America’s Best: MaxPreps selects Calvary’s Kynzee Anderson Nation’s Top Player
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Learning how to impact Calvary Baptist Academy’s softball program was something Kynzee Anderson began witnessing at the tender age of 12. She was a seventh grader pitching outside of the spotlight that senior Riley Walker carried for the Lady Cavaliers.
Anderson was able to help Walker, getting a taste of varsity competition, logging 39 of the pitching staff’s 184 innings in the 2021 season. She had a modest 9-2 record and 1.62 earned run average with 17 walks and 48 strikeouts.
Calvary began what’s morphed into one of the state’s top softball dynasties, winning the first of what’s developed into an astounding stretch of six straight state championships.
The start of the Lady Cavaliers’ run provided a preview of what was to transpire, and the team’s responsibility as a lead pitcher shifted to Anderson, who’s been in the circle for all five of her team’s last five state titles – capped by a 5-1 victory over Parkview Baptist on May 3.
Calvary won 37 of 38 games against another rugged schedule, with Anderson leading the way with a 30-1 record and sterling 0.61 earned run average. She finished her six-year career with a state record 129 wins and 1,398 strikeouts, helping to cement the 2026 team’s first national championship by MaxPreps.com.
Moreover, Anderson, the Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year, Louisiana’s Miss Softball and Class 2A Outstanding Player, became the first player from Louisiana in the 16-year history of MaxPreps to receive the outlet’s National Player of the Year on Thursday.
“I was blessed to have gotten the experience I did in seventh grade,” said Anderson, a Georgia signee. “I learned the ropes from Riley, how to navigate through the program. I learned most of my stuff from her and built my foundation from there on.”
Calvary, the first recipient from Louisiana of MaxPreps’ national championship team honor, had other representatives on the MaxPreps All-America team. Sophomore third baseman Baylor Bockhaus was also selected to the 16-member first team, and junior Loren Sivils was a third-team selection.
“It’s so cool to keep adding excitement on top of an already great season,” Calvary Baptist coach Tiffany Wood, who in her 14th season, picked her 400th career win in the state final.
Bockhaus, a starter since the eighth grade, batted a team-high .486, scored 54 runs with five doubles, two triples, 21 homers and 69 RBIs. Sivils, also a three-year starter, hit .462 with nine doubles, 15 homers and was second to Bockhaus with 60 RBIs.
“I’m just blessed that I’ve gotten to play with them,” Anderson said. “They’re very good players and very good people, too.”
With the conclusion of each state championship the previous five seasons, and following another challenging travel ball campaign, Anderson annually raised the bar for herself.
“What’s been so great about her is that she never stops working. She’s a very humble kid,” Wood said. “She’s an appreciative kid of everything that God’s given her. She’s constantly sending thank-you messages. A lot of people could have gotten complacent with where they were.
“She had been pretty good, but she continually kept working,” Wood said. “She’s gotten some awards that I didn’t know existed. It’s cool being able to see her name and our program together, and it’s contributed to the type of person she is and how hard she works. She’s been absolutely amazing.”
Anderson’s approach was to try and stay one step ahead of the competition. With over 700 innings to her credit going into her final season, the ability to work on, or develop additional pitches, was a driving force in Anderson’s approach.
“People know you and when they know you, they know what you’re good at,” Wood said. “They knew she was good at the rise ball. We had three different levels of a rise ball. She’s always had a change-up but developed two more off-speed pitches that included a circle change, which helped her out tremendously and didn’t make her predictable.
“She could throw at different speeds, the ball spun and moved,” Wood said. “She has a curveball that breaks down and one that breaks up. The rise ball’s always been a strong pitch, and she made it even better, being able to place it on different levels. Her off-speed mimicked her rise ball because it tunnels. That’s one more pitch that you can get people out on. It’s been huge.”
Anderson believed every one of her six seasons had a different script. Regardless of her previous success, her work ethic remained in overdrive in search of keeping Calvary’s state championship streak and propelling the Lady Cavaliers’ name into the conversation as one of the nation’s top programs.
“I work every offseason to get new pitches and perfecting what I already have,” she said. “This season was my best one. Every season I’ve had has been my favorite. This was the best emotional one because it was my last ride here at Calvary. I’m just grateful for every moment I’ve had throughout my career here.”
One of the constants of playing for Calvary has been the level of schedule Wood’s put together. They traditionally play up in classification up to Class 5A, sprinkled with out-of-state competition which will reach a new high next April 8 with a neutral site game at 3 p.m. against nationally ranked Orange Beach, Ala. at Southeastern Louisiana.
“She’s put us in these hard seasons,” Anderson said. “From the eighth grade, we’ve had hard seasons throughout my career. They’ve helped to motivate me and gave me more confidence.”
Calvary steamrolled its way through its first 17 games, going into a softball fan’s dream of a home doubleheader with Bentonville, Ark. and West Monroe.
Bockhaus’ two-run homer in the bottom of the first stood up until the top of the fifth when Bentonville scored a run. The visitors also threatened with a bases-loaded, none-out scenario, which Anderson, following a visit from Wood, responded with three straight strikeouts.
Calvary’s 2-1 victory was preserved by Anderson, who allowed a total of four hits, two walks and struck out 16.
“You could see the confidence in her,” Wood said.
West Monroe’s three-run first inning came against a pair of freshmen in the circle until Anderson emerged in relief with a four-hit ball over six innings. She allowed four hits, three walks and struck out 10.
The Lady Cavaliers got within 3-2 before taking the lead with a three-run third. Four different players had RBIs, and Bockhaus led a 10-hit attack with a pair of singles in a 6-4 victory.
Three weeks later in the rematch, again at Calvary, West Monroe rallied from a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the fifth for a 3-2 victory, handing Calvary its first loss in 30 games.
“I was kind of bummed out, like dang after the game,” Anderson said. “You couldn’t do anything about it, and you had to move on. You can’t have them all.”
The loss was a mere speed bump in Calvary’s season. The Lady Cavaliers won their last three games of the regular season and feasted on their first three playoff opponents with three straight run-rule victories until meeting Parkview Baptist for the second straight season at the state tournament, this time in the final game.
Calvary ended a scoreless game with two runs in the fourth and held a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth.
The Lady Cavaliers extended their lead to 5-1 with three runs, with Jaycee Sledge doubling twice and driving in two runs, and Bockhaus and Carlie Guile each had two hits with an RBI.
Anderson’s 21st complete of the season featured three hits, one run, three walks and nine strikeouts.
“Going to the state tournament, it’s a huge scene,” Anderson said. “There are crowds everywhere. I zoned in, just focused on what I’m doing. The hard games helped us grow and learn.”
Anderson finished second nationally in wins and 15th in strikeouts. She also threw 12 shutouts with three no-hitters.
“One thing that helped her this year is that she became so much more confident in herself out there in circle,” Wood said. “This year she was very comfortable with herself. She was confident, and I think that helped.”
Anderson, who batted .384 for her career with 17 homers and 73 RBIs, sliced her ERA in half over the 2025 season and finished with a 2.24 career ERA. Her three no-hitters in ’26 increased her career total to 10 to go along with three perfect games in her sophomore season.
Nationwide recognition also followed Anderson and Bockhaus when they were named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s All-Region VI first team. They are now eligible for that organization’s All-America team, which closes its voting July 8.
The Lady Cavaliers were also represented on the second team by Guile, a junior, who batted .431 with a team-best 58 runs scored, 11 doubles, 8 homers, 34 RBIs and a team-high 28 stolen bases in 30 attempts. Freshman Brynn Robinson also earned a spot on the second team with a .474 average, a team-high 55 hits, three doubles, 30 RBIs, 13 stolen bases and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
“This year I had nothing to lose,” Anderson said. “I’ve already been recruited. I didn’t need to prove anything else. All I needed to do was play for myself, play for my team. I wasn’t trying to put any stress on myself and feel like I had to be perfect all of the time. I just wanted to have fun. I tried to work in the moment and had fun doing it.”