Three Lady Indians picked for NJCAA All-America teams
Three McCook Community College softball players have been selected to the 2025 National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 All-America team.
Sophomore Laila Gutierrez was named second-team All-American while freshmen Payton Kinsley and Paige Warren were picked for the third team.
Gutierrez, 5-5, shortstop from Seminole, Texas finished the year with 75 stolen bases in 60 games, ranking third in the nation in steals. She batted .350 with 18 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 45 RBIs. She scored 90 runs, which was third most in the nation. She walked 32 times, was hit 10 times by pitches and had a .459 on-base average and a .604 slugging average.
As a freshman catcher, last year, she batted .384 with 20 doubles, six homers, 53 RBIs and 47 steals. She is MCC’s all-time leader with 122 stolen bases, scoring 165 runs in 114 games. She had 98 career RBIs and 14 homers.
Kinsley, 5-5 catcher from Didsbury, Alberta, batted .377 in 59 games with 16 doubles, a triple, 21 home runs and 86 RBIs. She was sixth in the nation in homers and 11th in RBIs. She scored 72 runs and stole 14 bases with a .463 on-base average and an .802 slugging percentage.
In the Region IX tournament, Kinsley batted .454 with four doubles, a home run and seven RBIs in three games and slugged 1.090. In MCC’s five-game run in the College World Series, she batted .438 with four doubles and six RBIs and was named the ESPN+ Player of the game for her three-for-three performance, two doubles and three RBIs in an 8-3 win over No. 8 Trinity Valley.
Warren, 5-3, third-base/pitcher from (Victoria, British Columbia), batted leadoff most of the season and batted .417 with a .457 on-base average with 90 hits, 89 runs scored, 24 doubles, eight triples, five home runs, 56 RBIs and 52 steals.
She ranked fourth in the nation with 89 runs scored, fifth in the nation with her 24 doubles, eighth in hits, 10th in triples and 12th in stolen bases.
While she didn’t pitch any games in the post-season, she went 9-1 during the regular season in the circle with a 3.16 ERA in 10 appearances striking out 54 hitters in 44 innings.
The Lady Indians went 51-11 and qualified for the school’s first ever D1 College World Series where the team went 3-2 and advanced to the “Elite Eight” of the 20-team tournament. The unranked Lady Indians had wins over No. 2 McLennan Community College, No. 8 Trinity Valley, and No. 16 Butler. MCC’s losses came to Wallace State, which finished third in the tournament and Crowder College, a final six team.