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#99, Catcher, 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.

AUSL Headshot of Kayla Kowalik

Career Stats

  • All-Star Cup
  • AUX Softball
  • Regular Season
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 Blaze
10
10
34
32
.344
.382
.406
.788
2
11
2
-
-
3
2
-
3
8
13
-
-
-
-
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 Blaze
24
20
76
64
.266
.373
.406
.779
13
17
4
1
1
9
10
1
8
15
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
68
51
218
198
.318
.370
.455
.825
34
63
12
3
3
26
16
1
21
267
90
1
2
2
2

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

Splits

Game Log

  • 2026 AUSL
  • 2025 All-Star Cup
  • 2025 AUSL
  • 2024 Championship*
  • 2024 AUX Softball
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
7/18/2026
BlazeSpark
4
4
.250
.250
.250
.500
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
1
-
-
-
-
7/16/2026
BlazeBandits
3
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
6/22/2026
BanditsBlaze
3
3
.333
.333
.333
.666
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-
6/20/2026
BanditsBlaze
3
3
.667
.667
.667
1.334
-
2
-
-
-
2
-
-
-
-
2
-
-
-
-
6/17/2026
BanditsBlaze
3
3
.667
.667
.667
1.334
-
2
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-
2
-
-
-
-
6/15/2026
BlazeVolts
5
3
.333
.600
.667
1.267
-
1
1
-
-
-
2
-
-
2
2
-
-
-
-
6/14/2026
BlazeVolts
3
3
.333
.333
.667
1.000
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
2
-
-
-
-
6/11/2026
BlazeCascade
3
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
6/10/2026
BlazeCascade
4
4
.250
.250
.250
.500
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
4
1
-
-
-
-
6/9/2026
BlazeCascade
3
3
.667
.667
.667
1.334
-
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2
-
-
-
-

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

Highlights

4 Takeaways on Team USA from the WBSC Softball Group Stage Event

This time next year, Team USA will be finalizing the softball roster for the LA28 Olympics. That means the next 12 months of performance and competition are crucial for athletes to earn a spot on the U.S. Women’s National Team. Softball wasn’t included in the last 2024 Games, and it’s been over a decade since […]

Read More

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 SEC All-Defensive Team
Two-time NFCA First-Team All-Southeast Region

Transactions

  • 7/20/2026-
    Kayla Kowalik placed on the 7-day injury reserve list on 7/20/2026
  • 7/16/2026-
    Kayla Kowalik was reinstated from the injury reserve list
  • 6/24/2026-
    Kayla Kowalik placed on the 7-day injury reserve list on 6/23/2026
  • 11/21/2025-
    Initial Protected Player
  • 1/30/2025Blaze
    Blaze drafted Kayla Kowalik in the inagural draft [Round 7, Pick 4(28)]

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