Kayla Kowalik is hitting .411 with 50 runs scored this season going into SEC Tournament play. (Photo by Vicky Graff)
Kentucky record-setting catcher Kayla Kowalik says she is the kind of person who does not let what someone else says bother her. Instead, she just likes to move on.
However, it doesn’t mean she forgets what might have been said.
“When I was young, you are impressionable and softball was really not that serious but I had some people tell me that I could not do things or that I wouldn’t do this or that,” said Kowalik, a senior who led the nation in batting average last season at .495 and became the first UK player ever to get 100 hits in a season.
“I would not necessarily say that is what drives me. I don’t have negative drivers. I have positive drivers and coaches I had after that experience helped me out with positive reinforcement and their belief in me is what made me strong.”
“I don’t like to dwell on the negatives. I have done my part to prove that wrong and like to move on.”
She has proven she is one of the nation’s best players, one reason coach Rachel Lawson was thrilled recently when Kowalik decided to return in 2023 for a super senior season if she can enter graduate school at UK. Kowalik is one of only five UK players ever to be named a National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association First Team All-American.
She is hitting .411 — second best on the team — with 50 runs scored and 27 walks— both team highs — going into SEC Tournament play Thursday in Florida where UK is the No. 4 seed. Kowalik has homered five times and knocked in 26 turns.
“When you are 10 years old and someone tells you that you are not going to be good and you can’t do something, it is going to stick with you and did with me,” Kowalik said.
“I am old enough now that things do not really bother me any more. I think it is kind of funny when someone says you can’t do something.”
Kowalik also needed time to acknowledge she is a role model for youngsters.
“I will admit that. It would be kind of dumb not to. I think what is kind of different is that people I looked up to when I was younger. I really didn’t have any other point of view,” Kowalik said.
“I thought these people were so great and amazing. I am not going to say I am not a good person but I am just a normal person. I am not any different than I was three years ago.”
“That is what I have been pushing with girls I meet that your idols are just normal people. I am just a normal person. Some people talk about how much I help kids but people don’t realize how much the kids do for us and supporting our sport. Anything I do to support them is just returning the favor.”
One Response
You are truly a positive role model !