Kayla Kowilak’s record-breaking season continues to garner national attention for the University of Kentucky junior catcher as she is now on the final 10 for the National Player of the Year. How could she not be on the list released by USA Softball?
She leads the nation with a .518 batting average overall and is hitting an unreal .498 in conference play. No UK player has ever hit .500 or above in a full season. The school record is .442 by Nikki Jones in 2002.
She leads the nation with a school-record 85 hits (assistant coach Molly Johnson Belcher had the previous mark of 81 in 2009) and is the only player in the nation with 80 or more hits.
The other finalists for USA Softball Player of the Year are Jocelyn Alo and Tiare Jennings, Oklahoma; Sis Bates, Washington; Braxton Burnside and Mary Half, Arkansas; Valerie Cagle, Clemson; Carrie Eberle, Oklahoma State; Gabbie Plain, Washington; and Rachel Garcia, UCLA.
The final three will be announced May 19 and the winner names June 1 before the Women’s College World Series starts June 3.
Kentucky is 35-12 overall and 10-11 in Southeastern Conference play going into this weekend’s home series with South Carolina. Kentucky will complete regular-season play May 12-15 in the SEC Tournament.
The Wildcats are still hoping to be one of 16 teams selected to host an NCAA Regional and Kowilak’s play is a big reason UK is in position to potentially host NCAA games.
She has started all 47 games either at catcher or center field. She has a team-high 164 at-bats. She leads the team in runs scored with a school-record 68 (current assistant coach Brittany Cervantes had the previous record of 55 in 2011). Only three previous UK players had ever scored 50 or more runs in one season.
Kowalik is second on the team with nine doubles and leads the team again in triples with six after having a school-record eight last season. The junior is also second on the team with 12 home runs and has driven in 35 runs. Her 19 steals in 21 tries lead the team.
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Kowalik leads UK with a school-record 142 total bases — the nation’s second-best mark. Her .866 slugging percentage leads UK and puts her on pace to become only the fourth UK player to have an .800 slugging percentage in one season. Her .866 mark is tied for 22nd nationally.
Kowalik was very good her first two years at Kentucky. This season she has been sensational and hopefully even more of the country will get to see that in postseason play.
