GRIMES NAMED 2ND-TEAM NJCAA SOFTBALL ALL-AMERICAN
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
After a season where she broke six Hutchinson Community College softball single-season offensive records, Blue Dragon freshman shortstop Madison Grimes was named to the second team of the 2021 NJCAA Division I Softball All-America team on Friday.
Grimes, a 5-foot-4 freshman from Andale, is the eighth Blue Dragon softball player in team history to earn All-America status and is the first since Holly Kelly in 2016. She is the third NJCAA All-America in head coach Jaime Rose's tenure.
Named the 2021 Jayhawk East Most Valuable Player and Jayhawk East Freshman of the Year in May, Grimes got off to a sizzling start and never slowed down.
Grimes started her Blue Dragon career with 20 hits in her first 28 at-bats. She parlayed that into a season-opening 14-game hitting streak – that streak tied for the fifth longest in team history – in which she hit .604 over that span (29 for 48).
Grimes finished with a .562 batting average (82 for 146) which led the KJCCC this season and ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA at season's end.
Grimes had hits in 41 of 46 games played with 28 multi-hit games – including nine three-hit games and two four-hit games. Grimes also put together other consecutive-game hitting streaks of 12 and nine games this season.
The Blue Dragon freshman broke six Hutchinson single-season records in 2021. Including batting average, Grimes also broke single-season marks for runs scored (71), RBIs (78), total bases (142), on-base percentage (.593) and slugging percentage (.973). Grimes' 82 total hits and 35 stolen bases both ranked second on the Blue Dragon single-season list. Her six triples and 32 extra-base hits (15 doubles, 6 triples, 11 home runs) tied for second on this single-season lists.
Grimes' 11 home runs tied for sixth in the Hutchinson single-season list.
Grimes posted 24 multi-RBI games, including a season-high five against Fort Scott on February 5.
Grimes led the Blue Dragons to a 29-17 overall record, a second-place finish in the Jayhawk East and a third-place finish in the Region VI Tournament.
The Blue Dragon shortstop is 1 of 7 KJCCC Division I player to earn All-America honors in 2021.