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Blackburn Puts Pen To Paper, Joins North Central Softball Program

When the final out was made and the Trenton High School softball team’s 2019 season was put to bed in the district semifinals, McKayla Blackburn’s mind was made up. The senior pitcher did not want the memory of an 8-5 loss to eventual state third-place finisher Marceline to be her last on a softball diamond.
It won’t be.
In the Trenton High School commons on Wednesday, Blackburn signed a national letter of intent to join the North Central Missouri College Pirates.
Blackburn had drawn the interest of North Central last season, but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do beyond high school. But this season, with her move from right field to pitcher, it became clear college softball was a real option if she wanted it.
After the district loss, she wanted it.
“I feel like it happened last year, probably, because that’s when (NCMC Head Coach Steve Richman) really started talking about it,” Blackburn said of the moment she realized college softball was possible. “I didn’t think I really wanted to do it, but this year, the way our season ended, I was like ‘well, that made my decision that much easier, I’m going to go play (college softball).’ I didn’t want it to end like that.”
Richman and the Pirates were on Blackburn early due to her flexability in the field. She held down right field during Trenton’s state Final Four season as a junior and threw a high-pressure inning in the state quarterfinals against Holden on that run.
She also greatly improved at the plate. After hitting .208 last year, Blackburn more than doubled her average, batting .451 with 10 doubles and 23 RBIs as a senior. She also stole 13 bases in 2019.
She can just do multiple things,” Richman said. “What she gives us is a lot of versatility. She can play outfield, she can hit, she can run, she can pitch. So, she can do a lot of things for us and that’s what makes her such a catch.”
Moving to the next level, Blackburn knows her game will have to evolve. It is a challenge she is embracing. Blackburn has several pitches in her arsenal and knows the key to success at the college level will be using them all.
“I’m just going to have to work my different pitches like my change-up,” Blackburn said. “I don’t use that a lot and I am definitely going to have to use it a lot next fall and spring (at North Central).”
Trenton High School Head Coach Joel Hultman isn’t worried about Blackburn adjusting to the next level. He has seen enough out of her beyond the lone season he served as her head coach to know she will be fine.
“You could really see (her potential) in the summers when she was working with (former NCMC Head Coach) Max (Mothersbaugh),” Hultman said. “The sad part was Ainsley (Tolson), who was a great teammate and obviously an all-state pitcher, was right in front of her. But you knew with McKayla’s work ethic and her attitude – which is ‘I will do whatever I need to for the team’ – that someone was going to want her. Coach Richman and NCMC got a really, really good player who is going to bust her butt in the weight room and give them everything she has on the field.”
At NCMC, Richman plans on using Blackburn in the circle as well as in the outfield. She will certainly have her spot in the Pirates’ rotation, but her bat and ability on the base paths make her a player North Central will want in the lineup a lot – not just when she is pitching.
Blackburn will enroll at NCMC in the fall of 2020, in time for the Pirates’ fall scrimmage season. She will debut for the Pirates officially during the spring 2021 season. She plans to earn a transfer degree with the ultimate goal of working in pharmacy.