All-Tournament Team | Dodge City Release (5/11/2026)

DODGE CITY, Kan. – Behind dominant pitching performances from tournament Co-MVPs Karli George and Avery McCloskey, the Dodge City Community College softball team defended its home turf to win the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Softball Plains District Tournament and earn its first bid to the NJCAA Softball World Series since 2002.

Entering the tournament as the number three seed and having already set the school record for wins, the Conquistadors went 4-1 across the four-day tournament to earn their third trip to the NJCAA Softball World Series in program history. Throughout the five games that Dodge City played, no team was able to score more than three runs in a game as the Conquistadors took down Garden City, Butler twice, and Hutchinson. Over the 33 innings pitched by Dodge City, the Conquistadors allowed a total of eight runs (six earned) and were the lone team to post a team earned run average under two (1.30).

The Conquistadors made quick work of rival Garden City in their opening game of the tournament, picking up an 11-1 win in five innings over the Broncbusters to start the tournament with a win for the first time since 2019, which also marked the last time that Dodge City made the final day of action. Returning later on Friday to take on reigning NJCAA Region 6 and Plains District Tournament Champion Butler Community College, Dodge City turned in a come-from-behind effort to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the top of the sixth by getting back-to-back home runs from Loren Sweat and Kloe Nelson to grab a 3-2 lead for McCloskey who went the distance and did not allow a hit over the final 2.2 innings of action to go along with seven strikeouts to put the Conquistadors into the winner’s bracket final.

Set to face off with regular season champion and number one seed Hutchinson who advanced to the winner’s bracket final with wins over Pratt and Colby, Dodge City once again turned to their pitching as George faced just five batters over the minimum while seeing the Conquistador offense break through in the top of the third for four runs on four hits and an error to spot the sophomore more than enough run support to pick up the victory. Scattering base hit singles in the third, fourth, and sixth innings, George never faced multiple runners on base at the same time during the game to shut out Hutchinson for just the third time all season and first time since February 27th as part of a 4-0 win.

Following weather delays on Sunday that pushed back the start time of the Championship game more than two hours, Dodge City found themselves taking on a Butler squad that worked its way through the consolation bracket and back into the championship game, where another 3-2 contest played out. This time, however, it was single runs from the Grizzlies in the third, fifth, and seventh innings to walk off the Conquistadors as 10 stranded base runners for Dodge City proved to be costly in the setback that set up a winner-take-all title game on Monday afternoon.

A third matchup between the Conquistadors and Grizzlies in the span of four days once again lived up to the hype that the first two did as the first three innings went scoreless before seeing BCC push across a run by taking advantage of a walk and a hit batter to grab a 1-0 lead. The Butler lead doubled in the bottom of the fifth as the Grizzlies once again used a free pass to start the inning before a stolen base and wild pitch put Lizzy Lassley 60 feet from scoring for Kyler Demel to drive home a run on an RBI groundout.

Once again facing their largest deficit of the tournament, Dodge City finally got the offense going in the top of the sixth as each of the first three batters all safely reached base to bring home a run and cut into the Butler lead before tying things on an RBI groundout that put runners on second and third with one out. An RBI single from Sweat put the Conquistadors up before seeing two runners get left stranded while managing to take a 3-2 lead. After seeing George toss the first five innings of the contest, Dodge City head coach Mike Viramontez took no chances and made the move in the circle to turn to McCloskey, who worked around a leadoff single by inducing two fielders’ choices and a foul out to end the inning and keep the Conquistadors up a run heading into the seventh. An insurance run in the top half of the inning came thanks in part to a leadoff walk, and singles from Karen Galaviz and McCloskey put Dodge City up two runs while needing just three outs to clinch the tournament title. Even after helping her own cause by driving in the insurance run in the top half of the inning, McCloskey was locked in on the defensive end by getting two quick outs on balls that never made it out of the infield before ending the game with a strikeout looking to start the celebration for the Conquistadors.

George and McCloskey combined to throw 33.1 innings across the tournament, allowing just six earned runs while striking out 16 to earn co-MVP honors on the All-Tournament team. Also earning All-Tournament team honors for Dodge City were Galaviz and Kloe Nelson, with Galaviz recording seven hits and three RBI while Nelson had at least one hit in all five games, went six-for-15 at the plate, and drove in three.

With NJCAA Region 6 and NJCAA Plains District Tournament Title plaques secured, Dodge City will now turn its attention toward the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Softball World Series that will take place May 25-30 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama. The Conquistadors are set to compete in the NJCAA Division 1 Softball World Series for the first time in program history after qualifying for the Division 2 Softball World Series in 2000 and 2002. The official 20-team tournament field and bracket will be announced by the NJCAA in the coming days, with all information being posted at https://njcaachampionship.prestosports.com/sports/sball/div1/index.