Kirkwood Softball

Kuch wins Hall of Fame scholarship

Lauren Kuch of Kirkwood was awarded the Cedar Rapids Softball Hall of Fame scholarship Sunday afternoon during a ceremony at Ellis Park.

The Hall of Fame committee awards a scholarship every year to a local high school graduate who is playing softball at Kirkwood.

Kuch, an outfielder, hit .469 with 12 homers and 68 RBIs this past season as a freshman and was named a Junior College All-American.

Kirkwood reached the NJCAA Division II World Series and finished the 2018 season with a 49-13 record.

Halvorson joining Yegge at DePaul

Natalie Halvorson played softball for Joe Yegge at Cedar Rapids  Prairie and then joined him at Kirkwood a year ago.

Now she'll be following her coach to DePaul University in Chicago.

Halvorson has decided to leave Kirkwood after one season and head to  DePaul, where Yegge has been named the new associate head coach of the  Blue Demons in the Big East Conference.

"Life never really goes how you plan, right?" Halvorson mused on her  social media account.

Halvorson compiled a 26-9 record and 2.51 earned run average this past  season as a freshman at Kirkwood and was named a junior college  All-American. She struck out 162 batters in 184 1/3 innings, with only  25 walks. Her 26 victories tied for the third-most in the country.

Halvorson was looking forward to pitching for the Eagles again next  season, but that changed last week when Yegge accepted an offer from  new DePaul Coach Tracie Adix-Zins as her top assistant.

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Yegge leaving Kirkwood for DePaul

Kirkwood softball coach Joe Yegge is leaving the Eagles after 11 years to become the associate head coach at DePaul University in Chicago.

"Yes, that is true," Kirkwood sophomore Lauren Kuch said Thursday afternoon. "He just told us this morning."

Yegge compiled a 537-112 record with the Eagles, including a 49-13 mark this past season. He led Kirkwood to eight ICCAC conference titles and six trips to the NJCAA Division II World Series.

The Eagles finished 49-13 this season and reached the World Series in Mississippi.

Tracie Adix-Zins was named DePaul's new head coach on July 5. She was an All-American pitcher for the Blue Demons during her playing days. DePaul is an NCAA Division I school that competes in the Big East Conference.

Yegge held a meeting in his office Thursday morning with four of his current players to let them know he was leaving. Other players participated in the meeting by speaker phone.

"Honestly, I was a little bit surprised," said Kuch. "He's always wanted to go somewhere big, and this is a great opportunity for him."

Kuch played for Yegge at Cedar Rapids Prairie for five years before joining him at Kirkwood for this past season. Yegge stepped aside as Prairie's head coach after the 2017 campaign.

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Bevans named JUCO Catcher of Year

Monika Bevans of Kirkwood has been named the Diamond Sports/NFCA Catcher of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Bevans, a sophomore from Solon, finished second in NJCAA Division II with 79 RBIs, fifth with 18 home runs, seventh with 86 hits and 10th with a .948 slugging percentage.

Maddie Hansen, currently at North Dakota State, won the Catcher of the Year award for Kirkwood last year.