. 2 seeded Oklahoma State on Thursday at 3 p.m. CT., in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament, which is single elimination.