It’s a disservice to her other talents to say Kyndall Johnson was born to play softball. But the Bracken County freshman is really good at softball. 

Like, U.S. national team good.

While most students in Brooksville enjoyed their spring break last week, Johnson got a headstart with a trip to Acapulco, Mexico, where Team USA’s U-15 team faced off against teams from seven other countries in the Pan American Championship. That event was a qualifier for the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup, to be held later this year in Italy.

Team USA, ranked No. 1 in the world, smoked the competition, putting up 90 runs while allowing just two over eight games, including a 5-0 gold-medal win over No. 9 Mexico. No. 3 Puerto Rico was the only team to score against Team USA and gave the team its closest call, 3-2, two days prior.

Johnson, who’s primarily a shortstop and an occasional catcher back in the states, was away from her preferred positions for most of the tournament. She played third base against Puerto Rico and was in left field during a 10-0 win over Guatemala in which she went 2-for-2 with two RBI and five total bases. Team USA made short work of No. 6 Canada in a 17-0 run-rule win, but that was enough time for Johnson – catcher through all three frames – to go 2-for-2 at the plate and drive in two runs again.

“It was honestly a really, really cool experience,” Kyndall said. “Softball in general wasn’t that different, but to be able to travel with that level of a team and compete with them was really cool. It taught me to trust myself – I’m on this team for a reason, all my hard work is paying off.”

It was an enriching and validating experience for Johnson, who wasn’t too far removed from helping Bracken County’s girls basketball team win its third straight 39th District title and reach the 10th Region semifinals. She so far has had to miss most of Bracken County’s softball season, however. The Polar Bears’ top hitter from a year ago – she batted .483 with 57 hits, ranking in the top 50 statewide as an eighth-grader – played in just one game before last week; they’ve scored at least 16 runs in each of the three games Johnson has appeared.

“The girls I coach are wonderful and they were beyond excited for her,”  said Jamey Johnson, Bracken County’s head coach and Kyndall’s father. “They missed her a bit while she was gone, but they still supported her. I would be thrilled for any of the girls if they had that opportunity.”

Tabitha Johnson, Kyndall’s mother and Jamey’s wife, noticed a call for Team USA tryouts on social media in February 2024. The family missed the tryout window for Kentucky’s region – Region 6 – but was able to attend a later tryout at Kent State University in Ohio (Region 2). Kyndall made that cut and then in December of last year made the U-15 national-team cut at a tryout held in Florida.

The U-15 national team and the corresponding Women’s Softball World Cup originated in 2023. Kentucky wasn’t represented on that inaugural team, so Kyndall’s already a statewide trail-blazer like her older sister Ella. Now a freshman pitcher for, coincidentally, Kent State, Ella last year made Kentucky high school sports history as the first athlete to record 1,000 strikeouts in a softball uniform and score 1,000 points in a basketball jersey.

Ella was great in her own right on the diamond, but Kyndall’s got her sights set on earning a high-level Division I scholarship – perhaps in Lexington, where her favorite player Erin Coffel was a star for the University of Kentucky. 

“It’s still sinking in, I would say,” Jamey Johnson said of Kyndall’s experience. “It’s opened up doors for her. The coaches that have started following her on Twitter? It’s getting her name out there and that’s part of it.”

A family sport

All three Johnson girls – sister Presley is a seventh-grader playing for Bracken County’s squad this season – perhaps were destined to suit up for the Polar Bears’ softball team. Their grandfather, former area superintendent Tony Johnson, founded the program.

Jamey Johnson took the head coaching post last season after the school received just one inexperienced applicant for the job.

Jamey is also the school’s principal. 

“I knew we had too good of a team to just let it go,” Jamey said. “I know I’m not the best coach out there but I’ve been around it enough to know a little bit about it and hopefully make them better.”

“Coaching is a thankless job, it’s hard to find people to do it.”

Jamey’s most recent trial: navigating life without his ace hitter in the lineup. Jamey and Tabitha couldn’t travel with Kyndall to Mexico due to their school obligations, so their mothers went with her. Back in Brooksville, he watched his team battle back from four straight losses without their star to win a 5-3 nail-biter against Fleming County on the road. That came right on the heels of a narrow 9-8 defeat at 10th Region rival Scott.

“It’s been a blessing in disguise. My oldest daughter got the majority of pitching innings last year and Rees Hargett, who’s now getting about 50-50 time pitching with Addy Tucker, was my right fielder,” Jamey said. Freshly minted right-fielder Macy Beckett, a sophomore, has blossomed in her role and also at the plate while Kyndall was away. “In JV ball and travel ball, she’s mostly a catcher, but Macy’s been a heck of an outfielder for us. Her bat’s come on, her glove’s been strong. Not having Kyndall out there has helped us find a piece I might not have.”

Bracken County won the 39th District in 2022 and 2023 but was upset by Mason County in last year’s final and bowed out in the first round of the 10th Region tournament. The U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup doesn’t start until June 27, so Kyndall should be available to help lead the Polar Bears on another deep postseason run. After that: a summer trip to Italy.

“I have more confidence and this experience really gave me a mindset that I can succeed,” Kyndall said.