“Why Not Us”? Fort Scott Gearing Up for Division II JUCO World Series

FORT SCOTT, KS — It’s been a long road for the Fort Scott Community College Softball team, but their success and historic run this season was building for this moment.

The Fort Scott Community College softball team is set to compete in their first ever Division II JUCO World Series in Spartanburg, South Carolina, after they were selected as the 14 seed.

But the journey this program has endured to be here hasn’t been easy.

Alexis McGranahan said, “So I’ve been here three years. Our program has extended in a crazy way. Coach herself, all of our players, we’ve all kind of changed. We came in the first year on, I know that mine and Emma Lang’s season, we came in on was five wins. So coming in here, it was kind of crazy. But I think that within the last two years we’ve definitely defined what we wanted to be as a program, as coaches and players, and we’ve gotten to those goals.”.

Leading Fort Scott to achieve those goals has been Head Coach Kae Lani Bryan, who’s an NEO softball alum where she played for Hall of Fame coach Erik Iverson and has experience playing in the national tournament. And if there’s one thing she takes away from those experiences, to pass down to her players, it’s this.

Head Coach Kae Lani Bryan said, “Just being able to instill that championship mindset into our players and that mentality. You know, he’s a well-respected coach. I still talk to him to this day. Any time I need advice or he actually congratulated me this week. Just being able to instill what it took as a player, but then also as an assistant when I had the opportunity to go as well, just live in the moment, enjoy the moment”.

And moments like this are always well spent within a sisterhood whose bonds are always as strong as a family.

Natalia Sewell said, “It’s everything. Families, sisterhood, it comes down to family. You have some teams that may just be competing just to compete, and they don’t have that sister, they don’t have that mesh of the team. But man, you have it and it’s amazing. It’s amazing to have”.

The mindset Fort Scott is heading into the World Series with a simple.

Sewell said, “Continue to create upsets and have that chip on our shoulder as a team and as a competitor because we did it in the region tournament. So why can’t we do it in the national tournament?”

I guess for Greyhound softball, there’s only one thing left to say.

McGranahan said, “Why not us?”

Fort Scott will begin their tournament play on Monday, May 20th at 1:00 p.m. when they take on 19-seeded Bryant & Stratton (VA).

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