On this episode of Hustle & Pro, we talk softball, one of my favorite sports to watch and play.
Frisco’s Kaytie (Proctor) Logan played softball competitively throughout Middle School, High School and for a Division 1 college in Louisiana. We chat about calling pitches and leading the team from behind the plate. Being a catcher has its own set of responsibilities and skill sets, and injuries.
Being a D1 athlete can be thrilling but has its set of challenges as well. Would she change her path if she could do it all over again? Find out as we talk to Kaytie Logan on this episode of Hustle & Pro.
Show Notes
- [:30] Quick hits with Kaytie Logan
- [1:10] Sports as a kid
- [1:55] Why we love softball
- [3:00] Select softball and Being a Catcher
- [7:11] Good and bad of Playing D1
- [9:00] Would you do it again?
- [11:00] Softball in Kaytie’s life now
- [12:50] How softball has changed
Resources within this episode:
- Kaytie Logan on Facebook and LinkedIn
- UNT Inspire Park Website
- Northwestern State University Website
Connect with Lifestyle Frisco:
Transcript:
This is Hustle and Pro with Kelly Walker. Join Kelly as we talk sports with players, coaches, organizers and entrepreneurs from pee wee league to pro. Now here’s your host, Kelly Walker.
Kelly Walker: Thanks for joining us for today’s episode of Hustle in Pro Kaytie Logan is our guest. Hello and welcome Kaytie. We’re going to talk about softball today, Kaytie and Kaytie’s journey as a softball player into the collegiate level. First let’s go ahead and get to know you with some of our quick hits. So who is your favorite athlete of all time?
Kaytie Logan: I’d probably say Jennie finch.
Kelly: Love her. Who’s your favorite team of all time?
Kaytie: Probably UT.
Kelly: Do you have any superstitions with sports?
Kaytie: I did on my shoe, so whenever I hit a home run I would tie something on my shoe, like a little string. And then the whole season I had it on there cause I thought it was good luck.
Kelly: What about the farthest distance you’ve ever traveled to play sports or to watch sports?
Kaytie: I’ve traveled to Florida, so like 16 hours, probably the longest.
Kelly: Okay. Now I’m anxious to learn a little bit about your, your softball life, but also some other things about you growing up in sports. So tell me about different sports that you might’ve played as a kid.
Kaytie: So I really loved softball first. Um, but my second love was definitely in volleyball. Um, I’m five two for reference, so I’m pretty short, so I was always in the back, the one like diving around. Um, but I played that and then I played basketball was terrible at basketball, but I loved playing it. Um, and then yeah, I just kind of stuck on softball.
Kelly: At what point was that? Like how old were you when you stuck on softball?
Kaytie: I started select when I was about 10, so 10 all the way up to college. I started playing and then I played volleyball and basketball throughout middle school, but nothing ever serious or just kind of for fun.
Kelly: Got It. So I love softball too personally. People that have heard some of the intros to this hustle impro might have heard me talk about that. I just love the game so much. And as a kid I loved the team Camaraderie and just being at practice and the hard work you put in and like everything from uniforms and gear, like I love, I still wear, use my old glove and all like all of it. And it was a family thing for me. It gave me really good memories with my dad who was a coach and my sister who we always played on the same team together. Um, that I’m super thankful for. So I’m curious about you, like what do you love about the game of softball?
Kaytie: You hit pretty much the main points. Pretty much the same for me. So I grew up playing softball every single weekend. I’m always traveling throughout the weeks doing practices, private lessons. And I think the best thing that I loved was just improving. Um, so each week I felt like I kind of would just get a little better in progress. And then also just being along with the team and the girls. Once you get into that select group and you’re with them every single weekend, you kind of get to gain that bond the same throughout high school and college.
Kelly: So you were applying selects, so you what, what position did you play?
Kaytie: Catcher.
Kelly: Oh, I didn’t know that. Yeah. Awesome. Um, so only catcher or would you rotate around?
