McKenzie Adams feared her season and career for Kankakee Valley might be over.
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The senior center fielder and leadoff hitter was experiencing pain in her right foot. She thought the problem might be a broken bone.
But X-rays and other tests came back negative.
Adams missed six games, including a third of the Northwest Crossroads Conference schedule, the last week of April and into the beginning of May as the results were confirmed.
She still experiences discomfort periodically if she moves a certain way, with those episodes having been dramatically reduced by changing back to her previous cleats after trying new ones.
She still plans to get her foot further examined over the summer ahead of the start of her college career at Evansville, where she also has been accepted into the nursing program.
But for now, Adams and the Class 3A state runner-up Kougars are right where they want to be after a challenging regular season for both the player and her team.
“As long as I’m cleared to play, I’m going to be out there,” Adams said. “Playing with my team was the biggest worry. I’ve been trying to make up for the missed time and help as much as possible.”
Kankakee Valley (19-8) plays NCC rival Highland (20-8) in Tuesday’s regionals. The Trojans’ only other sectional title came in 1987.
The Kougars are hosting for the first time after last season’s sectional title was their first since 2006. They competed in the school’s first state finals in any team sport and won the program’s first regional and semistate titles, finishing 29-6.
With only senior shortstop Breanna Toppen graduating from that historic group, the expectations affected this one. But despite some bumps, Adams helped maintain the course for the youthful-yet-experienced Kougars, whose only seniors are her and Hannah Cambe.
KV coach Brian Flynn praised the calming influence of Adams, also a member of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), the Environmental Club and student council.
“We definitely had a big target on us,” Adams said. “We had a pretty good record, but the regular season, the conference season, didn’t go as well.
“But our biggest worry was getting to the postseason. As soon as we stepped on the field for sectionals, you could tell it was a different atmosphere.”
Flynn said the Kougars pressed at times, but started to relax and simply play. He believes they’re peaking, with Adams’ return to the lineup serving as a catalyst.
“She was hobbled and it took her a while to get on track,” Flynn said. “She fought her way through it and she seems to be back healthy and doing really good things.
“It’s really tough to defend against her. She can hit for power into the gaps, she can lay the bunt down, she can slap it slow. She has the full arsenal of what you’d want for a left-hander at the plate.”
A part-time starter in right field as a freshman, Adams made the “big change” of taking over at shortstop as a sophomore. She’s been a mainstay atop the lineup in center the last two seasons.
Adams is hitting .456 with 27 runs and 20 stolen bases. With the injury, she laments a slight downtick from last season, when she hit .516 with 53 runs and 34 stolen bases.
Adams had a bunt hit, stolen base and scored the Kougars’ run in their 2-1 state championship game loss to Lebanon.
Nothing would matter more to her than the Kougars taking that last step.
“We have that hunger in our stomach after not winning it last year,” Adams said.
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