“I started playing when I was eight years-old. I never imagined that I would still be playing 12 years later and with the same love that I did all those years ago,” Kaylee Rogers, a sophomore at Garden City Community College stated. “I got to make some great relationships with teammates and made friends for life from this sport.”

Due to the recent recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and after following the widespread outbreak of Covid-19 all spring sports have been cancelled. 

The Buster sophomore had big plans for her spring season. The team had aspirations of being the first Buster softball team to make it to regionals and go all the way. She was going to help make Garden City Community College history.

“I was really expecting this to be our year,” Kaylee Rogers stated. “We had all the right pieces, we just never got them put where they needed to be.”

Kaylee Rogers was going to make lifelong memories with her teammates before embarking onto the next chapter of her life, continuing to play softball at Newman University. 

Instead, she got to play 23 games. A month of playing was all the team got out of working hard and preparing for six months. 

“I play every game like it is my last because you never know what’s going to happen. I wouldn’t have done anything different. I would have taken a little bit more time to appreciate the field and everything we have been through as a team over the last year.”

On March 16, 2020 the Broncbuster team received the shattering news that their season had come to an end before they got the chance to cherish it the way any athlete would. 

“I miss my family I created at Garden. I miss the girls and being on the field with them,” Madison Biller, another sophomore at Garden City Community College stated. “I miss the JUCO journey that I have been on for the past 2 years and the reality that it is done for me kind of shatters my heart.”

These girls will have another season to play. NJCAA has ruled that the student-athletes will be given a red-shirt. The lost season will not count towards their years of eligibility.

“Softball doesn’t really have a place to go after college so this is a chance to play the sport we love so much one more year.” Biller stated. 

Madison Biller will continue her softball career at Dakota State University and Kaylee Rogers will continue hers at Newman University. The other sophomores on the team plan to continue their careers at other universities. Audrey Graf plans to go to nursing school at Vernon University. 

“I love softball because for the past 12 years it has never given up on me,” Rogers stated. “Softball is my go to if I’m anxious or sad and it takes my mind off anything that’s going on and allows me to focus on what I do best. Softball is the one place where I can get to be myself and not care what anyone else thinks.”