Lady Indians to face Crowder College Monday in CWS opener
Pairings and game times for the McCook Community College softball team’s first ever trip to the NJCAA D1 College Series have been announced. The Lady Indians received the No. 16 seed and will face off against No. 17 Crowder College (Neosho, Mo.) Monday at 1 p.m. in the first game of the 20-team, double-elimination tournament.
“We are incredibly excited for this opportunity,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. “These ladies worked very hard this year.”
The team had a final scrimmage Wednesday followed by a combination CWS-Fundraiser sendoff/girls softball camp.
The team hits the road Friday for the College World Series site destination of Yuma, Ariz. where they will practice Sunday, and attend a CWS banquet. The top 12 seeds received first-round byes with the 13 through 20th seeded teams scheduled for first-round play-in games Monday.
The winner of Monday’s game between MCC (48-9) and Crowder (48-8) will play top-seeded Florida SouthWestern (52-5) at 1 p.m. Tuesday with the loser moving on to a Tuesday elimination game at 7:45 p.m.
“If we play our way, I think we have a good chance of making a run in this tournament,” said Mendenhall.
In addition to top-seeded Florida SouthWestern (Fort Myers, Fla.), the second seed is McLennan 56-4, (Waco, Texas). Northwest Florida 56-4, (Niceville, Fla.) drew the third seed with the fourth seed going to Grayson College 51-7, (Denison, Texas).
Of the 20 schools in the tournament six are from Texas, three from Florida, two from Alabama and one each from Tennessee, North Carolina, Kansas, Idaho, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arizona.
The first two days of the tournament are available to watch on NJCAA.org/network, with the rest available on ESPN+! with a subscription.
WATCH PARTY: MCC will be hosting a College World Series Game 1 watch party, Monday at 12:45pm at the Student Union. All fans are welcome. Free snacks, drinks and hot dogs will be provided, or MCC fans can bring their own lunches. All current and former MCC students, faculty, staff, families, friends, boosters, adoptive athlete families are encouraged to join in cheering on the record-breaking MCC squad.
MCC SEASON IN REVIEW: The Lady Indians set the school record with 48 wins and claimed the school’s second ever Region IX title.
MCC began the season with 18 games on the road including games in Oklahoma and Kansas before starting the home slate March 12 where MCC eventually won 23 of 25 games at the Jaycees Sports Complex. On March 9 the team went on a 16-game win streak.
The team claimed the last-ever Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference title sweeping North Platte, Southeast Community College and Central Community Colleg to finish 12-0.
Against Region IX teams the Lady Indians won 20 of 24 games to finish first in the standings to claim the regular season championship, earned the top seed and hosted the post-season tournament. At the tournament, MCC went 3-0 beating Trinidad State 10-3, downing Western Nebraska 2-1 in eight innings and earning the CWS berth with a 9-1 win over Western Nebraska in the championship game.
THE LADY INDIANS AT A GLANCE: This is Mendenhall’s third season at MCC. After losing the first eight games of his inaugural season, MCC finished 31-28 in 2023 and 34-21 in 2024 and he heads into the tournament with a career mark of 113-58 for a winning percentage of .661. He picked up his 100th career win on April 13.
This year’s roster includes nine sophomores and 10 freshmen. There are nine players from Canada, six from Colorado, two from Texas and one each from Kansas and Nebraska.
MCC is 10th in the nation with a team batting average of .387, a .456 on-base average (12th), with 67 home runs (12th) and 210 stolen bases (fourth in the nation). Lady Indian pitchers have a team ERA of 2.53 (25th) with opponent batting averages of .254 (28th) and 13 shutouts (16th).
THE PITCHERS: Kaliyah St. Amand (Duncan, British Columbia) was named Region IX Freshman of the Year and the region’s Player of the Year. She went 19-3 in the pitching circle with a 2.22 earned run average and struck out 146 batters in 126 innings. On offense, she batted .442 with a .516 on-base average with 10 doubles, two home runs and 26 RBIs in 104 at bats. She was second in Region IX in batting average.
Sadie Kahl, sophomore from Calgary, Alberta, went 12-3 with a 2.94 ERA. In 119 innings, she allowed 121 hits and struck out 96. She batted .340 with a .404 on-base average in 94 at bats, with two homers and 18 RBIs.
THE MCC LINEUP: Nine MCC players were selected to the 2025 All-Region IX Division 1 team, here are some of MCC’s offensive leaders:
Freshman leadoff hitter, Paige Warren, third base, hit .434 with 24 doubles, eight triples, five home runs, 55 RBIs and 47 stolen bases. She reached base 47.6 percent of her plate appearances and is fifth in the nation in doubles.
Laila Gutierrez, sophomore shortstop, is third in the nation with 74 stolen bases. She batted .374 with 18 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 45 RBIs. She walked a team-best 30 times leading to a .482 on-base average and led the team with 87 runs scored.
Freshman catcher Payton Kinsley, hit .371 with 21 home runs and 80 RBIs. She had an .832 slugging average, leading Region IX in homers and RBIs. Her home run total was tied for sixth in the nation, and she is 16th in RBIs.
Lexi Knapp, sophomore first-base/cleanup hitter, Berthoud, Colo. led Region IX with a .453 batting average. She had 73 hits in 161 at bats with a .539 on-base average, 48 RBIs, seven doubles and three home runs.
Anna Elliott, sophomore left fielder, hit .382 and was second on the team with 15 home runs and 63 RBIs. She slugged 706. Designated player Rocio Mascorro (sophomore, Brownsville, Texas), batted .408 with a .442 on-base average and slugged .553 with nine doubles, two home runs and 27 RBIs in 37 games.
