{"id":121895,"date":"2017-02-07T09:24:47","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T14:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=121895"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:08:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:08:41","slug":"connecticut-native-ready-softball-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2017\/02\/connecticut-native-ready-softball-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut Native Ready for Softball Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Growing up watching UConn basketball games, freshman pitcher Katie Koshes has been familiar with the University of Connecticut all her life. This week, she embarks on her collegiate athletic career.<\/p>\n<p>Not even one year removed from Amity Regional High School, Koshes (Orange, Conn.) prepares to start officially logging innings in the pitching circle for the UConn softball team.<\/p>\n<p>Koshes is unique in more ways than one \u2013 including the fact that she is the only Connecticut native on the 18-player roster for the Huskies. When it came to choosing her school, the in-state pitching star made up her mind quickly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I started looking, UConn was my top school because I know so many people who go here and love it,\u201d says Koshes. \u201cWhen I started talking to the coaches, I realized they were a good fit for me. I definitely wanted to commit and play for my state school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The only left-handed pitcher on UConn\u2019s roster, Koshes made an instant impact in the fall, getting some collegiate playing experience before winter workouts began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt set the tone,\u201d says Koshes of the fall season, when UConn played eight games. \u201cThe games are played at a fast pace and it definitely helped so I know what to expect in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Katie Koshes - Preseason Interview\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zKX8DtUMe4Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Like many freshmen, Koshes found the transition from high school to college sports challenging \u2013 and not necessarily from a physical standpoint. As she has already learned, the game is heavy on mental focus.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The first game I was very nervous,\u201d she recalls, \u201cbut we\u2019re playing the same game [as in high school] \u2026 you just have to calm down and remind yourself that you are just playing softball.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Koshes also stands out as a (very successful) two-sport athlete in high school. She earned four letters as a member of the volleyball team, which she also captained in her final season.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s her versatility, as much as her dedicated attitude, that has led her to a strong start at UConn in the preseason. Starting this Friday, Koshes will wear a UConn uniform in a regular season game for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a different feeling because you\u2019re playing for a whole university,\u201d says the UConn freshman. \u201cIt\u2019s people from all different areas coming to play with you; it\u2019s a cool experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During her time at Amity, Koshes led the softball team to a 2015 Southern Connecticut Conference Championship. She was a three-time All-Conference and a two-time First Team All-State player.<\/p>\n<p>In her first three high school seasons, Koshes went 40-6 with a 0.54 ERA in the circle. She struck out 520 batters in 342 innings \u2013 1.5 strikeouts per frame.<\/p>\n<p>Despite recent success, she realizes she needs to elevate her game to compete at UConn &#8212; especially with four other talented pitchers on the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of times in high school, I relied on my spin,\u201d she says. \u201cIn college, though, making every pitch deceptive and strong is definitely important, and I worked on it all winter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She has already won the support of the upperclassmen, including senior pitcher Kayla Doty, for the strides she made in the fall and her mental approach in the circle.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From what I saw in the fall, Katie is a very calm player. Nothing really bothers her,&#8221; says Doty. &#8220;She speaks for herself on the mound. She can really spin [the ball] and makes it hard for hitters to make solid contact. I&#8217;m excited to watch her play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Assuming Koshes makes her collegiate debut this weekend, it will begin her playing career as a Husky and fulfill her dream of playing at UConn.<\/p>\n<p>The Huskies travel to Fort Myers, Fla. to play in the FGCU Softball Tournament from Feb. 10 to 12, with the season-opener on Friday at 2 p.m. against LIU Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Katie Koshes, a former two-sport athlete at Amity Regional High School, will wear a UConn uniform for the first time in a regular season game this Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":121899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1712,2225,2234,70],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-121895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","category-video"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 16:11:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121895"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121962,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121895\/revisions\/121962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/121899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121895"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=121895"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=121895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}