ALAH’s Brown doing well in pro softball
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By Mike Monahan
PORTLAND – On May 29, Kenzie Brown, a 2021 Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond grad, signed with the Portland Cascade of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL). Thus making the former Knight, who was coached by the late Jerry Lane, a professional softball player. She was picked in the third round by the Cascade in the college draft. During her time as a Knight, ALAH went 66-19 in three seasons with one year wiped out due to COVID-19. Her senior season the Knights placed fourth in the state in Class 1A.
Following Arizona State’s 13-0 win over UTEP on April 7, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe surprised Brown by presenting her with one of the AUSL’s Golden Tickets, signaling her selection in the league’s 2026 college draft. The Sun Devils made the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons.
Thus far in the season, which started June 28, Brown is 3-2 with a 3.73 earned run average. She has been in seven games and started six. Overall she has pitched 30 innings (as of July 12), allowed 24 hits, with a team-high 34 strikeouts. She has walked 19 and allowed 16 earned runs. Opposing batters are hitting just .212 against Brown, who has three complete games. Portland is 12-9 after beating the Chicago Bandits 5-4. Portland plays its home games in HIllsboro, Oregon at Hillsboro Ballpark. Other teams in the league are the Carolina Blaze, Oklahoma Spark, Texas Volts and Utah Talons. This is the first year of permanent cities in the league that was formed in 2024. She set a league record with 10 strikeouts in a game earlier this season. The Cascade plays Utah Wednesday at 9 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network and on the MLB network on Thursday against Utah also at 9 p.m. Friday on ESPN 2 Portland takes on Texas at 7 p.m. The postseason starts the 23rd and ends the 26th or 27 depending on if a third game is necessary. All playoff games are at Texas A&M on ABC, ESPN or ESPN 2.
Brown, from Lake City, is the daughter of Lisa Hood and Andy Brown and has eight siblings. She attended Tulsa University in 2021-22 before transferring to Arizona State. In 2023-24 she redshirted to preserve one more year of eligibility. In the 2026 season Brown earned second team All-American status, was on the second team NFCA All-American team, NFCA All-West first team, all Big 12 first team and Big 12 softball tournament MVP all-tournament honors. In her three years at ASU, Brown was 50-25 with 124 appearances, 59 games started, 30 complete games and seven saves. She allowed 184 earned runs in 469 innings for an earned run average of 2.75. The 5-11 player had 345 hits with 243 walks and 676 strikeouts. She bats left and throws right and majored in organizational leadership.
In high school Brown was a unanimous first team all-Lincoln Prairie Conference pitcher. For her four year career she played in 79 games and was 1119-of-261 for a batting average of .456. She scored 92 runs and had 77 runs batted in. She had 24 doubles, 8 triples and nine home runs. She struck out 36 times and walked 26 times. She stole 21 bases and had a fielding percentage of .919 with nine errors, 58 assists and 44 putouts.
While that is all very good it is the pitcher circle that she made a name for herself. She was 37-12 with one save. She pitched in 57 games and started 47 with 39 complete games, 14 shoutouts, five no-hitters and one perfect game. In 324 ⅔ innings she allowed 67 earned runs on 167 hits with 148 walks and an impressive 676 strikeouts.