General 5/4/2026 12:36:00 PM

Jaguars Advance to NJCAA Districts After Winning Region 24-A

DANVILLE, IL - Entering the Region 24-A Tournament over the weekend, Danville was the #2 seed and earned hosting rights in the first round. They played in a double elimination tournament along with Heartland Community College and Lewis & Clark Community College. Their first opponent were the Hawks of Heartland, and the Jaguars came up short in game one, putting them in the position to climb their way back to the championship game. They went on to win their first game against Lewis & Clark on Sunday, eliminating the Trailblazers, and they then had to face the Hawks again and beat them twice to bring home the trophy; and Danville did just that.

(May 2nd) Game 1 vs Heartland
The Jaguars (48-12) played Heartland (16-26) on Saturday after the Hawks beat Lewis & Clark in the first game of the tournament. Danville came out slow in this game, scoring their one and only run in the bottom of the first. The Hawks combined for only five hits, and scored one run in the top of the first, three in the second, and one in the fourth. The rest of the game was scoreless, and the Jaguars were beat 5-1, putting them into the loser's game against Lewis & Clark on Sunday.

Ka'Leah Bellik had a one run RBI double, and Dakota Harrison threw three strikeouts.

(May 3rd) Game 1 vs Lewis & Clark
Danville faced Lewis & Clark (2-51) first thing Sunday morning, and were quickly behind as the Trailblazers scored four runs in the top of the first. Danville responded with a run in the bottom of the second, then two more in the fourth before Lewis & Clark extended the lead 6-3 in the fifth. The Jaguars came back and score four in the bottom of the sixth to go up 7-6, and they held onto the lead through the top of the seventh to get the 7-6 win, advancing them into the championship game.

The team combined for ten hits, with Kaitlyn Drew going 3-4 at the plate with an RBI. Dakota Harrison had 2 strikeouts.

(May 3rd) Game 2 vs Heartland
Danville had to turn around and play two more games on Sunday and win both in order to continue their season. In their first game against Heartland on Sunday, Mackenzie Fasig's six strikeouts and the team's combined 15 hits helped lead them to a 12-3 victory. They scored one run each in the first, second, and third innings, then added six more in the fourth. Heartland scored one each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, but Danville maintained the lead and added one more in the sixth and two more in the seventh to get the win, forcing a winner take all final game.

Ella Myers was 3-4 at the plate with a homerun, and Kendall Rannebarger was 2-4 at the plate, also with a homerun.

(May 3rd) Game 3 vs Heartland
Just like the game before, the Jaguars came out attacking from the jump, and never looked back. They held the Hawks to just six hits total, and ended the game early in five innings. Four Jaguars had two RBIs each (Kaitlyn Drew, Ka'Leah Bellik, Tristan Ring, and Ella Myers) as the team combined for 14 hits. They scored two runs in the first, two in the second, one in the third, and five in the fourth to go up 10-1, and held off the Hawks in the fifth to get the victory.

Up next...
With those wins over the weekend, the Jaguars are officially the Region 24-A Champions and now enter the Districts tournament this coming weekend, starting Friday, May 8th. They enter this weekend as the #3 seed, coming behind #1 seed Parkland College, #2 seed St. Louis Community College, then other conference foe, Illinois Central College, is the #4 seed. All games of the tournament will be played at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois, with the first game starting at 10am between Parkland and ICC on Friday. Danville will play in the second game of the day against St. Louis starting at 12:30pm.

The winners of those two games will play at 3pm, and the losers will play at 5:30pm.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#11 Ella Myers: SS; 5' 8"; Sophomore

#21 Kaitlyn Drew: OF; 5' 6"; Sophomore

#28 Dakota Harrison: P; 5' 5"; Sophomore

#2 Ka'Leah Bellik: UT; 5' 9"; Freshman

#6 Tristan Ring: OF; 5' 7"; Freshman

#8 Kendall Rannebarger: P/UT; 5' 7"; Freshman

#25 Mackenzie Fasig: P; 5' 10"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#11 Ella Myers
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: SS

#21 Kaitlyn Drew
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: OF

#28 Dakota Harrison
: 5' 5"; Sophomore
: P

#2 Ka'Leah Bellik
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: UT

#6 Tristan Ring
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: OF

#8 Kendall Rannebarger
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: P/UT

#25 Mackenzie Fasig
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: P