Seeing her older sister Alayna don an East Central College (ECC) softball uniform a few years ago, Kaylee Abney will now get a chance to play for ECC head softball coach Brad Wallach and the Lady Falcons.

“She (Alayna) definitely helped me in getting there,” Kaylee Abney said. “I got in contact with coach (Brad) Wallach and her persuaded me to come play for him. He was very welcoming and being close to home helped lead me to chose East Central (College).”

Spending three years pitching and one at shortstop, the now former Owensville Dutchgirl softball player will get to take her diamond talents to the collegiate level.

“Not that pitching wasn’t fun, I just felt like there was a lot stress playing my senior year in Owensville at shortstop,” Kaylee said.

During her senior season under now former Dutchgirl head softball coach John Bunch, Abney was first or second on the team in several offensive statistical categories.

Banging out a team-high 26 hits with 21 of those being singles, Kaylee also led the Dutchgirls last fall on the softball diamond with a .433 batting average and a .507 on-base percentage.

Fourth on the team with four doubles, Abney also tied for second with 11 runs batted in joining Anna Finley, Ella Wright and Addie Wright also with 11 RBIs.

Kaylee and Ella also shared team-high honors last fall each leading the team with 12 stolen bases.

Her best game of her senior season came against Cuba where she had five hits with four singles and a double against their Highway 19 neighbors to the south.

Nearly two weeks earlier against Hermann, Kaylee had three hits, scored three runs and drove in four more helping the Dutchgirls to Gasconade County softball bragging rights following an 18-0 shutout of the Lady Bearcats. Abney also stole five of her 12 bases during her senior season against Hermann.

In her junior season, Kaylee finished no lower than fourth on the team in nine offensive statistics.

Leading the team her junior year with three triples, Abney was also second for the Dutchgirls with a .524 slugging percentage to go along with 15 RBIs.

Swiping 13 bases as a junior, that number for Abney was second to then junior Ella Wright’s 23 stolen bases.

Finishing 9-16 as a junior on the pitcher’s mound, Kaylee struck out 88 batters while finishing with a 3.43 earned-run average (ERA).

Abney did most of her damage as a junior at the plate in games against Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) opponents.

She drove in a season-high four RBIs against Bourbon to go along with three RBIs twice in games against Belle.

In late August of 2017 against New Haven, Abney stole a season-high three bases against the Lady Shamrocks as a junior.

In the pitching circle, Abney registered a career-high seven strikeouts three times in games against Belle, New Haven and St. Clair.

In the fall of 2016 during her sophomore season in orange and black, Kaylee was first or second on the team in batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, stolen bases and singles.

Leading the Dutchgirls as a sophomore with 15 stolen bases, she stole three bags against St. James and Hermann to go along with swiping two bases in action against St. Clair, Sullivan and New Haven.

Going 8-15 on the mound as a sophomore, Abney struck out a 45 batters and finished with a team-low ERA of 3.93.

As a sophomore, her best game came against St. James with three hits, three runs scored and two runs batted in. She also produced three hits against New Haven.

Six was a serious number for Abney in the strikeout department as a sophomore.

That’s because she finished with that number in games against St. Charles West, Belle, Linn and Fatima.

During her freshman year, she scored her first run against Steelville and got her first hit against Hermann.