Kaytie: No, I bounced around so I did third, short second, and then catcher. I wasn’t fast enough yet. Field.
Kelly: Okay. And so starting select at such a young age, were you traveling, is this like a travel team to where you’re traveling all across different parts of the state?
Kaytie: Yeah, so we would, normally, when I was that young, it would just be around local ones. So like flower mountain, McKinney, Plano, stuff like that. Um, but whenever I got into the college, I mean, not college, sorry, into the middle school and to high school, I kind of traveled a lot more. So there’s like tournaments in Colorado, there’s ones in Illinois, there’s one in California. So those ones were definitely a lot more serious. But the younger ones, it was just local teams and we would just play, you know, starting Friday night from six o’clock all the way till 10 o’clock and then playing Saturday throughout the day. And then of course if you get in the losers bracket, then you play all Sunday. So the try to work your way back
Kelly: But who are some of your favorite catchers? I mean if you have favorite baseball catchers
Kaytie: I really don’t. I don’t know the girl’s name. I would just always watch her. I’m terrible at people’s names, but I was always watched the college world series and there was one for UT. Again, I just, I’ve always loved the longhorns. Um, and she just was a rock star. Like she would just command the field in field and outfield. She had so much confidence and I kind of envied that because I felt like I haven’t really gained confidence probably until the last two years. I think I would just want it to always be that kind of catcher that didn’t care what people thought and just said what needed to be done, but just kind of always held back and Kinda took the reigns to lead the team. I don’t think people realize how much leadership is involved with being a catcher.
Kelly: Right. So, so I talk about that. Like you’re kind of running the pace of the game, right? And you’re the quarterback basically for, you know, as if you were football. So, um, yeah, you’re talking to the picture to make sure she’s doing good. You’re talking to the first Baseman, third base, and make sure they’re covering. Um, you don’t really talk to alto that much, but if, you know, do a team huddle. But yeah, it’s a lot of pitcher and catcher. I think a lot of people don’t realize the communication that goes in between that because I think the catcher just sits back and just takes the sign and you know, that’s it. But it’s really not. It’s, you have to get that trust of your pitchers so they know that they can throw whatever they need to throw and you’re going to be back there to either stop it or catch it or throw someone out.
Kelly: Are you calling pitches or how, how, what age route was that dynamic come into play?
Kaytie: Depending on what team I played on honestly. So some coaches really they preferred to do their calls and then others they said have at it. So college they definitely called high school. It just dependent on the game. They would let me call kind of once in while. We had a freshman pitcher or my freshman year, she was a senior, she was amazing. Shelby, oh gosh, her name is Shelby. I can’t remember. But she was awesome and they would let me call pictures for her, which was so much fun. Um, and then middle school was where I got to call more cause normally those pictures aren’t that um, advanced. So it’s kind of curves grew, changed fast.
Kelly: That’s so fascinating. The calling the pitches and what’s coming next and just all of the different things happening on the field that most people, if you’re sitting in the stands, you, you don’t know. Right. All those things that are going on, that going through your head from what pitches coming next to, did you study up a lot on, on opponent batters in their tendencies?
Kaytie: So that college, yes, it was a lot harder in the high school. Well high school you could, but high school select you could not because you’re playing so many different teams. You don’t really know. Like we would have teams that come from Colorado that come from, you know, California. So you can’t really read up on them. The coaches would kind of scout and tell us. Um, but you can actually read a lot if you, um, look at the way they stance like in the box. Um, that’s kind of how I figured out where the hitter was. And also after one pitch you can kind of see their swing and if they have a weakness you can be like, oh well they’re obviously dropping their back leg. So let’s, I mean not back like, um, that can, so we can throw high rise ball.
Kelly: Wow. That’s awesome. Okay. So I want to talk about you playing at a [inaudible] level. I know you’ve mentioned UT a couple of times, but what was your, what, where did you play?