Sophomore centerfielder, Angela Banzet (Surrey, British Columbia) anchored the defensive outfield with just three errors and a .942 fielding percentage in 53 games while batting .297 with 13 stolen bases and a .410 on-base average. Ayana Goodwin, sophomore second base (Broomfield, Colo.) batted .382 with a .418 on-base average. Defensively she had 50 putouts and 58 assists and a .939 fielding percentage with six double plays.
ABOUT CROWDER: This was the first season at Crowder for Coach Nikki Keck. There are 15 players on the roster with five players from Missouri, four from Oklahoma (Keck’s home state), three from Kansas, two from Arkansas and one from Australia.
This is the fifth straight 40-win season for the Roughriders who have won 21 of their last 22 games.
The Roughriders average 7.84 runs per game with a .351 batting average, .431 on base average, 52 home runs and 213 stolen bases (third most in the nation). Crowder pitchers have a 2.96 ERA (35th) and hold opponents to a .237 batting average (16th) and 10 shutouts.
They are led by freshman Jessica Smith who went 24-1 in the circle and 1.44 ERA with 282 strikeouts in 204 innings. She is second in the nation in strikeouts and sixth in pitching wins. Sophomore Aubree Saporito went 15-8 with a 4.89 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 156 innings.
Infielder Jasmine Myers leads the team with a .426 batting average with 20 home runs and 88 RBIs. Brooke Beyer hit .402 with 12 homers and 50 RBIs while Callie Cooper batted .391 with 22 RBIs.
Outfielder Miya Curry hit .329 and led the team with 78 stolen bases. Katie Simpson batted .377 with 50 steals.
COMMON OPPONENTS: MCC and Crowder played four common opponents this season with MCC having a 9-2 record and Crowder 8-1. Both teams swept Seward County Community College and Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa in February. Crowder topped North Iowa Area Community College 8-1 on Valentine’s Day while MCC lost on March 7 and March 8 by the scores of 11-8 and 17-7. The Lady Indians beat Kirkwood 10-9 in mid-March while Crowder lost 5-2 to that Iowa team in mid-February. Against Southeast Community College (Beatrice) MCC went 4-0 winning the games by a combined score of 48-5 while the Roughriders beat the Bobcats 9-1 and 10-2.
“I think we match up with Crowder well,” said Mendenhall. “They will be a well-rounded team with a good arm in the circle.”
THE CROWDER/MCC LINK: Former MCC Coach Josh Barnes (2017-2019) was head coach at Crowder in 2023-2024 where he led the Roughriders to consecutive Region 16 Tournament Championships, posting a 45-16 record in 2023 and a 44-21 in 2024.
“As a former coach at both McCook and Crowder I proudly display both teams’ hats in my office and couldn’t be more exited for the coaches and programs,” said Barnes. He left Crowder at the end of last season when he landed his dream job at Pittsburg State University in Kansas. “It’s exciting to see that both these programs that I represented, are doing well.”
He said while Crowder has several of the players he recruited, he is still connected to them but said he will always have connections with McCook as well. Barnes and wife Lani’s son Jordy was born in McCook and they also have a daughter Charli.
Barnes met Mendenhall when both coaches were recruiting in Canada. Mendenhall said Barnes was helpful offering insight for recruiting strategies and other aspects of coaching when he took over the MCC job.
“Mike has a calm demeanor and works hard and has really built a great culture at McCook,” said Barnes. “And I am glad to see Rachel Conroy back with the program. She helped us out at times when I was at MCC and is someone who always did things the right way, does a great job with the pitchers and is someone I could always trust.”
While Barnes and Mendenhall met in Canada on the recruiting trail, it was Barnes who landed a prize Australian pitcher Jessica Smith – the freshman right-hander who is expected to start Monday for Crowder against MCC.
“Both of these schools are well-coached, with speed at the top of their lineups, similar power in the middle and top quality pitching,” said Barnes. “I think it will come down to who shows up at game time and who steps up at the key moments.”
Here are the 20 teams participating in this year’s College World Series, their seedings and records
No. 1 – Florida SouthWestern 52-5, (Fort Myers, Fla.)
No. 2 – McLennan 56-4, (Waco, Texas)
No. 3 – Northwest Florida 56-4, (Niceville, Fla.)
No. 4 – Grayson 51-7, (Denison, Texas)
No. 5 – Chattanooga State 48-7, (Chattanooga, Tenn,)
No. 6 – Odessa 44-6, (Odessa, Texas)
No. 7 – Gaston College 60-3, (Dallas, N.C.)
No. 8 – Paris 50-9, (Paris, Texas)
No. 9 – Butler 44-7, (El Dorado, Kan)
No. 10 – Trinity Valley, 50-12, (Athens, Texas)
No. 11 – Wallace State 47-13, (Hanceville, Ala.)
No. 12 – Chipola 33-19, (Marianna, Fla.)
No. 13 – Southern Idaho 39-13, (Twin Falls, Idaho)
No. 14 – Southern Union State 38-8, (Wadley, Ala.)
No. 15 – Lake Land 45-17, (Mattoon, Ill.)
No. 16 – McCook Community College (48-9)
No. 17 – Crowder College, 49-9, (Neosho, Mo.)
No. 18 – Rose State 25-13, (Midwest City, Okla.)
No. 19 – Arizona Western 32-21 (Yuma, Ariz.)
No. 20 – Navarro 19-21, (Corsicana, Texas)