Kayla Boseman went 22-4 as a freshman softball/outfielder for Ooltewah this past season. On Wednesday, she earned a second team All-America selection as chosen by Full County Softball.
photo by File/Dennis Norwood
Ooltewah pitching sensation Kayla Boseman, who as a freshman led the Lady Owls to a third-place finish in the Class AAA state softball tournament, continues to gain state and national attention for her eye-popping exploits on the diamond.
On Wednesday, the 15-year-old Boseman picked up a second team All-America selection by Full Count Softball – one of just five freshmen on the squad – as a multi-position player (she played left field when not pitching for the Lady Owls, but can also play first base).
Additionally, the hard-throwing right-hander is ranked No.
12 on the publication’s 2018 Hot 100 prospect list.
“I’m really honored to be nominated for these awards, especially since I just finished my freshman year,” Boseman said Wednesday afternoon. “After the Miss East Tennessee award I pretty much thought that would be it for me. Besides, seniors usually win the awards.”
The Class AAA Miss East Tennessee award was awarded by the Tennessee Softball Coaches Association.
Boseman also finished in the top five for the prestigious Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee balloting. Dickson County’s Brooklin Lee won the honor.
Lee, a rising senior, and Boseman hooked up twice in the state tournament. Boseman won the first game with a 3-2 win in nine innings, but Lee notched a 6-5, 12-inning victory to eliminate the Lady Owls.
Boseman was also named to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association All-State team earlier in the summer.
“I’ve said time and time again that Kayla’s mom (Felicia) and dad (Robert) keep her pretty well grounded,” Lady Owls coach Jon Massey said. “It would be easy for 15-year-olds to let things like this go to their heads, but I don’t see that with Kayla. She works extremely hard.
“Really, it’s what you do out of season that makes you better and I encourage our girls to play summer ball on good teams that play good competition.”
Boseman’s father, while stressing his daughter works extremely hard at her athletic specialty (she also played volleyball in middle school), admits the string of postseason awards has been stunning.
“You always wish the best for your kids,” Robert Boseman said, “but I can honestly say it has been surprising to me and my wife as well. I know she puts in a lot of work and it’s a tremendous sacrifice for her and her parents. Kayla doesn’t have many chances to hang out with friends and do other activities in the summer because we’re tied up with softball.
“And I can also tell you we’re putting a lot of money into this thing.”
Within two weeks of Ooltewah’s season-ending loss to Dickson County, she joined her Birmingham Thunderbolts teammates to begin summer league action.
The ‘Bolts are currently 11-3 and ranked fifth nationally after competing in their latest tournament in Montgomery, Ala. They’re about to embark on three successive weekend events – the Elite Summer Showcase in Brandon, Miss., the Legacy Showcase in Atlanta and the PGF Nationals in Huntington Beach, Calif.
“Summer ball is practically a way of life for us,” said Robert Boseman, who works at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. “Kayla has been playing travel ball since she was 7 years old and we’ve learned to cope with it. Our vacation is visiting one ballfield after another and we’ve been all over the country.”
Is Boseman concerned his softball phenom daughter might fall victim to burn out?
“I do think about that,” he said. “That’s one reason Jay Roberson (Thunderbolts coach) doesn’t force us to play every weekend and that’s why we have played only 14 games. Kayla finishes school ball and moves right into travel ball. There is the potential to wear her out. They can only take so much stress before they need some rest.
“I told her if she does get tired of it, please let me know because we’re spending a lot of money on this.”
In her rookie campaign, Boseman, who made a verbal commitment to Mississippi State University in November 2014, put up stunning first-year statistics.
She went 22-4 – the Lady Owls finished 40-10 – and had two saves in the circle, recorded 214 strikeouts in 172 innings and had a 1.49 ERA. Offensively, Boseman hit .531, drove in 68 runs, scored 52 times and hit 13 home runs, 15 doubles and four triples while batting fourth in the lineup.
Included in her 172 innings with the Lady Owls, Boseman threw 35 in the state tournament – every pitch in all four games in Murfreesboro. She was one-girl pitching staff, throwing 481 combined pitches that included 335 strikes, struck out 24 and walked six.
Boseman yielded 10 earned runs, eight coming in 9- and 12-inning losses to eventual champion Wilson Central and runner-up Dickson County, a final-day setback that relegated the Lady Owls to a third-place finish in their first state tournament appearance since 2008.
“My stamina is pretty good,” Boseman said. “But late in the (12-inning) game against Dickson County I was thinking that I really needed a break. I got tired, but I didn’t want to let my team down. I gutted it out.
“It took me about two weeks to get over that game. I wanted us to go all the way, but third place was pretty good. We’ve got something more to shoot for next year.”
Another solid season for the Lady Owls might put Boseman in position to claim some postseason honors that eluded her in 2015.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)