Columbus East’s Kenzie Foster, right, beats a tag by Edinburgh third baseman Alix Streeval during a softball game at the Steve Hollenbeck Athletic Complex in Edinburgh, Ind., Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
The Republic file photo
Kenzie Foster and the Beverly Bandits are two-thirds of the way to hitting the trifecta.
Foster has helped the Bandits 16U travel softball team to major tournament wins the past two weekends in Boulder, Colorado, and the Chicago suburb of Glen Elynn, Illinois. Later this month, they’ll try to add a third major title at the Premier Girls Fastpitch (PGF) nationals in California.
“The competition was just as good (in last week’s Easton Rawlings Invitational at Glen Ellyn) because we were playing 18s, but the Colorado and California tournaments are bigger,” Foster said. “To win all three of them would be something we’ve never done in our program before, so that would be great to do that.”
Foster, who will be a senior at Columbus East, is in her third year playing for the Bandits, which are based in the Chicago suburb of Beverly. Bill Conroy, who used to own the Chicago Bandits professional women’s fastpitch team, owns the Beverly Bandits organization and has been the coach of the team that Foster is on.
The Bandits 16U team is ranked No. 1 in the country by Extra Innings Softball. Foster, who has committed to Syracuse, is ranked No. 28 in the Class of 2023.
“Our whole team is loaded with Division I players, and she is certainly one of those,” Conroy said.
Columbus East’s Kenzie Foster gets in position at second base for her Beverly Bandits travel team.
Submitted photo
Foster, who plays shortstop and bats leadoff for the Olympians during the spring high school season, plays second base and has shuttled between No. 2 and No. 9 in the batting order for the Bandits. But no matter where in the lineup she has been, she has produced.
In the Independence Day Tournament (IDT) in Boulder, Foster was the No. 2 hitter. Twice in the championship game, she singled and came around and scored, and that was the difference in the Bandits winning the title with a 4-3 win against Mojo-Danley from Tennessee.
“It was really nice to be able to contribute,” Foster said. “We knew no matter if we won or lost that we had played really well all week. To get the championship win was exciting because the team we played, we had gone neck-and-neck with them, and we have a little bit of a rival with them, so to see them in the championship game was no surprise to us.”
Columbus East’s Kenzie Foster waits on a pitch for her Beverly Bandits travel team.
Submitted photo
Foster batted .420 with one home run in the tournament.
“I moved her from the 9-spot to the 2-spot during that tournament because she was one of our top four hitters, and I just felt like having that speed at the top of the order,” Conroy said. “She just was doing what she normally does, creating havoc with her speed.”
Although she began last week’s tournament in the No. 2 spot, Foster finished the tournament as the No. 9 batter. The Bandits 16U won both their semifinal against the Bandits 18U team and the final against Kansas City Select 18U in extra innings on Sunday.
Kenzie Foster
In the extra inning of both of those games, Foster bunted a runner from second to third, and both of those runners would come home to score.
“She always plays really solid defense,” Conroy said. “Offensively, like most players, they’ll go through their struggles, and they’ll have their hot streaks. When she’s hot, she is outstanding. She has been prone to getting in some funks, and that’s why she was moved to the 9-spot. She was my leadoff hitter for some of the time last year, but she also is an outstanding volleyball player in the fall, and she does both in the fall. Once the pressure of committing to Syracuse was over, she was playing much better, and that’s why I moved her to the top of the order (for the Colorado tournament).”
The Bandits 16U team features six players from Indiana, four from Illinois, two from Ohio and one from Pennsylvania. The other Indiana girls are Annalea Adams from Union County, Gabi Comia from Crown Point, Audrey Lowry from Tri-West, Maggie Roh from Wesfield and Sophie Schoch from Fishers.
For the year, the Bandits 16U team is 74-5-2, with two of the losses coming indoors against other Bandits teams. They leave July 22 for the PGF nationals, which runs from July 23-31.
“Having (incoming juniors) on our team, we have a lot of coaches that come and watch us, but having committed, I’m a little bit more loose,” Foster said. “I still want to do well, but I think I’m more relaxed, and I think that’s helping me play better.”
