No longer hiding behind plate, Logan signs with Manchester for softball

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Caston senior Kylee Logan signs with Manchester University to continue her academic and softball careers. Front, from left – Kylee; Haley Logan, Kylee’s sister. Back – Brian Logan, Kylee’s father; DeLonna Logan, Kylee’s mother.

FULTON — When she was introduced to softball, Caston senior Kylee Logan was shy.

She wanted to be a catcher, so she could wear a mask and hide behind home plate.

“I did not want people to see me,” Logan said. “I did not want the attention on me. That’s why I’m not a pitcher. But when I was catching, you can’t see who I am. And I’m still like that. I don’t like people knowing who’s back there. But as I’ve gotten older, it’s like, OK, people know who I am back there, so it’s not like that anymore, but it used to be.”

As it turned out, she was too good to go unnoticed as Logan has signed with Manchester University to continue her academic and softball careers.

Logan hit .324 with 14 RBIs last season. She will start her fourth season as Caston’s catcher in the spring.

“That is like my favorite thing ever,” Logan said. “Whether my knees like it or not, I really do enjoy it. I like being involved in every play and being the quarterback of the team.”

She said she received an offer from Manchester over the summer after making two campus visits.

“It’s a small school, and it’s close to home, and I’m excited to meet a bunch of new people,” Logan said when asked why she picked Manchester.

Sara Emerich will start her sixth season as Manchester’s coach in the spring. The Spartans won only six games in her first season, but Manchester is working on a stretch of three straight seasons of at least 20 wins.

“She’s a very hard coach, but I know she’s doing it to make all of us better,” Logan said. “I think that’s why I really like her because I know she’s a hard coach, but I know there’s something in her that’s soft.”

Logan plays for the Indy Crush Gold travel team. She has been playing for teams within the Indy Crush organization since she was 8 and is thankful for coaches Charlie Johnson and Nate Johnson.

“I’ve known these coaches for like my whole life,” Logan said. “They taught me how to throw. They taught me how to play catch. When we didn’t do well in tournaments, we ran a bunch. It was fun.”

Logan said that hitting is the part of the game that is most difficult for her. Logan is also a member of the volleyball and wrestling teams at Caston, and she said she will come from volleyball or wrestling practice and get some batting practice in.

She takes private hitting lessons from Sean Laird from Laird’s Training out of Russiaville.

“I’ve been going there since seventh grade,” Logan said. “He’s taught me a lot of things, but mainly, like, hit bombs. That’s his motto. Ever since I’ve had that mindset, I’ve been hitting so much better.”

Logan thanked Caston coach Jon Burks also. He trusted her with catching duties as a freshman for a team with veteran pitchers Kinzie Mollenkopf and Addison Zimpleman. She said she was a “nervous wreck” before the sectional.

The Lady Comets went on to win the first regional and semistate titles in any team sport in school history before falling 6-0 to Tecumseh in the state championship game.

She had the go-ahead RBI single in Caston’s 9-0 win over Kouts in the semistate semifinal. She said her favorite memory in softball occurred in the state championship game when she threw out Tecumseh’s Katelyn Marx trying to steal second base.

She called former Caston teammates Isabel Scales, Addison Zimpleman, Annie Harsh, Macee Hinderlider and Alexa Finke the “fab five” but also mentioned the importance of her sister Haley.

“I did not mind playing with her at all,” Logan said. “She actually is the one why I played softball because I got dragged along to all of their stuff. So I’ve been playing with them since I was younger.”

Logan said she wants to major in medical laboratory science. She wants to work in a lab and draw and test people’s blood. She said her mother DeLonna works in that field.

She said her favorite subject is biology and also thanked teacher Tiffany Douglass.

“I’ve had her three of the four years in high school, and she’s also inspired me to that,” Logan said.