Catcher Kayla Kowalik has speed to beat out infield hits but also power to hit home runs and drive in runs. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Credit Rachel Lawson for knowing when to coach and also when not to coach. She knows junior catcher/outfielder Kayla Kowalik is on a roll offensively that makes her “fun to watch” and that there is not a lot more she can do to help her.
“I just give her tips. She has a routine, a system. She knows what to do,” said Lawson. “She really is one of the best players in the country. You wonder what she will do next. I cannot say enough about what a great player she is.”
How great? Let the numbers do the talking.
— Kowalik leads the nation with her .534 average after 40 games and her 75 hits are nine more than anyone else in the nation has. Only three players nationally have reached 60 hits. She needs seven hits to break current UK assistant coach Molly Johnson Belcher’s school record set in 2009. The only UK players to hit a higher mark for a season were Bailey Vick at .571 in 2020, Alex Martens .507 in 2020, and Nikki Jones .442 in 2002.
— Kowalik leads the nation with 128 total bases and is just 11 short of breaking Abbey Cheek’s record of 138 set in 2019. She’s already fourth on UK’s single-season list with only Cheek, Brooke Marnitz (137 in 2007), and Belcher (130 in 2009) ahead of her.
— She’s tied for first in the nation with six triples, only two shy of her school-record eight she had in the abbreviated 2020 season.
— She went 3-for-5 in the 6-5 comeback win over Louisville Wednesday to extend her school-record hitting streak to 21 straight games. The previous record was 16 by Katie Reed in 2016.
— Her 59 runs scored broke the previous school record of 55 by Brittany Cervantes in 2011.
— She’s 44th nationally with 11 home runs — as a leadoff hitter. She has also driven in 34 runs from her leadoff spot.
Kowalik admits her hitting success/streak can be a combination of motivation and pressure.
“It’s not something I actively think about. It’s all fun and games,” she said. “The stats are there. It’s hard to escape it. Once game time gets here I think about what I need to do in this situation and this at-bat rather than the hits I have. It’s just not something I think about but I am constantly being reminded of.”
She did strike out once against Louisville. That was only her 13th strikeout in 146 at-bats this season but she says it was “frustrating” to her.
“I have been so fortunate the last few weeks getting on (base) and I get very frustrated when I am not even having a bad day (if she strikes out).”
Kentucky is 31-10 overall but only 6-9 in SEC play going into a weekend home series with LSU. Kowalik believes the win over Louisville should give UK, which has lost three straight SEC series, momentum against LSU.
“I think it (beating Louisville) was so important to keep us motivated and give us momentum,” she said after the Louisville win. “Nobody is perfect. Just last night OU (Oklahoma) lost (to Georgia to end a 40-game win streak). No team is perfect. Everybody hits a rough patch. We went through ours the last two weeks. We are getting back to the team we were.”
She also has to keep an eye on her twin sister, Gabbie, a junior outfielder at St. Louis University. She is hitting .387 in 30 games with nine home runs and 28 runs batted in.
“We were more competitive when we played together,” Kayla Kowalik said. “I am happy she is successful. We are just rooting for each other. We are just happy for what we can get. If she has a great day, I am absolutely thrilled for her.”