Kaytie: I played at Northwestern state in Louisiana, so it was a small D1 school. I’m in Natchitoches, Louisiana. So home of the meat pies. I’m a vegetarian so I didn’t eat them. But yeah, that’s what they’re known for. And Christmas season, they have a big Christmas downtown.
Kelly: Okay. Learn something new on here today. So tell me about playing at the d one level and how that was for you. Like the good and the bad of it.
Kaytie: Okay. The good of d one was you got everything taken care of for you. So you had all of your study material that you needed. You had, um, hours that you could get tutoring for free. They gave you computers. Um, you know, you got all the gears so you don’t have to buy anything for softball. The bad thing though is that they pretty much own you. So from the minute you wake up it’s 5:30 running, and then six o’clock weights and then you go to class normally from eight to 10. And then since I was a catcher, I also had to do pitching and catching outside of the normal um, practice. And then I would normally have in two hour break and then I would go to practice from about four to six. And then of course you’re studying right after that. So it was a very full day. Um, it’s different to get used to if you’ve never been in that kind of realm, but playing select pretty much my whole life. You’re kind of used to that. So it’s not like it’s any shocking of difference.
Kelly: I’ve heard that though before that they own you. They really do. And they’re in, and it’s kind of a, I don’t know if it’s just a division one thing, but some athletes will choose to maybe to downgrade and go to a different school because they can get more robust college life experience and that kind of thing. Is that something that you, if you had it to do all over again, would you still go the path that you went or would you change it up and have and had a different college experience?
Kaytie: I mean for me the main point of going to an academic was pretty much a scholarship. So that term and a lot, um, you know, my parents spent a lot of money on me going throughout middle school, high school, into college. So, um, I kind of felt a little, I don’t want to say guilty, but I kinda felt like I had to take the highest number and you know, to make it worth their Wilde’s since they spent all this time, money, energy. Um, so yeah, I did choose that school, but I also really liked it as well. Um, I liked the small town feel definitely a lot smaller than Frisco. It was an adjustment to get used to. Um, but yeah, I don’t think I would’ve changed it. I mean, I played through, uh, sophomore year, so sophomore year at the very end I kind of decided that, you know, I Kinda wanna enjoy the actual college experience to get a job and figure out who the heck I am outside of softball. Yeah.
Kelly: Because that was probably your whole freshman, sophomore year, right? What challenges did you face then?
Kaytie: I mean, maybe it was injuries. I mean, as a catcher you’re throwing more than almost anybody on the field cause even the pitchers switch out. So what were some of the challenges that you faced? Um, you’re sore every single day. There’s not one day that you’re not sore. Um, but I think that’s pretty much any athlete. It’s just kind of what you get used to. Um, but yeah, I definitely had some energy or injuries. Um, going into senior year, I had to get re surgery because I had some random like one in a million chance that my bone in my left wrist, like where I catch was too long. So they had to like shave it down so that way cause it was catching and like short pains.
Kelly: So. And so you’re going into your senior year of high school, you had a surgery?
Kaytie: Yes.
Kelly: Did that bother you after that or were you good to go?
Kaytie: No, it was actually pretty much good. Um, shockingly. But um, and then going into college I had a lot more arm issues and then knee issues as well. My knees were always really tired.
Kelly: Do you still play the sport?
Kaytie: I kind of went in a path where I just didn’t want anything to do with softball after I quit and stuff. Um, now I’m kind of more up to, I did do coaching last year and the year before and just like private lessons once in a while. And that was a little fun. I think it’s cool to, I don’t want to say give back cause you’re just, you know, teaching the kids, but whenever they, you show them something to do and they can mock you and do the exact same thing and they feel good and confident. I think that’s the most rewarding part. So having back yeah, for sure. Giving back.
Kelly: Yeah. Cause um, it’s giving back to the kids but the sport to keep it, to keep it thriving and introducing new kids to it or making kids better at it. Yeah. Get them to love it like you did. So I think it’s giving back for sure. Yeah. So do you do a little bit of coaching on the side or private lessons kind of still or is, are you already done with that?
