THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: DACC Softball Players (from left) Alex Brown, Ella Myers, Kenley VanBibber, Alyssa Acton
DANVILLE — Making a national championship run takes a mentally tough group.
Just ask those involved with the Danville Area Community College softball program, one of the most successful teams on campus.
The Jaguars, who are playing well this week at the Fastpich Dreams Classic in in Myrtle Beach, S.C., have come a long way under the leadership of 11th-year coach Matt Cervantes, whose assistants include his wife, Kelley. When practice first started more than a decade ago, there were six players and no pitchers.
“It was really, really tough,” Cervantes said. “That year, they went around and found players to fill in just to have a season. They won one game.
Assistant coaches include his wife, Kelley, and Kylee Bott, who also owns T3 Sports Academy, indoor batting cages and sports complex, in Tilton.”
Matt and Kelley wondered if this was really what they wanted to do as a career.
“We decided to stick with it,” Matt said.
The following year, they brought in 10 new faces and retained four from the year before. More wins followed.
Then, finally in the third year, when they had all of their own recruits, it flipped. The Jaguars went to the NJCAA Division II national tournament and finished 13th in the country. They’ve since not had a losing season and have been in the top 15-20 in the country each year.
They’ve been to the national tournament three times and fell one game shy of making it last year. This season’s team is currently ranked 14th.
“We’ve done a lot of wonders with the program, just kind of where it started to where we’re at right now,” Matt said, “We just want to see it continue to just move in that right direction.”
He said it’s nice to win, but they’re also proud of the student-athletes. The team’s GPAs are usually really high, and they’re able to move the players on to play at a four-year college with whatever options they choose.
“I feel like there’s a lot of benefits to what we’ve built,” Matt said, “and it’s kind of sweet to see where it’s continuing to go.”
Matt, who graduated from the University of Illinois and played baseball there, also met Kelley there. Kelley, originally from California, was recruited to play softball at the UI.
Assistant coach Kylee Bott, who also owns T3 Sports Academy in Tilton, is in his fifth season of coaching. He was coaching wrestling at Oakwood when he met Matt. Matt introduced him to Kelley, who then started giving softball lessons to Bott’s daughter. The Jaguars are playing 10 games in a seven-day stint in South Carolina this week. Back in Danville, games are played at Winter Park, and the Jaguars home opener is scheduled for March 13 against Illinois Central.
This year’s team has 22 players on the roster, including Vermilion County products like Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin graduate Ella Myers and Salt Fork graduate Kailey Frischkorn.
“I feel like our mentality works heavily around more like a blue-collar mindset,” Matt said. “When we have those pieces working in the right direction, it makes a really good environment, and our culture is really strong.”
The coaches too support each other and work toward their strengths.
”I think Matt is extremely talented in the sense that he knows his personnel and he really invests in the people around him,” Kelley said. “So, he doesn’t coach one kid the same and I think that’s why they listen to him. He’s extremely passionate about what he does.”
He’s honest, she too said.
Matt said he fell in love with watching Kelley play at the UI: her competitiveness, loudness and being a good teammate. She brings those same qualities to coaching, he said.
Bott said Kelley is a guru of the game and the ultimate competitor. Coach Matt holds everything together, Bott said, and they communicate and work well together.
Matt said he thinks why they are all so glued together in coaching is because they individually focus on the different players and they pick each other up as needed.
He said Bott is loyal, has high character and morale, and relates to the players because he cares about them.
”To us, we’re competing at the highest level,” Bott said. “We compete to win.”
He said he’s proud to be part of a top program in the nation.
Myers, who plays shortstop, Villa Grove graduate Alex Brown, who pitches and plays the corner infield spots, and St. Joseph-Ogden-Ogden graduate Alyssa Acton, who plays first base, all started playing T-ball at when they were 4 and 5 years old.
Acton said what she likes best about softball is that she loves meeting new friends, playing for different coaches and playing a sport she loves. Brown likes the adrenaline rush and hyping each other up during games. Myers said she’s fulfilling a dream she’s had since she was 10, and the coaches allow them to be themselves.
Myers, who is a nursing student, said this year’s theme is “servant leadership,” and leaders putting others before themselves. The end goal is a trip to the national tournament, Acton said.
“This group can for sure go all the way,” she said.
Myers agrees.
“It’s going to happen,” she said.
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