Kennett Key Club partners with Co-ed Sports for 'Striking out Hunger' softball tournament

KENNETT, Mo. - The first slow-pitch softball tournament of 2025 for Kennett’s Co-Ed Sports was held on March 8 at Indian Park.

The tournament was put on to aid fundraising efforts for Kennett High School’s Key Club.

According to Key Club President Meagan Spielman, the idea of hosting a softball tournament came after Co-ed Sports' inaugural season last summer.

“The adult softball leagues became really popular in Kennett this year,” Spielman said. “In the past, we’ve done basketball tournaments. This year, we thought since there have been so many adult softball teams that it would be cool to host a tournament.”

The tournament kicked off at 8 a.m. on Saturday and would continue through the entire day. Members of the Key Club ran concessions, kept track of scores and made sure everything ran smoothly throughout the competitions.

At the end of the day, all of the money raised from the tournament would be donated to one of Key Club’s service projects.

“The Key Club does a service project every year,” Spielman said. “This year, all the money we raised will be go towards the Kennett Backpack Program. This program helps feed kids in elementary school.”

The Backpack Program helps provide kids in Kennett School District with bags and supplies for classes. It also ensures kids who benefit from the program are fed, as each bag will contain prepackaged meals.

The Key Club had various sponsors help raise money for the event. The event had over 30 local businesses make donations and sponsor the ‘Striking Out Hunger’ tournament.

Along with the business sponsorships, each team made donations to participate in the tournament. There were 12 teams who signed up.

“We met with some people from the adult softball league and got donations,” Spielman said. “Then we met with the businesses and asked them to donate $100 or more to have their logos on our banner, that’s where we raised a lot of the money. Kiwanis also helped out a lot.”

The championship games were held later in the evening. Team Vibe would finish the day with a third-place showing. Meanwhile, Team TBD would grab second place and the Striking Out Hunger Tournament champion was Team Next in Line.

The team’s coach, Riley Maddox, said it was a good opportunity to support a good cause and play some softball.

“It was a great day for softball,” Maddox said. “I’m glad we came out on top. We love to play ball, and for a good cause makes it even better.”

Next in Line played a total of five games en route to their championship victory. According to Maddox, each game would get increasingly more competitive, with the championship game being the closest margin of victory for them of the entire day.

The rules for this slow-pitch softball tournament limited teams to only six home-runs per game.

Luckily for Maddox, his team only needed one more run in the Championship game to take home first place.

“We needed one run to win, we had one home run left to use,” Maddox said. ‘It was automatic. After a long day, it was worth it.”