The Run That Became History: Remembering KCC Baseball’s 2017 National Championship
ENID, Okla. — Every championship team has a defining trait. Some overpower opponents. Some ride one dominant arm. Some survive because they refuse to break.
The 2017 KCC baseball team did all of it.
The Cavaliers finished the season 54-11-1, capturing the NJCAA Division II World Series championship, and delivered one of the most memorable postseason runs in NJCAA baseball history. By the time the final out was recorded at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Oklahoma, KCC had not only won a national title, it had done it the hard way.
After dropping its opening game of the World Series to UCONN Avery Point, KCC had no margin for error. One more loss would end the season. Instead, the Cavaliers responded with six straight wins, turning an early setback into a championship story that still defines the program.
The run started with resilience. Facing elimination against Hinds Community College, KCC battled through a back-and-forth game. The Cavaliers led early, fell behind late, then scored once in the eighth and once in the ninth to secure an 8-7 win and keep the season alive. Waylon Richardson earned the win in one of the first major turning points of the tournament.
From there, the Cavaliers caught fire.
KCC defeated UConn Avery Point 12-2, then followed with a 14-6 elimination-game win over Pitt Community College to reach the World Series Final Four. In the win over Pitt, Nick Albanese drove in three runs, Alex Mandeville went 4-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, and Dylan Dodd added two runs and two RBIs.
The Cavaliers then had to get through Parkland College twice. They won the first matchup 11-9, then came back and beat Parkland again, 13-3 in six innings, to punch their ticket to the national championship game.
Waiting in the final was Mercer County Community College. KCC finished the job with an 11-5 victory on June 2, 2017, clinching the NJCAA Division II World Series championship and completing one of the greatest postseason runs in school history.
The Cavaliers’ offense was historic. Over seven World Series games, KCC scored 78 runs, setting a tournament record and showing the depth, pressure, and toughness that carried the team through the elimination bracket.
At the center of that run was second baseman Matt Littrell, KCC’s leadoff hitter and one of the faces of the championship team. Littrell was named World Series MVP, earned Best Defensive Player of the National Tournament, and still holds the tournament record with 15 RBIs.
The championship also reflected the leadership of the coaching staff. The Cavaliers were coached by Todd Post and Bryce Shafer, and the 2017 title became one of the signature achievements of Post’s historic career.
For KCC athletics, the 2017 baseball championship became part of a larger legacy. KCC added it's third national championships in school history: women’s basketball in 1994-95 and softball in 2015.
But for the players, coaches, alumni, and fans who lived it, the 2017 baseball title was more than a line in a record book.
It was a seven-game fight through the loser’s bracket. It was an offense that never stopped coming. It was big swings, late innings, pressure moments, and a group that kept believing after the tournament could have ended almost as soon as it began.
The Cavaliers left Enid as national champions.
And nearly a decade later, the story of that run still feels magical.