Kary Kankey, Head Coach
Office: 816.604.3505, kary.kankey@mcckc.edu
MCC Softball News 2018-2019
MCC Wolves Preparing for the Upcoming Season
The 2019 MCC Wolves softball team is excited to compete for a Region XVI regular season and regional tournament title in the spring. Fifteen freshman join seven sophomores to form perhaps the deepest MCC team in head coach Kary Kankeys five years at the helm.
Sophomore pitcher Karen Jaggars highlights the returning players. The 2nd Team Region XVI pitcher from Richmond, MO shouldered a heavy load on the pitcher's mound as a freshman, sporting an 11-10 record. She led the team in wins, ERA (3.50), innings pitched (116), and complete games (14). Her battery mate Reghan Ross, from St. Joseph, MO, started 42 games and hit .273 with 14 RBIs, and can also play 1st and 3rd base. Megan McDonald (Kansas City, MO) and Devyn Callahan (Purdy, MO) return in the infield. Callahan, a 3rd baseman, started 31 games as a freshman and hit 3 homeruns. McDonald, who also plays soccer at MCC, was named the NJCAA Division I player of the week last February 12-18 for her play in MCC's opening week games last season.
MCC's entire starting outfield in 2018 has graduated, and they are big shoes to fill as two of the players were 2nd Team Region XVI (Jenelle Mausbach and current assistant coach Hillary Protzman) and Sierra Harding is now playing at Missouri Valley College. Looking to fill the void are sophomores Bailey Gardner (Kearney, MO) and Mariah Gondran (Lawson, MO), who both saw action as freshman. Gardner was a key hitter at the designated hitter spot and as pinch hitter (33 games played, 14 starts, .276 batting average). Gondran also saw time as designated hitter, starting 14 games and sporting a .280 batting average.
The young pitching staff will be led by Jaggars. She will be joined by sophomore Olivia Nelson, a Cameron, MO native who is rehabbing from shoulder surgery last season and is will be ready to go by spring, and freshman Abbie Nicas, (Grain Valley, MO) and Avila University transfer. Freshmen Abby Emerick (Raymore, MO), and Shelby Schottel (Kansas City, MO) will compete for innings and gain valuable experience. Two freshmen catchers, Kailin Jaggars (Richmond, MO) and Brooke Watson (Holden, MO) will be able to step in immediately at catcher.
Jessica Callahan (2nd base/Odessa, MO), Julie Long (SS and 3rd base/Overland Park, KS), Rebekah Novak (2nd base/St. Joseph, MO), Mariah Thompson (SS and catcher/Pleasant Hill, MO), and Kacie White (1st base/New Franklin, MO) all will fight for starting positions this spring in the infield. Freshmen Autumn Bicknell (Grain Valley, MO), Alison Bellamey (UT/Grandview, MO), Paige Butler (Independence, MO), Lexi Lopez (Independence, MO) will battle Gardner and Gondran for time in the outfield.
Three MCC alums join the coaching staff for the fall and spring. Hillary Protzman, a 2018 grad, joins the coaching staff as assistant coach. Protzman was a 2017 1st Team Region XVI pick as a 3rd baseman and a 2nd Team selection in 2018 as an outfielder, and will work primarily with the outfielders. Alums Autumn Hughes and Kaile Sipple also join the staff as volunteer coaches. Hughes, a 2016 MCC grad who will work with the infield, was a 2016 1st Team Region XVI pick as a 3rd baseman and went on to play at Missouri Valley College where she was named to the 2018 HAAC Honorable Mention team as a 3rd baseman. Sipple, who was a catcher before having knee surgery as a sophomore, will work with the pitchers and catchers.
The Wolves first game is at Ottawa College JV's on February 19, 2019, and the home opener is February 26 against Highland.
All Wolves home games are played at Happy Rock Park in Gladstone, MO at 7600 NE Antioch Road, Gladstone, MO 64119