Stephens Signs To Play Softball

It was hard to see who was more excited when Kenzie Stephens recently signed a letter of intent to play softball at Cottey College in Nevada, Mo. -- Stephens or Cottey Coach Mark Skapin.

"It's very exciting to sign," Stephens said. "I like Cottey a lot. I heard about them from people who went to the school and also on NCSA (softball website). So I went to the school's website. The coach emailed me back and he was the only coach to do that, so that stood out to me. I went for a visit and I loved the college."

Stephens, an outfielder the past four years at McDonald County High School, was all-conference honorable mention and second team all-district this past season. She was also a member of a conference and district championship team during her career at MCHS.

Skapin said after watching Stephens during a brief tryout this fall, he was ready to sign her that day.

"Quite frankly, I wish Kenzie would be able to graduate early cause we could use her attitude, her athleticism, her strong character and obviously her performance in the classroom as well would help our program," Skapin said. "On our field, she had tremendous power. She took to some of the coaching we gave here there in that little brief hour session we had. She just exploded on the field. She can run. She can hit. She is going to be a great clubhouse influence. We just are excited to get her involved."

While playing for coaches Skyler Rawlins and Lee Smith at MCHS, Stephens was named an academic athlete three years and earned all-state academic honors last season.

"Kenzie has done a great job for us for four years," Rawlins said. "I have had the pleasure to coach her for the past three years. Her skills in the outfield have greatly improved. She has made some great plays in right field for us. She came up clutch for us at times at the plate. But the best thing I can say about Kenzie is she is a great person and a team player. You will never find someone who is more a 'program player' than Kenzie Stephens. I think that is the biggest compliment I can give somebody is that this program continues to grow because of people like her."

Stephens said there were several people who helped her achieve her goal of playing softball in college.

"I have wanted to play softball every since I was little," Stephens said. "It's great to be able to continue to play in college. I want to thank my parents for spending all your time at the softball field and my sister and grandparents for coming to all my games. My friends and teachers for supporting me and my coaches for motivating me and coach Smith for never giving up and pushing me to do my best."

Stephens is the daughter of Richard and Jennifer Stephens. She plans to major in elementary education at Cottey.