CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –The Parkland College softball team has been crowned champion of the NJCAA DII Central A District and will now advance to the 2021 NJCAA DII Softball Championship, May 25-29, in Oxford, Ala.
 
In Monday's championship game, the #1-seed Cobras (51-7) came from behind to defeat #2-seed Lincoln Land CC (32-17) in seven innings by the final score of 3-1.
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Lincoln Land scored the first run of the game and took a brief, 1-0, lead in the top of the third inning. In the bottom half, Lauren Kavanagh was hit by a pitch, and, after advancing to third, came in to tie the score on a Sydney Eichelberger (1-2, RBI) single. Neither team scored in the fourth or fifth.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Summer Johnson reached on a single, and Reagan Cheely (1-3, HR, 2 RBI) followed it up with a 2-run home run, giving the Cobras their first lead of the day, 3-1. In the seventh, the Loggers' first three batters were all shut down, ending the game.
 
Madison Vogel (2-2, 2B) was perfect at the plate, as Parkland outhit Lincoln Land, 7-2.
 
Chayse Ramey (26-3) threw seven complete innings and earned the win for Parkland, allowing one run on 2 hits and three walks, while striking out twelve.
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After the game, Chayse Ramey was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Reagan Cheely and Isabel Shafer.
 
The most recent year in which Cobras Softball qualified for the National Tournament was 2012. The program finished as National Runner-Up in 2002, 2005, and 2006.