Mason County junior Kenzie Gulley celebrates a run over the Bracken County Lady Bears during the 2024 39th district championship game.
Mason County’s Kenzie Gulley slides into home against the Pendleton County Lady Cats during the first round of the 2024 10th region softball tournament.
Mason County senior Kenzie Gulley has signed to Northern Kentucky University to further her education and continue her athletic career on the softball field.
Gulley began her varsity softball career with the Lady Royals as an eighth grader in 2021, quickly cementing herself as one of the team’s top hitters. At the end of the 2021 season, Gulley sat with a .506 batting average, picking up 39 hits and 39 runs, with 45 stolen bases.That year, she helped lead Mason County to a 39th district championship win and a 10th region tournament appearance.
Every year since then, Gulley has led the Mason County Lady Royals in batting average, ending each season over .560. Heading into her senior year, Gulley sits with a career batting average of .553, and looks to bring in even more hits for Mason County in 2025.
In 2024, her junior year, Gulley helped lead the Lady Royals to their first 39th district championship win since 2021, after defeating the Augusta Lady Panthers 10-0, and pulling out a 2-0 victory over the Bracken County Lady Bears. That game she picked up two hits across three at-bats to tie for first with Kylah Turner in batting average with .667, and brought in both of the Lady Royals’ runs to help secure the victory for Mason County.
Lady Bears’ head coach, Jamie Johnson commented on Gulley’s performance following that game.
“Anytime Kenzie’s on base, she’s more than likely gonna score.” said coach Johnson, “I think both times she was on she scored, the other time she popped up, she’s not on base and we put up another zero, that’s always the goal. I think our defense played well, I think we had two errors but they didn’t cost us, it was Kenzie getting on base and moving around.”
Following that contest, the Lady Royals then went on to defeat the Pendleton County Lady Cats in the first round of the 10th region tournament 3-1, before falling to the Montgomery County Lady Indians in the semifinals 16-6. The Lady Indians then went on to defeat the Harrison County Fillies to become the 2024 10th region softball champions.
Mason County head coach, Brian Littleton looks to Gulley to lead his team’s offense, and will be eager to see her compete once again in 2025. Coach Littleton spoke on her strength offensively following their win over Pendleton County in the 10th region tournament last year.
“When she goes we go. Like I said before when she gets on base she’s always a threat to get to third on two pitches, then all we gotta do is put the bat on the ball and she’ll find a way to score. As good as our defense has been, as good as the pitching has been, two or three runs has got us the wins the last couple games.” said coach Littleton.
Gulley is eager to continue her academic and athletic careers at the collegiate level, and will be just as excited to don the Royal blue one more time during the 2025 softball season.
In a statement released on X (formerly Twitter), Gulley said, “I am so excited to announce that I have verbally committed to Norther Kentucky University to continue my academic and athletic career at the next level! I want to thank my parents for their support, my coaches for always pushing me, my teammates for all their support, and coach Gerak and Coach Blair for this amazing opportunity. Lastly, I want to thank God for getting me to this point. Nothing is possible without him.”
