1-Seed Butler Softball Prepped for Region 6 Tournament

What: NJCAA Region 6/Plains District Softball Tournament

When: Friday, May 2nd – Monday, May 5th

Venue: Legends Park | Dodge City, KS

Streaming: KJCCCSports.net. Pay-per-view ($10 per game or $25 for a tournament pass)

Live Stats: Linked on the softball schedule page of ButlerGrizzlies.com

Bracket: Click here to view the bracket.

Schedule/Scores: Click here to keep up with all games at the Region 6 Tournament.

It's officially postseason time for the Butler softball program. The Grizzlies (38-6, 27-5) ended the regular season on a 14-game winning streak and clinched their 19th all-time regular season conference championship on Sunday with a sweep of Pratt, their first-round opponent. Butler and Hutchinson shared the regular season title as the two teams split their four-game conference series against one another and dropped one game each to Barton, Dodge City, and Garden City. Butler was awarded the one-seed over the Blue Dragons through a random draw.

The Region 6 Tournament is double elimination and the winner advances to the 2025 NJCAA Division 1 Softball World Series held in Yuma, Arizona, from May 19th-24th.

THE PATH

One-seed Butler will take on the eighth-seeded Pratt Beavers on Friday at noon. Both teams will turn around and play again at 4 p.m. vs. different opponents with a win or loss. With a win, the Grizzlies advance to play the winner of four-seed Garden City and five-seed Dodge City at 4 p.m. With a loss, they would take on the loser of the same game at 4 p.m. as well. Two wins on Friday sets the Grizzlies up in favorable position as they would not play again until Saturday at 4 p.m. in a semifinal game. The championship game is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. and if the one loss team wins, the "if-necessary" championship game will be played on Monday at noon.

LOOKING AT BUTLER (OFFENSE)

• Butler enters the tournament on a 14-game winning streak and have won 24 of their last 25 games after dropping two straight, one to Dodge City and one to Barton, on March 20th and 22nd.
• The Grizzlies have the least amount of strikeouts (65) and most walks (126) in conference play among the nine-team conference.
• Butler enters the tournament hitting .413 in conference games, third best in the league.
• The 66 home runs from the Grizzlies is 11th best across all of NJCAA Division 1 and ranks third in the KJCCC behind Garden City (100) and Barton (69).
• Butler has hit 112 doubles which ranks 10th nationally, tied with Barton.
• Overall the Grizzlies have 197 extra base hits this season which ranks ninth nationally, behind only Garden City (210) in the conference.
• The Grizzlies have swiped 159 bases this season which is ninth best in the country.
• Kyrsten Moran and Claire Lopez each have 47 stolen bases for Butler to lead the way with Lopez's 41 stolen bases in conference play tied for first with Hutchinson's Bailey Backhaus.
• Individually, infielder Claire Lopez leads the Grizzlies hitting .507 with 75 hits. Her .540 batting average in conference play is third best.
• Infielder Kim Yepez has driven in a team-high 61 runs including 45 in KJCCC play which is sixth best in the conference. Yepez also leads the team with 15 home runs overall, 10 in league play.
• The other Grizzly with double digit home runs is Kylie Forney with 13, eight in conference action.
• Chloe Cardona, Jenna Jobe and Forney each lead the team with 12 doubles while Cardona and Kyler Demel each have three triples.

LOOKING AT BUTLER (PITCHING)

• The Grizzly pitching staff holds the best ERA (3.22) in conference play in the league.
• True freshman Ellie Randall holds the best ERA (2.38) in conference games across the conference while her 11 wins in conference play are third best. Randall is 14-1 overall this season.
• Chloe Odle leads Butler with 97 strikeouts this season, 64 in conference play. Her 64 strikeouts in KJCCC action ranks fourth best while Randall is right behind in sixth with 55 conference K's.
• Addy Ewing leads the team and the conference with four saves on the year, three in league play. Ewing holds a 2.79 ERA in conference play.
• Randall (83.2 IP), Odle (81.0 IP) and Ewing (59.0 IP) have been the three main Grizzly arms with none holding over a 3.40 ERA and all three having 20+ appearances on the season.

POSTSEASON HISTORY

• Butler is seeking its 14th trip to the NJCAA World Series with the last appearance coming in 2023 with head coach Morgan Bohanan taking the Grizzlies to the World Series in her first season.
• The Grizzlies are seeking their 14th Region 6 Championship with the last also coming in 2023.
• Butler has 13 Region 6 Championships in program history, most of any school with the second most coming from both Barton and Seward with four.
• The Grizzlies have won 13 of the last 17 Region 6 Tournaments.
• Hutchinson's Region 6 Championship last season snapped Butler's streak of seven consecutive from 2016-2023 (covid-2020 no tournament was played).

THOUGHTS FROM COACH BOHANAN

On the team's mindset entering the tournament…

"I think we have to take it one game at a time. For us, we just need to go in and play Butler softball and the rest should take care of itself."

On how the team bounced back from early losses to win the conference championship…

"I think we stumbled a little at first trying to find what lineup and where people need to be playing. I think they finally got comfortable and decided to band together and commit to do whatever is best for the team."

How does the team focus on one game at a time…

"We've tried to incorporate that a little bit into practice, on just winning the half inning. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Having the returners back from last season that maybe saw us do a little of that is key so they can help everyone stay focused."

On how to keep the offense rolling the way it has been…

"I think they will keep it going. We have a lot of kids with a lot of confidence right now so I think letting them be free swinging and staying confident is key ."

On the pitching approcach…

"We're definitely going to have to platoon it a little bit and make sure we are mixing it up as best we can when it comes to matchups and who we're playing. I'm pleased with our pitching right now and we have a lot of confidence right there as well. I don't have a pitcher right now that I don't have confidence in."

On the advantage of getting the one seed…

"Getting the one seed is huge for us. There's a lot of tough teams in this conference and that gives us a slight advantage matchup wise but all the teams are good so we still have to go out and execute."