WPF Photo
She turned into a rock star at Kentucky so it really was no surprise that Kayla Kowalik was a big hit during her rookie season in the Women’s Pro Fastpitch League.
Kowalik was named Rookie of the Year after hitting .394 and ended the regular season as the league’s stolen base leader with 14.
She started her Kentucky career as an outfielder after her brilliant prep career in Texas but moved to catcher her sophomore year and turned into the nation’s No. 1 catcher. Yet she was named an all-outfield player on the league’s postseason awards.
The two-time college All-American scored 27 runs and had 43 hits in 34 games for her team that finished 18-6 to get the No. 3 seed going into this weekend’s playoffs.
Kowalik played in 253 games in five seasons at Kentucky and amassed 353 hits and 262 runs scored, both school records. She also had a school-record 24 triples and a career batting average of .424 along with 126 RBIs.
Kowalik’s former UK teammate, Abbey Cheek, also played on her team and had five home runs and 12 RBIs. Her home runs co-led the team and she was third in RBIs.
