Kayla Kowalik

Kayla Kowalik is a 5-foot-9 professional softball utility player from New Braunfels, Texas. She was acquired in the 7th Round of the 2025 Inaugural Draft following a collegiate career at Kentucky.

Personal Life

Career: Named assistant softball coach at Texas Tech in September 2024.

Family: Twin sister, Gabbie, played softball at Saint Louis and graduated as their all-time leader in runs scored and triples.

Background: Majored in management and accounting at Kentucky. Has a Border Collie named Stevie and has worn No. 99 since she was eight years old.

Professional Experience

Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball, AUX & AUSL (2024–2025)

2025 AUSL All-Star Cup: Secured the individual title with 1,590 leaderboard points. Led the league in win points (990), MVP points (300), batting average (.486), hits (17), RBIs (11), and total bases (27). Opened the season by winning her first eight games.

2025 AUSL Regular Season: Authored a .266 batting average with one home run and nine RBIs.

2024 Championship Season: Tallied 1,020 leaderboard points, posting a .333 batting average with 14 hits.

2024 AUX Season: Accumulated 810 leaderboard points, batting .241 with seven hits.

Other Professional Experience (2023)

WPF: Eighth overall selection in the 2023 WPF Draft by the USSSA Pride. Earned All-WPF Team and Rookie of the Year honors after leading the league with 14 stolen bases and hitting .394.

International Experience (2022–2026)

Team USA: Led Team USA to the 2022 Canada Cup title. Competed at the 2022 and 2024 Japan All-Star Series and the 2025 Down Under Series. Member of the 2026 National Team pool.

College Experience: Kentucky (2019–2023)

Career Statistics: Started 252-of-253 games, compiling a school-record .424 career batting average with 21 home runs and 126 RBIs. Kentucky’s all-time leader in hits (353), triples (24), runs scored (262), and total bases (508).

Fifth-Year Senior (2023): Paced the Wildcats with a .442 batting average and 80 hits.

Senior Year (2022): Boasted a .420 batting average with seven home runs.

Junior Year (2021): SEC hitting champion with a .495 average, adding a career-high 12 home runs and 37 RBIs. Established a program record with a 23-game hitting streak.

Sophomore Year (2020): Led NCAA Division I with eight triples.

Freshman Year (2019): Accumulated 66 hits and stole 14 bases.

Awards & Honors

Professional: 2025 AUSL All-Star Cup Champion.

All-America: Named to NFCA, D1Softball, and Softball America All-America Second Team as a fifth-year senior.

Conference Honors: First-Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team in her final two seasons.