McAllen Memorials Kayla Dow had injuries throughout her high school career that almost lost her drive to continue to play softball, with the help of her coaches, teammates and family – Dow continued to grow as both a person and an athlete, giving her the opportunity to play softball at a new level.
Dow committed to the University of Houston-Victoria on June 24th at the Susan P. Byrnes softball field, she will be advancing her education and softball career this upcoming fall.
“I never imagined myself going to college to play softball,” Dow said.
Dow was introduced to softball at the age of nine and started playing in outside leagues, “Sun Devils” and “Force”, at the age of 12, where she developed a love for the sport.
Dow was in varsity all four years of her high school career and started off in the short-stop position her freshman year, then transitioned to pitcher the next three years.
“It was an experience playing different positions,” Dow said. “I originally stopped pitching for almost a year so after I heard I was going to be a pitcher, I had to get back to it.”
Dow was awarded Honorable Mention short-stop for district 30-6A and Rookie Player of the Year for McAllen Memorial her freshman year, Honorable Mention pitcher for district 30-6A and Most Valuable Player for McAllen Memorial her sophomore year, 30-6A All-District defensive player of the year and Most Valuable Player for McAllen Memorial her junior year, and Most Valuable Player her senior year for McAllen Memorial.
The four-year letterman and three year MVP experienced injuries throughout her softball career that encouraged her to keep striving and to not give up no matter the circumstances.
“I had injuries every single year and each of them was different,” Dow said. “Instead of feeling bad for myself, I got up and used it as motivation.”
Dow strained her right hand freshman year, had a knee bone bruise sophomore year, and broke her left foot junior year in the first round of playoffs.
“It took me almost two months to heal from my broken foot,” Dow said. “Coming back and preparing for my senior year was different. It felt weird walking and running – I felt held back most of the time but with summer physical therapy and summer strength and conditioning, I was able to gain back my energy, muscles and motivation.”
The McAllen Mustangs softball team had a winning record of 12-4 before the 2019-2020 season was cut off short. The team made it to the first round of playoffs the past three years and were expecting to make it all the way this season.
“We had a very good team this year,” Dow said. “I am so sad that we were not able to reach our team goal, which was to go all the way and make it past the first round of playoffs. I can honestly say this season was one of the best teams we’ve had.”
Dow is looking at the early ending season in a positive way.
“I am going to use this time to develop myself to be a better player,” Dow said. “My personal goal is to work on strength so I will not have to experience the same injuries I had in high school. I worked very hard to get here without even knowing I was going to play in college, but my coaches from Force, Coach Johnny and Coach Rey really saw the potential in me.”