For the first time in school history the Kaskaskia College Blue Angels Softball team has won the NJCAA Region XXIV championship. This program first now sends KC to the 2023 NJCAA Softball World Series in Oxford, Alabama.
The Blue Angels defeated the Lake Land College Lakers in back to back games by scores of 5-4 and 10-0 on Wednesday.
Game one was restarted with KC down 3-4 in the fifth inning as the regular contest was originally postponed due to rain earlier in the week. The Blue Angels scored one run utilizing small ball with smart base running and timely bunts to even the score 4-4 in the fifth. Then after shut down innings from pitcher Karlie McKenzie of Cottage Hills, WI, Megan Bailey of Medora, hit a home run in the top of the ninth to put the Blue Angels ahead of the Lakers 5-4. McKenzie would record the last three outs in the ninth to secure the victory in game one for the Blue Angels.
Moving to game number two KC jumped on the board with five runs in the top of the first with help from home runs from South Central grad Sydnee Garrett and Ashlyn Colvis of Chester. Garrett would hit 2 HR’s in the game and got the start from the circle and proceed to toss five dominant innings against a stacked Lakers lineup and KC would add five more runs throughout the contest to go up 10-0. Karlie McKenzie would come back into the second game and slam the door shut on the Lakers, striking out the last batter she faced to secure the first region championship in program history.
Garrett has had quite the 2 years at KC as she hit her 15th home run of the season yesterday and has 25 in her 2 years with the Angels.
In route to the championship title the 2023 Kaskaskia College Blue Angels amassed the most wins in a season in school history with 47, and garnered an overall winning percentage of .742. In the last two seasons alone the Kaskaskia College Softball program has collected 91 wins and sent players on to the instructions of Missouri State University, Illinois College, Greenville University, Missouri Baptist University, and several more NCAA programs yet to be determined.
