LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky softball catcher Kayla Kowalik has been voted a First Team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association.
She is now the 5th overall Wildcat to make All-American and joins only Kelsey Nunely (2016) and Abbey Cheek (2019) to become a member of the First Team. The others to be named All-American were Molly Belcher (2009) and Katie Reed (2017).
Kowalik led the NCAA in hitting this season with a .495 average. And she led the nation in hits with exactly 100 during the year, the first Wildcat to accomplish that feat.
In the field, where Kowalik caught every SEC game, she had a .993 fielding percentage and threw out four runners looking to steal.
The 2021 season was Kowalik’s junior year with Kentucky, as she has two years of eligibility remaining and will have the chance in 2022 to build off of one of the greatest single-seasons in program history.
Kentucky finished the season 43-16 overall with its eighth appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals, and fourth trip to that round in a row.
