Region softball tourney starts Thursday; MCC plays Friday
For the second straight year, the McCook Community College softball team will host the Region IX post-season tournament after winning the regular-season Region IX Championship. The six-team double-tournament begins with three games Thursday. MCC will play its first game Friday at 2 p.m. at the Jaycees Sports Complex.
“We’re very excited about hosting the region again this year,” said MCC Coach Mike Mendenhall. “It was one of our goals this year along with setting the school record for regular-season wins.”
Also for the second straight year the Lady Indians set a record for most wins in the regular season. Last year the team won 45 games and this year the team won 49. MCC is the top seed having gone 30-2 in Region IX play this season. Southeast Community College (25-7) is the second seed. Both teams received first round byes and won’t play until Friday.
“The girls worked hard this entire year to be the number 1 seed and they are ready to go Friday,” said Mendenhall.
The tournament opens Thursday at 11 a.m. with fifth seeded Luna Community College (16-16) playing fourth seeded Western Nebraska (17-15). The second game is sixth seeded Lamar Community College playing third seeded Northeastern Junior College (24-8) at 2 p.m. The final game of the day will be a 5 p.m. elimination game between the two teams who lost their opening-round games.
SCC will play the winner of the Lamar/NJC game at 11 a.m. Friday with MCC playing the winner of the Western Nebraska/Luna game at 2 p.m. The final game Friday will be the winner of Thursday’s elimination game and the lowest seeded team between losers of Friday’s other games.
“Last year we had a ton of support from the community and our fans, and we know how much difference the home-field advantage and the home crowd helped us last season, so I know there’s a lot of excitement around this team again this year,” said Mendenhall.
The tournament continues Saturday with the championship game(s) Sunday.
THE 2026 SEASON: Before the season began, the Lady Indians were ranked 13th in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 preseason Top 25 polls, as voted on by coaches. That was the first time MCC was ever ranked in the preseason poll. The team was coming off a record-setting 2025 season and a 51-11 record and a trip to the 2025 College World Series where the team won three games over three top 10 ranked teams in the 20-team tournament in Yuma, Ariz. MCC was one of the final eight teams in the tournament.
MCC opened the 2026 season going 11-3 in February with the schedule that included a win over No. 13 Crowder College in the Branson Turf's Up Classic and later claiming wins over a pair of teams ranked in the top 20 of D2 (Johnson County CC and Kansas City, Kan. CC). The team fell out of the top 25 rankings with a couple losses in the first poll of the regular season.
The Lady Indians compiled a 15-game winning streak between Feb. 28 and March 20 as Region IX play opened in Trinidad, Colo. March 6-7 with MCC sweeping the Trojans in four games and outscoring TSJC 55-5. On March 13-14 the Tribe swept Southeast CC at home and re-entered the Top 25 rankings at No. 25. MCC split a pair of games at Sterling, Colo. against Northeastern Junior College on March 20. MCC swept the Plainswomen two days later in McCook and began another winning streak of 11 games with a series sweep of Western Nebraska and outscoring the Cougars 38-2 as the team went 19-3 in March improved to 30-4 overall, as the month ended (15-1 in Region IX) and the team moved up to No. 22 in the rankings.
April opened with a sweep at Lamar, as MCC (then ranked 22nd) outscored the Runnin’ Lopes 39-5 before the winning streak ended with a 6-1 home loss to Colby on April 13. It was MCC’s only home loss of the year. Five days later in Las Vegas, N.M. the Lady Indians lost the first game in a four-game series at Luna Community College 6-5. It was MCC’s only two-game losing streak of the season. (MCC fell out of the top 20 rankings). The Lady Indians won the final three games at Luna then closed out the season winning two games at North Platte, two games over North Platte at home and finished the year with a 4-0 sweep of Otero as MCC clinched the Region IX Regular Season and re-entered the polls at No 25 with a current winning streak of 11.
BY THE NUMBERS: MCC is third in the nation with 517 runs scored (9.23 runs per game), fifth in total bases (950), seventh in hits (579), 11th in home runs (70), 11th in stolen bases (157), 15th in batting average (.375), and 13th in both on-base percentage (.447) and slugging (.614).
In the pitching circle, the Lady Indians are 16th in team ERA (2.29), 13th with 13 shutouts and 21st with 293 strikeouts.
THE LINEUP: Sophomore leadoff hitter Paige Warren (P/3B) hit .458 (fourth in the region) and gets on base 52.7 percent of her plate appearances. She ranks fourth in the nation with 81 runs scored, eighth in the nation with 45 steals and 21st in total bases with 138. She hit 17 doubles, five triples and had 10 homers… Freshman Josie Wright (CF) hit .419 with a .495 OBP and is second in the region with 39 steals… Freshman Lyndsay Keogh (1B) hit .452 with 15 home runs and a league best 80 RBIs. Freshman Brooklyn Gillen (SS) hit .301 with two homers, 37 RBIs, 13 steals and 73 total bases.
