Senior varsity softball catcher, Kiyah Chavez, celebrates 1 year of being committed to Division 1 University of Iowa. While many seniors are applying to college now, Chavez got the call at the start of her eligibility for recruitment.
“Iowa, like instantly on September 1st at midnight [said] “we wanna schedule a visit,“ Chavez recalled.
Colleges can start calling to recruit student-athletes on September 1st of their Junior year. This fills the summer of sophomore year with many visits and scouting from colleges.
“It’s a lot through email and just through like going to camps,” Varsity coach Annie Scaramuzzi explained the process these athletes go through, “It’s a lot more social media based which is I think is cool…you can get your recruiting and your videos out there and to a lot more people at once.”
Chavez had to work extra hard that summer as a hand injury put her out of sophomore season.
“When I found out I tore the muscles in my hand, that was really frustrating…you don’t wanna go into your big summer with being off for 2 months,” Chavez stated.
Although the injury kept her out of the game, Chavez turned to other methods of training, like lifting in the Panther weight room.
“The rest of her body still worked fine in the sense of that was no reason to stop training.“ Football coach John Hugunin recalled as he helped guide Chavez through her injury, “It was good for her to learn you can train through those things and it’s not all or nothing.”
This training has continued with her through future seasons. She usually wakes up before school to come in and work out during the on and off seasons with her teammates.
“[Chavez] was going from lifting in the morning to school then to either wrestling or softball, so she’s pretty much nonstop all the time,” Hugunin explained.
Chavez’s mentality and motivation throughout the injury kept her momentum strong as she went into an important season. She is now in the spotlight as a D1 player and has received several national ranks.
“Recently I just got ranked 3rd in the midwest for catching, and then I think I got ranked 18th in the nation,” Chavez said.
Not only has she seen success individually, but also with her team as OH Varsity Softball placed 3rd in state during the 2024 season.
“The culture of the program at Oswego the past few years has been one that says if you wanna get something out of the program you have to put a lot into the program,” Varsity softball Coach Paul Netzel explained.
Kiyah Chavez’s career with the OH softball team has been historic individually and team-wise, setting her up for success as she transitions from a Panther to a Hawkeye.
Hi I'm Chayse! I'm a Senior at OHS and this is my first year on the 42Fifty team. When I'm not at school, I participate in activities such as BIONIC, Commotion, SOTC, and many various Honor Societies! You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
[…] School of Engineering for softball; Aubriella Garza: Northern Illinois University for softball; Kiyah Chavez: University of Iowa for softball; Mikaela Busse: Tusculum Univeristy for […]