Caldwell community college softball wins regional championship, will host district title series
For the second time in program history, Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute's softball team won the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 Division III Championship.
The Cobras defeated Patrick & Henry Community College in back-to-back games on Saturday to claim the title.
Caldwell advances to this weekend's NJCAA Appalachian District Championship, where they will host either Delta College or Terra State Community College in a best-of-three series for the right to advance to the 2026 NJCAA Division III Softball World Series.
Caldwell split a pair of games to open the tournament on Friday. In their first game, the Cobras defeated Surry Community College 9-1 in six innings before falling to Patrick & Henry by a score of 5-3.
Moving to Saturday's play, Caldwell needed to defeat Patrick & Henry twice to claim the tournament championship. In the first game, the Cobras scored five runs in the fifth inning to take control of the game, en route to an 8-1 victory.
Caldwell led 2-1 going into the fifth inning when Ashlyn Palmer hit a solo home run to center field. The hit parade in the inning continued with RBI-doubles by Ally Greer and Kylee Martin and RBI-singles by Skylar Smith and Chloe Wilson. Zoe Cheek earned the win in the circle, going seven innings and allowing only one run against six hits.
In the winner-take-all final, Caldwell got out to an early 2-0 lead. Cheek and Parker Boggs led off the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back doubles, giving the Cobras their first run. Smith's two-out single scored Boggs and Caldwell led 2-0. Wilson added to the total with a two-RBI home run in the fifth inning to push the advantage to 4-0.
The Cobras answered Patrick & Henry's lone run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning when Martin homered to center field, followed by an RBI-single from Zoe Cheek and an unearned run on a Patriots error.
Region 10 Division III Pitcher of the Year Sadie Messer earned the winner-take-all victory in the circle. She allowed one run and six hits while striking out four.
Caldwell's record now stands at 38-6 overall. The district championship series will be played at Hudson Optimist Park.
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