Super senior Kayla Kowalik is known for her hitting prowess but she's also an elite catcher. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kayla Kowalik not only is one of the best hitters in the Southeastern Conference but she’s also one of the very best in the nation.
The fifth-year senior catcher has a career .419 batting average in 199 career games as Kentucky gets set to open the season Friday in Florida. She has scored a school record 214 runs and needs only 13 hits to surpass the school record 285 hits Leslie Kwiatkowski had from 1998-2001. She’s also on pace to break the career record for batting average (.389) and games played (254).
Yet despite those numbers, Kentucky coach Rachel Lawson also feels she is a special defensive player and her skills at catcher are vastly under appreciated by many.
“She is so steady. You always know what you are going to get. Pitchers are comfortable they can throw pitches anywhere with her behind the dish to get hitters to chase them. If you are not a great catcher, pitchers are scared to throw that way,” said Lawson.
“She is significantly better than when she was younger. Her receiving ability is elite. Actually, everything she does is elite. As a freshman, she was just catching. Now she is receiving and controlling the infield at the same time. She is a little calmer back there than she used to be and she has learned how to communicate and lead everybody on our team.”
Lawson expects her catcher and pitcher to look at signs she’s giving at the same time. Both have the ability to let Lawson know they prefer another pitch.
“The catcher has to signal where the hitter is in the (batter’s) box with a bunch of sneaky signs,” Lawson said.
What if the pitcher or catcher shakes off a sign and a hitter smacks a home run or RBI hit and does that happen frequently?
“I am not sure about frequently, but it does happen. But if they call a back pitch and the batter hits it over the fence then I just try to make it a teaching moment,” Lawson said.
Kowalik led the nation in hitting during the 2021 season with a .495 average and 100 in 59 games hits before “dropping” to only .420 last season with 76 hits in 56 games.
“Expecting her to hit .500 is unreasonable. A lot of things happened that made for that great number her junior year,” Lawson said. “Our scheduling was different. When you are playing the top teams in the country, they scout differently. It’s harder to get big numbers.
“Now we are back playing UCLA, Oklahoma and teams like that. We were not doing that two years ago. She’s also hitting for more power now because the bottom of our (batting) order is good and she is swinging away to get RBI’s. She has sacrificed making some contact for more power. To me, the fact she hit .420 last year was still incredible.”
Kowalik had a 23-game hitting streak in 2021 and 21-game streak in 2022. Those are the two longest hitting streaks in UK history.