Sophomore Catcher Marleigh Mitchell hit .373 and slugged .548 with four homers and 37 RBIs... Sophomore Audrey Reeves (2B) hit .316 with six homers, 15 steals, 34 RBIs and a .414 OBP… Sophomore Kashlin Beck (RF) led MCC with 17 home runs (third most in Region IX) and batted .379 with 59 RBIs, and an .841 slugging mark… Freshman Hayley Smith batted .429 with a .472 OBP… Freshman Lacyn Keller (LF) hit .330 with 16 stolen bases … Freshman Hallie Schneider (IF/P) batted .375 with 21 RBIs in 31 games… Freshman Malia Hilker hit .323 with 18 runs scored and four steals in 31 game… Ellie Baca, freshman, hit .324 with six steals and six RBIs in 29 games… sophomore Peytann Weiland, was hitting .333 before she was injured in late March.
IN THE PITCHING CIRCLE: Paige Warren leads the nation with 25 pitching wins. She went 25-2 with a nation’s best 26 complete games. She had a 1.73 ERA which led Region IX, she also topped the league with 154 strikeouts (tied for 14th in the nation) in 146 innings pitched… freshman Hannah Schneider was second in the region in both pitching wins (16) and ERA (2.20.) She went 16-3 with 72 strikeouts in 86 innings… Sophomore Olivia Moorehead went 3-0 in 30 innings and a 2.77 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 30 innings.
HOSTING REGION IX: This is the third time MCC has hosted the Region IX Tournament. MCC is 6-0 in tournament games at the Jaycees Sports Complex.
Last season, MCC went 45-9 and 20-4 in the region. The Lady Indians opened the 2025 post season with a 10-3 win over Trinidad State, followed that with a 2-1 win in eight innings over Western Nebraska and wrapped up the title with a 9-1 win against Western Nebraska. That win automatically qualified the team for its first ever trip to the NJCAA D1 Softball World Series. In Yuma, Ariz., MCC lost its opening game to Crowder College (Mo.) 4-2, then in the elimination round, rattled off wins over No. 2 McLennan CC (Texas) 11-6, No. 10 Trinity Valley (Texas), 8-3 and No. 8 Butler CC (Kan.) 6-3 before losing to No. 11 Wallace State (Ala.) 10-2 in the Elite Eight.
In 2022, the team claimed its first regular season Region IX championship under Coach Kevin Kahlberg. That team finished the regular season at 39-9 with a 21-9 mark in the region. At the post-season tournament held at the Jaycees Sports Complex, the 2022 Lady Indians won the opening game over Northeastern Junior College 5-1, beat Trinidad State 6-4 in the second game and downed NJC 6-4 to win the tournament title. That team then went on to host the Plains District Championship series against Butler Community College. The Grizzlies swept MCC 13-0 and 5-2.
ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT: Admission prices for this year’s tournament are:
Day Pass – Adult $6
Day Pass – Senior (65+) $4
Day Pass – Student (K-College) $3
Children 5 and younger will be admitted free of charge
Tournament programs will be provided by the Mid Plains Marketing & Public Information Department
Media Coverage: Tournament results and updates will be made through the MCC Athletics Website at www.mccindians.com Games will be livestreamed by MCC and can be viewed on the MCC Athletics Website from the “Watch Live” link.
FINAL REGION IX Standings
McCook CC 30-2 .938 (49-7)
Southeast CC 25-7 .781 (31-18)
Northeastern JC 24-8 .750 (35-17)
Western Nebraska 17-15 .531 (24-24)
Luna CC 16-16 .500 (23-33)
Lamar CC 15-17 .469 (20-32)
(Did not qualify for post-season tournament)
Trinidad State 11-21 .344 (14-34)
Otero College 5-27 .156 (6-44)
North Platte 1-31 .031 (3-39)
Region IX-Tournament
Jaycees Sports Complex - McCook
May 7-9
Thursday May 7
Game 1 – No. 4 Western Nebraska (17-15) vs. No. 5 Luna CC (16-16), 11 am
Game 2 – No. 3 Northeastern JC (24-8) vs. No. 6 Lamar (15-17), 2 p.m.
Game 3 – Losers of Game 1 vs. Losers Game 2, 5 p.m. (elimination game)
Friday, May 8
Game 4 – Winner of Game 2 vs. No. 2 Southeast Community College (25-7), 11 a.m.
Game 5 – Winner of Game 1 vs. No. 1 McCook CC (30-2), 2 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. lowest remaining seed with one loss, 5 p.m. (elimination game)
Saturday, May 9
Game 7 – Game 6 Winner vs. highest seed remaining with one loss, 11 a.m. (elimination game)
Game 8 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 2 p.m.
Game 9 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser, 5 p.m. (elimination game)
Sunday, May 10
Game 10 – Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, 11 a.m.
Game 11 – If necessary, 2 p.m.
DIVISION 1 JUCO WORLD SERIES
Choccolocco Park – Oxford, Ala.
May 25-30
Up-to-date information about MCC softball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com