Future UK softball player Alexie Lacatena pitched two scoreless innings for Italy against Team USA. (Italy Olympics Photo)
Count on Kentucky softball star Kayla Kowalik watching the Olympics every chance she gets the next few weeks.
“I love absolutely everything about the Olympics,” said Kowalik, who led the NCAA in batting average and total hits last season. “I love watching new sports, love learning about them. I am excited for it. Go America.”
She certainly will be watching the softball to see Kentucky assistant coach Brittany Cervantes, UK’s second all-time leading home run hitter with 48, playing for Mexico. She hit .357 during the Olympic qualifying tournament.
Future Kentucky teammate Alexie Lacatena is playing for Italy and pitched two scoreless innings in her team’s 2-0 loss to the USA team. She will be a freshman this year. Lacatena helped Italy win the 2021 European championship and spent her final high school year in Italy after twice earning all-state honors in New Jersey.
“I am so thrilled for both of them. They are awesome,” Kowalik said. “Alexia is in my subgroup on the team and I am really thrilled for her. It is really awesome they can come back with that experience and not only rep their countries but also represent UK softball.
“Besides camp, I have not seen Alexia play but I am excited that I will get to see her play in person soon.”
Kowalik played for Team Alliance earlier this summer in exhibition games against the USA Olympic team. The games were in Texas, her home state, so her father got to watch her play.
Kowalik had played against Team USA her sophomore year when Kentucky had an exhibition game with the national team.
“Getting to play them again was awesome. Getting to play against Monica Abbott, Kit Osterman, people I have looked up to since I was 8 years old. It is really awesome to compete against them,” Kowalik, an All-American catcher who is working out daily at 6 a.m. this summer, said. “I did not look at it as an actual game. I was just kind of having fun. Now I was still competitive but there was a bigger picture.”
Kowalik admits playing in the Olympics is one of her long-time dreams.
“It’s one of my goals I want to work towards but right now I can settle for playing against them and playing well. It was a dream,” she said. “You can learn so much just by watching them. Some of them have been doing this a long time. So I was just learning and taking it all in even if it was not all softball-related. Just watched their energy, how they communicated, what to do or not do. There was so much to learn.”
