Delaware Tech softball wins region and district championships

For the third year in a row, the Delaware Technical Community College softball team is National Junior College Athletic Association Region 19 and Northeast District Division II softball champions. That qualifies the team for this year’s NJCAA Division II National Softball Championship Tournament set for May 23-27, in Spartanburg, S.C.

“This has just been a really special group of players,” said coach Guy Wilkins, who was named NJCAA Region 19 Coach of the Year for the third year in a row. “We have a quality group of sophomores and we added a great group of freshmen. Having three opportunities in a row at the national tournament is not something you can say often.”

While Delaware Tech rolled through the first day of the double-elimination tournament May 12, beating Lackawanna College 10-2 and Mercer County Community College 6-3, the team fell behind big in the championship game against Mercer County May 14. After five-and-a-half innings, Mercer County held a 9-1 lead, with Delaware Tech down to its final three outs. Looking to avoid a winner-take-all championship game, Delaware Tech put together its two best innings.

After Delaware Tech scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth, freshman Hannah Moore came in as a relief pitcher in the top of the seventh inning and allowed just one hit to keep Mercer from padding its lead.

Delaware Tech’s offense took control from there. Down just 9-8 with two runners on and only one out, sophomore Logan Walls knocked a fly ball over the head of Mercer’s centerfielder for a walk-off two-run double.

“I was just thinking I needed to get a hit,” Walls said. “We had runners on; I waited for my pitch and swung all the way through. We weren’t going to give up, and we didn’t give up. When we got one hit, we started to come back and play as a team.”

Due to being granted a third year of eligibility because of the pandemic, Walls and fellow sophomores Kaniah James, Tori Henry, Camryn Quirk, Jada Courtney and Macey Myers are now the only student-athletes in the history of Delaware Tech’s athletics program to win three region and three district championships.

“To be part of something like this and be part of history makes me emotional,” James said. “I wouldn’t want to do it with any other team or any other group of girls.” 

For the three games of the tournament, Myers had five hits including three home runs, sophomore Kylie Kruger batted 7-for-11 with a double and three RBIs, Walls had five hits and five RBIs, sophomore Kandice Schlabach had five hits including one home run, and sophomore Carlin Quinn had three hits.

Sophomore pitcher Carly Collins pitched two gems to get Delaware Tech into the championship game, going six innings against Lackawanna College and seven innings in the first game against Mercer. In 17 total innings among the three games, Collins finished with 14 strikeouts.

“This group does not quit,” Wilkins said. “They can be up or down and they just fight, fight, fight. Their hearts are huge.”