Less than a week after helping lead Lakota West softball to its first-ever state championship, K.K. Mathis added some more hardware to her illustrious prep career.
On Thursday morning, Mathis was named the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year.
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The award recognizes athletic excellence and "high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field," according to a press release. Each year, Gatorade names a high school player of the year for each state and the District of Columbia for football, volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls track and field, softball and baseball.
Mathis is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year, which will be announced later this month.
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Mathis led the Greater Miami Conference in batting average (.600), extra-base hits (32), home runs (10) and on-base percentage (.673). The James Madison University signee totaled 55 RBI with 48 total hits, including six triples and 16 doubles. In the circle, Mathis was 22-3 with a 2.05 ERA and 189 strikeouts over 147 innings. She fired a pair of no-hitters, April 19 vs. Hamilton and May 16 vs. St. Ursula.
Mathis was named the GMC player of the year for the second-straight season and was a first-team All-Ohio selection.
Mathis was instrumental in Lakota West's playoff run this spring. In the regional championship game, the right-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and did not allow an earned run in the Firebirds' 3-2 win over Oak Hills. In two state tournament games, Mathis had nine plate appearances and finished with two singles, two doubles, a home run, six RBI, seven runs scored and reached base eight times.
She also tossed complete games in each contest. She went the distance in the state final, permitting just two runs on five hits with six strikeouts as Lakota West won Greater Cincinnati's first big-school state championship since 1985.
“K.K. (Mathis) is one of the most dominant, forceful leaders I’ve ever coached against. She is very athletic and a solid all-around softball player. The thing that sets K.K apart from all other good softball players is her ability to lead. She demands the best from her teammates but also holds herself to an even higher standard," Oak Hills head coach Jackie Cornelius-Bedel said in the press release.
Lakota West head coach Keith Castner said of Mathis after winning the DI title: "We've had a lot of great pitchers at Lakota West; she's at the top. She wants the ball in her hand; she wants to get it done. I can't be more proud of her."
Mathis is a member of the Lakota West High School Student Athlete Advisory Board and has volunteered locally as a youth softball coach and mentor, according to the press release, and has maintained a 4.0 GPA.
Mathis is the second-straight Greater Cincinnati softball player to win this award after Williamsburg graduate Madi Ogden won it last spring.
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