This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.
When Kimi Presnell played softball at Sand Springs, the Sandites were always in the hunt for a State title. They advanced to the State tournament all four years of her career, and even made it to the finals her freshman year, but never got to hoist the gold ball.
On Tuesday, May 31, she got to resolve some of that unfinished business.
The sophomore center fielder played a crucial role in propelling Rogers State University to its first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship and Presnell received an All-Tournament nod for her performance.
“I was not expecting that,” said Presnell. “It was such a great feeling to be able to make the All Tournament team, as well as several of my teammates. It just proved that we worked hard to get where we were.”
The Hillcats had a great overall season but weren’t the favorites. They finished third in the MIAA standings and entered the World Series as the five seed.
“There were highs and lows, but we all just kept a good mindset throughout,” said Presnell.
The Hillcats knew they needed to win the MIAA tournament to secure a Regional host site.
“Our mindset going into the conference tournament was to play free and not play tight, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Presnell. “And we continued to do that throughout the postseason, which was awesome.”
The Hillcats paid back a pair of regular season losses to Washburn in the tournament finals series, winning 2-1 and 4-2 to earn their first MIAA title and the right to host the Central Regional.
In the second game of Regionals, the Hillcats were upset 3-0 by Minnesota State, but after a loser’s bracket rout of Winona State they got a wild rematch with the Mavericks.
The game went 15 innings before the Hillcats exploded to an 8-2 win. Presnell hit an RBI double in that game and Rogers State won the “If” game 4-0.
At Super Regionals the Hillcats won 3-1 and 12-1 against Central Oklahoma and punched their way into the World Series in Denver.
Then it was Presnell’s time to shine.
Over the first three games of the tournament, Presnell was 8-of-11 at the plate and had a perfect fielding percentage throughout the entire tournament.
In the 7-2 win over Southern Indiana, Presnell was 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI. In a 10-2 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills, she was 3-of-4 with a run and four RBI, and in a 9-3 win over UT Tyler she was 2-of-4 with two runs and an RBI.
In the best-of-three finals rematch with Cal State, the Hillcats won 6-5 and 6-1 to earn their first ever national title.
This year was extra special for Kimi because it was her first season seeing significant starting action. Her freshman year was canceled halfway through due to COVID, and last season she didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities at the plate.
“Last year I was always super timid at the plate. I didn’t have much confidence,” said Presnell.
She decided that this year she didn’t want her role to be limited to simply cheering for her teammates from the dugout.
Presnell earned her way into the starting lineup in the nine hole, but she wasn’t always as dominant at the plate as she was during the postseason.
Over an 18-game stretch from February through April, she hit only .150 compared to her season average of .280.
“Whenever I was in the slump, I kind of changed up my swing,” said Presnell. “I was just focusing on my mechanics.”
When it came to the postseason, she decided to simply approach with confidence and swing hard. She ended up hitting .355 over the postseason and was .314 in the NCAA tournament.
“She’s a free swinger,” coach Andrea Vaughan said in one postgame interview. “She’s got home run power, she’s got gap to gap power. The thing about Kimi is, she’s hard to beat. She’s a competitor. That’s why she’s in our lineup.”
So far, the college experience has been a lot different from her high school days.
“In high school you don’t watch film or anything. In college you prepare, you watch film, you see what the pitcher’s pitching. It’s just a whole different game.”
Presnell has also transitioned from second base to center field - a change she’s very happy with.
“I actually love the outfield. I feel it’s more my calling. I have way more time to react to the ball. If I took a ground ball right now, I don’t think I’d know what to do.”
In fact, the last time she took a ground ball it gave her a black eye, so she’s very much enjoying handling fly outs instead.
The biggest change has been thinking of Rogers State as home after being a Sandite for most of her life.
“It’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. I’ve made the greatest friends. I have great coaches,” said Presnell.
Coach Vaughan, now in her seventh year, told all of her recruits from the very beginning that Rogers State would soon be competing for national championships, and Presnell bought into the hype as a senior in 2019.
“Every game I went to, they won. She was very intimate in her coaching and it just drew me in right away. I had nothing but confidence in what she said.”
Presnell credits a lot of her success to her time at Sand Springs, which is a perennial softball powerhouse.
“Sand Springs definitely prepared me. We were always a good team, we just had unfinished business. I feel like that definitely prepared me for college ball.”
“Coach (Shelli) Brown reached out to me during the World Series. She’s always supported me. She’s the reason why I went to Rogers State, because we played there in the festival every year. Coach Vaughan asked her about me and I ended up scheduling a visit and what do you know? I ended up winning a National Championship.”
Presnell isn’t the only Sandite competing for national titles. 2017 alum Sydney Pennington is currently competing with the Oklahoma State Cowgirls at the Division I World Series in Oklahoma City.
“She actually reached out to me after winning the national tournament,” said Presnell. “I said, ‘well it’s your turn now. Go Pokes!’”
