(KMAland) -- The KMA Sports Hall of Fame continues announcements for its sixth class throughout the month of August on Upon Further Review between 11:30 and 12:00.
Thursday’s announcement features our third of four teams that will be honored in this year’s KMA Sports Hall of Fame class. When the summer season comes around, it will mark the 10-year anniversary of Treynor’s 2012 state softball championship.
“We lost a lot of seniors off the 2011 (state team),” former Treynor coach JoEllen Travis told KMA Sports. “We were trying to fill spots. We knew we had a pitcher, and we knew she was very good.”
That pitcher is a KMA Sports Hall of Famer in her own right. Madison Keysor was entering her junior season, and she had yet to be tested as a full-time varsity starter. It didn’t take long, though, for her to make her mark.
“Madison probably had more than just one aspect that you want to see in a pitcher,” Travis said. “I think she was able to think through situations and stay focused. She was not a diva by any means, and it was not about her. It was about the team. That was her mentality.”
The Cardinals won their first nine games with Keysor twirling five shutouts in that span, and that set the tone for the rest of the season. She would finish with a 0.62 ERA and 269 strikeouts in 193 innings.
“When the ball was in her hands, her and (catcher Kate Killinger) created that atmosphere for the rest of the team,” Travis added. “Killinger had a lot to do with her success. They grew up pitching and catching together, and it carried on through their high school careers. I don’t know if any other catcher besides Kate Killinger could have helped Madison like she did.”
With the battery in place, Coach Travis also saw signs of terrific defense early on in the year with junior second baseman Lexis Rogers, 8th grade shortstop Lexi Killinger and senior centerfielder Alex Snyder up the middle.
“I think the defense was constant,” Travis said. “There were some practices early on, we started to move some people around a little bit, and the kids saw this was going to work. This infield was going to be a good middle infield for us and create a little spark. They made some plays I haven’t had other people make.”
To round out the infield sophomore Gracie Myers played a stellar third and junior Emma Fiene was strong at first. Left fielder Mattie Jacobsen had multiple stellar plays, especially in a big regional final win over Westwood.
“That could have easily been a double or a triple had it got by her,” Travis remembers. “That’s just one of many plays. There were plays that were made, and the kids saw the spark. They were willing to take those chances, make those dives and try to make those plays that maybe they could make. Taking those chances, you don’t want to tie kids’ hands, and make them scared to make mistakes.”
Sophomore right fielder Hayley Achenbaugh rounded out the defense, and freshman designated player Kayli Christensen hit for Keysor in the middle of the Cardinals lineup.
While Treynor was certainly a very good team all season, they didn’t hit their stride until that state tournament. Two of their five losses in the regular season came to Tri-Center – a team they avoided in regional play due to an upset by Missouri Valley.
“Gary Wax was one I would pick his brain on softball,” Travis said. “One of the things he always told me was that you had to have a little bit of luck. We did have some luck in situations. How lucky were we that Missouri Valley beat Tri-Center? We would have been facing Tri-Center again, and we had a heck of a time figuring out how to beat (them).”
They also trailed the Big Reds in that regional semifinal heading into the sixth inning before rallying for a game-tying run in that frame and a game-winning run in the seventh.
“The team wasn’t rattled,” Travis said. “There was some calmness about them. They knew we could squeak out a run here and there. Somehow we were going to work that out.”
Following the tight win over Missouri Valley, Treynor outscored their final four opponents – Westwood, Wayne, Sumner-Fredericksburg and Des Moines Christian – by a combined 18-2 to claim their only softball championship.
“Those girls were in that (championship mindset),” Travis said. “They were talking about a hashtag championship chase (on Twitter). I thought, ‘Well, let’s go for it.’ After that game in Logan (against Westwood), there was this feeling that we weren’t done.”
Treynor remains the only championship softball team in KMAland history and will join a pair of other softball teams in the KMA Sports Hall of Fame: 1991 Orient-Macksburg and 1998 Riverside.
Listen to the full interview with Coach Travis linked below and stay tuned for three more KMA Sports Hall of Fame announcements on Friday, Monday and Tuesday.
OTHER 2020-21 KMA SPORTS HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCEMENTS
