Kennadi Borngrebe has emerged as nothing short of a stud for the Wayne State College softball team this season. The 5’7 redshirt-freshman product from Elkhorn South High School in Omaha has been named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s Softball Pitcher of the Week three times this season. She has also been a star with the bat in her hands, hitting .259 on the season and being one of the reliable pieces from a hitting standpoint.
However, it all has not come without its fair share of adversity. From tee-ball to high school softball, Borngrebe went through the worst nightmare of any player in youth sports, being told you aren’t good enough.
“I had a lot of motivation because I had a lot of coaches tell me I wasn’t good enough or not give me a lot of playing time,” Borngrebe said. “My motivation was a sort of ‘F-U’ mentality. I do want that opportunity and I do feel like I’m good enough.”
Throughout her youth, Borngrebe was constantly in a love-hate relationship with softball. Her frustration and lack of confidence in herself led her father, Keith, to push her to be the best she can be. She gives him a lot of credit as well as her pitching coach, Darren Dubsky, for being instrumental in getting her to push through her young adversity and regain her confidence.
All of the hard work and confidence led Borngrebe to receiving two offers out of high school: Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State College. To her, this was her vindication. All her hard work was finally paying off.
“It felt really good to know that somebody wanted me,” Borngrebe said. “It was cool knowing ‘I did make it’ and all the work I put in was worth it.”
Borngrebe committed to WSC while the program was still under the direction of Shelli Manson. Enter new head coach Christy Warnock, Borngrebe and Warnock both had unfamiliarity with one another. Panic set in initially for Borngrebe, as she wanted to be able to both pitch and hit at the collegiate level. Expressing that to coach Warnock, her offer to come to WSC was upheld. She was told by the coaching staff in order to hit and pitch, she’d have to earn that opportunity.
Even though the offer was kept, the need to prove herself again was evident. Borngrebe found that motivation factor once more and proved she could keep up with both aspects and developed a lot of respect for Warnock.
“She saw I could keep up with it and saw that I was motivated to keep up with it,” Borngrebe said. “Seeing her coaching style and interacting with her was truly awesome. She’s truly one of the best coaches I’ve ever had.”
Borngrebe finally had everything she could want. She was going to hit and pitch at the collegiate level as a freshman and play a massive role for the Wildcats. Everything was finally going her way, but then disaster struck.
Warming up for the 2024 season Borngrebe started to experience shooting pain in her pitching arm in January, just two weeks before the start of the season. Her arm began to swell and turn purple. Everybody around her thought she simply strained her elbow, but she pressed on, determined to make an impact for WSC in 2024.
More pitching. More swelling. More discoloration. The state of her arm was simply getting worse and worse. It quickly became a cruel reality that she was not going to be able to play that season, and Borngrebe decided to take a medical redshirt and focused on recovering in time for the 2025 season.
Physical therapy was most of Borngrebe’s 2024 summer activities. The main goal was to gain back all of the strength she lost while working through her injury over the previous winter and spring. She tried throwing again. Still pain. More physical therapy and more throwing. More pain and swelling.
“I thought it was going to be a two-week injury,” Borngrebe said. “Even through the PT and trying to throw again, it just didn’t feel right. It didn’t seem like what everyone told me was wrong was what was actually wrong.”
Coming back in the fall, similar issues persisted for Borngrebe. She was throwing with a compression sleeve but hated relying on it. The injury started to force her to lose feeling in her fingers and affected her daily activities. Borngrebe would be sitting in class profusely sweating and she couldn’t even feed herself properly. She couldn’t pitch without pain and was struggling with her grip strength while delivering her pitches. She was also hitting with only one hand on the bat.
An MRI scan revealed what is known as cubital tunnel syndrome. It is when the ulnar nerve, the nerve commonly known as the ‘funny-bone’ nerve, gets compressed, causing feelings of numbness an often some form of pain. Borngrebe’s case also saw a blood vessel attach to the nerve. The only option was to surgically move the nerve to a place where it won’t get pinched again.
Borngrebe officially went under the knife in October of 2024. Right beforehand, the thoughts of doubt creeped back into Borngrebe’s mind.
“It was mostly feeling like I was crazy,” Borngrebe said. “I had thoughts of ‘Why is this happening to me?’ and ‘I worked so hard. Why is this getting taken away?’ and it’s also very draining trying to come back.”
To her, this was a massive stepback. Not only had she been struggling physically, but her mental health also suffered, coupling with the fact of being a freshman in college and having to get used to her new lifestyle.
There was immediate good news, however, as Borngrebe has immediate relief after surgery. The immediate relief led to immediate motivation.
“I don’t just want to come back,” Borngrebe said. “I want to come back and dominate.”
So, she got to work. A quick recovery led her to start throwing again in early December of 2024. To her, it felt like she had a new arm, but redeveloped her muscle memory quickly and was pitching better than ever. She felt like all the support she had from friends, family, teammates and coaches all played a part in her coming back stronger than ever. One of those coaches was Noah Roberts, a former WSC baseball player turned softball pitching coach says it’s been awesome to her progression and see all of her hard work pay off.
“Kennadi has been through a lot during her time at WSC and I think that’s really helped her mature quickly,” Roberts said. “She has developed an emotional and physical toughness that sets her apart in the circle.”
Borngrebe says while this event affected her in a large way, she says she felt like she needed it.
“Softball became more than a game to me,” Borngrebe said. “As horrible as it all was, I feel like I needed it. It definitely changed me as a player and a person. Being a perfectionist, I would focus on all the negatives. Coming back, I was able to look at the positives a lot more.”
Coming back and pitching again, Borngrebe feels like she has a new arm and has become a different player. Yet, even with all the accolades and the stats to back up the product she puts out on the field, she thinks she has more to give.
“I am fully back and I think I can get better,” Borngrebe said. “Last year, I didn’t want to wake up. Didn’t want to get out of bed. Didn’t want to feel what I was feeling. I didn’t want to be told what was wrong with me. Now, I feel like myself and it feels so good!”
