#99, Utility, L/R

Kayla Kowalik

University of Kentucky '22

Hometown: New Braunfels, Texas

2025 AUSL All-Star Cup Champion

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.

YEAR	G	GS	PA	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG%	OPS	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HP	SO	LOB	TB	SF	SH	SB	CS
2026 AUSL	2	2	7	7	.429	.429	.429	.858	1	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	35	3	-	-	-	-
2025 All-Star Cup	10	10	38	35	.486	.486	.771	1.257	7	17	2	1	2	11	1	-	2	-	27	1	1	-	-
2025 AUSL	24	20	76	64	.266	.373	.406	.779	13	17	4	1	1	9	10	1	8	-	26	-	1	1	2
2024 Championship*	14	7	44	42	.333	.364	.429	.793	5	14	2	1	-	2	2	-	3	-	18	-	-	-	-
2024 AUX Softball	11	5	30	29	.241	.267	.310	.577	7	7	2	-	-	2	1	-	5	-	9	-	-	1	-
Career Totals	142	114	395	344	.299	.378	.433	.811	82	103	21	5	5	52	41	3	41	438	149	1	6	6	11

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Splits

DATE	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	PA	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG%	OPS	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HP	SO	LOB	TB	SF	SH	SB	CS
6/10/2026	Blaze	Cascade	4	4	.250	.250	.250	.500	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	1	-	-	-	-
6/9/2026	Blaze	Cascade	3	3	.667	.667	.667	1.334	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	2	-	-	-	-

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Highlights

1 Big unknown for each AUSL team in 2026

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) season is more like a sprint than a marathon – 25 games for each of the six teams in just under two months. That leaves little time for slumps, and the downs need to turn around quickly. There are always unknowns going into Opening Day, and these questions for each […]

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Awards & Honors

2025 AUSL All-Star Cup Champion

Kentucky’s all-time leader in runs scored with 262

No. 3 at Kentucky in career games played with 253

2023 USA Softball Collegiate POY Top 25 Finalist

Two-time NFCA First-Team All-Southeast Region

Two-Time SEC All-Defensive Team

11/21/2025-
Initial Protected Player
1/30/2025Blaze
Blaze drafted Kayla Kowalik in the inagural draft [Round 7, Pick 4(28)]

DATE	TEAM	TRANSACTION
11/21/2025		Initial Protected Player
1/30/2025	Blaze	Blaze drafted Kayla Kowalik in the inagural draft [Round 7, Pick 4(28)]

Kayla Kowalik

Personal Life

Professional Experience

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

Other Professional Experience (2023)

International Experience (2022–2026)

College Experience: Kentucky (2019–2023)

Awards & Honors

Career Stats

Splits

Game Log

Highlights

1 Big unknown for each AUSL team in 2026

Awards & Honors

Transactions

Kayla Kowalik

Personal Life

Professional Experience

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

Other Professional Experience (2023)

International Experience (2022–2026)

College Experience: Kentucky (2019–2023)

Awards & Honors

Career Stats

Splits

Game Log

Highlights

1 Big unknown for each AUSL team in 2026

Awards & Honors

Transactions

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