Things were shaping up nicely for Kankakee through three innings of its home Southland Athletic Conference softball game against Crete-Monee on Tuesday.

But an early three-run lead for the Kays (1-2, 1-1 Southland) was erased with a 10-run fourth inning for the Warriors that forced Kankakee to play catchup the rest of the way in an eventual 20-11 loss.

While the Kays managed to score in double figures for the second straight game, 17 errors committed by the defense gave the Warriors far too many chances to pull away.

“Compared to past years, we’ve got a young team for sure, an inexperienced team,” head coach LaDesha Nelson said. “From our first game to this game, we definitely made some improvements on the offensive side. We’ve got to clean up some stuff on the defensive side.”

The Kays led 5-2 after three innings before the Warriors used five extra outs granted by the Kankakee defense in the top of the fourth to pull ahead 12-5.

The Kays added four runs in the bottom half to keep it close at 12-9, but the Warriors kept pulling away in the fifth and sixth innings to hang on for the win.

Complicating things in the early going for the young Kays has been the team’s difficulties just getting onto the field.

The tornado that blew through Kankakee on March 10, just two days before the Kays were scheduled to open their season, rendered their home field unplayable for the foreseeable future.

They took the field at Grant Park to open the season on March 20, losing 8-3, and would not play again until a 19-1 road win over Thornton in their Southland opener 10 days later.

The Kays landed at the 315 Sports Park in Bradley for their home opener on Tuesday, which serve as their home for now and possibly the rest of the season.

“We’ve had no choice but to adjust,” Nelson said. “With the tornado, we were out of school and doing e-learning. We don’t even had a field at a moment. We didn’t have a place to really practice for a while. But even with those challenges, I think the girls are holding on really well.”

The Kays had four players in the starting lineup Tuesday that were not on last year’s team and several returning players taking on vastly different roles.

KaLeah Jackson brings her dangerous bat and steady presence back to the lineup while moving from third to first base. Fellow senior Lillian Landis, who was third on the team with a .484 average last season, is taking over as catcher this season after playing shortstop in 2025.

Junior Lamaryah Smith moves over to short this season while Adleigh Cunningham takes over as primary pitcher as a sophomore.

The rest of Tuesday’s starting lineup consisted of senior Madison Covington, who saw limited time a season ago, junior newcomer Lily James and the freshman trio of Mikaylah Santoyo, Sherlyn Morales and Amielya Taylor.

With so many players finding their footing in new roles, Nelson said there will be some growing pains.

“Lamaryah Smith, this is only her second year playing softball,” Nelson said. “She’s stepped up for sure. KaLeah Jackson, a big name, she’s doing what she normally does. And we have a sophomore pitcher, and we don’t really have a lot of pitchers after that. We’re kind of just taking the hits and taking them the best we can.”

Landis was 3 for 4 Tuesday with four RBIs and three runs. Cunningham was 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs while Jackson also drove in a run and scored two.

The Kays will visit the Warriors Wednesday and host them Thursday to finish off the first of four conference series set for April.

Now that some much-needed stability seems to be coming up on the schedule, Nelson said she hopes to see the Kays start to bank valuable experience and bring some much-needed stability to the field as well.

“Our goal, as always, is to come out on top in conference,” she said. “Everybody is kind of evened out this year. We’ve all had tough losses and lost valuable players. But as long as we stay confident and we inch our way toward success, I think we’ll be OK.”

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Softball: Kankakee vs. Crete-Monee Kankakee's Mikaylah Santoyo throws to first for an out during the Kays 20-11 loss to Crete-Monee on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Tiffany Blanchette)