Kaytie: I haven’t done it lately. We been a lot more busy in our personal lives. Um, but before, yeah, the last few years I kind of would just once in a while if a kid asks like, I love giving catching lessons, that’s still like my favorite, just being defense. I wasn’t, I didn’t love offense. I wasn’t that great at offense. But defense was definitely where I succeeded.
Kelly: Do you still keep up with softball, like watching others, watching college level or here and around Frisco or like the national team?
Kaytie: I’ll watch a little bit. I love that college world series. That’s mainly where I watch. Um, I think it’s most not most interesting, but it you follow a story I guess. So it’s like the best of the best, you know, playing, do a tournament. Um, and then, uh, I have a lot of friends actually that are still coaches, so I kind of sometimes go to theirs, but yeah, like a local around town. Um, one of my friends works at Coppell. She’s a assistant coach there.
Kelly: So, so how long have you been out of s? Um, how long ago was your Sophomore Year in college? I mean, you’ve been out?
Kaytie: I’ve been out, I graduated like three years. Three and a half years.
Kelly: Okay. Yeah. So I’m way, way older than you. So I am, I always, when I go watch softball now I think, man, it’s changed a lot since my little little league softball. Um, well in high school and just for fun in college rec stuff. And now I’m old lady softball player, but I’ve noticed how much it’s changed. It just seems so, it’s just so much faster, bill level intense so fast and I don’t know, I mean everything about it, it seems different. So do you see it changing even from just a few years you’ve been out of it, if you’re still observing it with your friends who coach?
Kaytie: I do. I see the hitting changing a little bit, like the form. I think that always kind of just evolves as the new, um, sorry as a new pictures, uh, learn new pitches. I think you have to kind of adjust your stride and your, you know, swing to that. Um, and I’ve noticed a lot of like the way they call pitches, I feel like, so a big thing in our college was everyone pick off our signs. So we had to constantly be changing them out. And now you see kids with, um, those little armbands with numbers and they switch them out halfway through the game. Like that’s just crazy to me. Before, even when I was younger, they didn’t have anything like that. It was just, you know, test my chest, touched my nose over your bunting, you know, old school.
Kelly: Yeah. That’s for sure how I remember it. Yeah. The technology and the gear can change. That can really like influence the game so much. Um, like you said the armbands and just the different ways of technology of backing things. Yeah.
Kaytie: And the bats, bats have changed so much and just all the equipment. So it’s kind of fascinating to go see these girls play and just how far along they, how much farther along they’ve come since back when I, and I think they get more respect now too. And my personal opinion, I feel like before when I would say, oh I play softball and they’re like, oh, you know, the normal general things you hear back from that. But now I feel like, Oh wow, that’s awesome. Like what do you play for? What do you do? You know, do you have a high lite reel stuff like that. So I think it’s that girls have definitely earned the same respect. You know, as guys doing baseball good.
Kelly: They deserve it. I hope so. Yeah. It’s such a great sport and it’s so different from baseball yet. I love baseball because of, um, obviously baseball is more accessible, so I watch a lot of baseball on TV and of course some of the rules in dimensions are all different of the field, but the gist of it is it’s the same sport, you know, so, um, so I think softball girls should get all that respect that they deserve. Awesome. Well, thank you for your time. I want to note that I know you through our building here. Um, our podcast studio is at u in t’s inspire park building and you work here, right?
Kaytie: I do, yes. I help on the tenant side, so I helped to make sure any space of a renting out, that they’re equipped, nothing’s wrong maintenance wise. Um, we just make sure, um, to make your experience office in here the best it can possibly be. And then I also help with events and then we also host inspire fiscal events. So I kind of help run with that.
Kelly: Awesome. Well, you guys hook us up and we love our new studio, so thank you for popping in here and joining us and telling us about your softball journey.
Kaytie: Thanks for having me.