Emory Donaldson hit .504 with 15 home runs for state champion Ballard in 2022. She will sign with Kentucky in November.
Kentucky softball will add one of the state’s best players next month when Emory Donaldson of Louisville Ballard signs with the Wildcats but coach Rachel Lawson had an easy sell her.
Both her parents attended the University of Kentucky. She’s always gone to UK games or watched the Wildcats play on TV. Donaldson also went to softball camps at Kentucky.
“I think I have been a UK fan since I was born,” Donaldson said.
She was about four years old when she dressed as a UK cheerleader at Halloween. She had a UK jersey when she was even younger.
“My parents never pushed me to UK or tried to influence me to even stay close to home,” she said. “They let the decision be mine.”
However, once Lawson extended the scholarship offer, Donaldson knew there was no need to wait and she verbally committed to Kentucky as a junior. She joked that her answer was a quick, “Big Blue yes,” to Lawson.
“I play softball and travel most of the summer playing games. I had a good summer overall and it helped that I had no stress of being recruited because I know I am good with Kentucky,” she said.
Donaldson hit .504 last season for Ballard with 15 home runs. She drove in 47 games in 39 games and also had 22 stolen bases to help the Bruins win the state championship. That was a big jump from her sophomore season when she hit .364 with just two home runs and 20 RBIs.
She normally plays center field for Ballard but on her travel team she plays shortstop or third base. Lawson has talked to her about being a utility player who can play multiple positions.
“I have always heard being a utility player is a great thing because the more positions you can play, the better college coaches like you because of the flexibility you bring,” Donaldson said.
The Ballard senior constantly works on her hitting and says that is why she made such a big jump from her sophomore to junior years.
“I got stronger in general. I had always focused on being a gap hitter. Now I can hit it over the fence as well as power it into the gaps. But my strength is still the ability to hit line drives,” Donaldson said. “I work on hitting every pitch I could ever see and doing that will just keep helping me in the future.”
Donaldson played soccer when she was younger and then started playing basketball in sixth grade. She gave that up after her freshman season to concentrate on softball.
“I am hooked on softball and wanted to have time to focus on softball and the recruiting process,” she said.
Her parents also always made sure she focused on academics before sports.
“After college you cannot rely on sports to get you through life, so I always kept up with my grades,” Donaldson said.
She may become a business major at UK focusing on marketing and/or accounting. She’s taking a marketing/accounting course at Ballard.
Donaldson also has an interest in coaching. She could see herself as a graduate assistant at Kentucky or maybe somewhere else.
“During the summers if you are a college player you can coach a travel team with our organization. I hope to get coaching experience doing that,” she said. “I hope I can maybe stay involved with sports teams to do what I can for women’s sports.”
She has grown up in a home where “going to church every Sunday is important” and her faith means a lot to her.
“God sees over all things and I am relying on him. He has helped me get this far and I need his help to go further,” she said.
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One non-softball skill Donaldson is perfecting is juggling.
“I would not yet consider myself a juggler,” she said. “When I was at one of the Kentucky camps, one of the drills was juggling. One of the team members told me if I was coming to Kentucky, I better learn how to juggle.”
“Once I knew for sure I was going to Kentucky, I picked up juggling. I am trying to get better at it.”
She can now juggle three balls at a time.
“I mean I am a little bit better than average (at juggling),” she said. “But I know I can get better.”
