Perry senior Rachel Kinney signed her letter of intent to play softball at Division 3 powerhouse Simpson College in Indianola Friday morning at the Brady Library. She signed in front of her parents, grandparents and a library full of staff, students and teammates.
Kinney was second on the team last summer in average, homeruns and RBI’s. She hit an impressive .435 with 5 home runs and 35 RBI’s. Kinney told Raccoon Valley Radio Sports and the large gathering that she discovered softball by mistake.
“It’s actually a really funny story. My mom went to the rec center to sign me up for youth soccer when I was 5 or 6 years old and the soccer league was already full. The worker told my mom that were some softball openings so she signed me up for softball instead of soccer. I’m pretty thankful it worked out that way!”
Kinney has been a consistent starter for Perry since her 8th grade season and is looking forward to putting in the work to try and get Perry back into the state tournament for the second straight year.
“We know what it takes to get to state and hopefully we can go even further this year. Softball is such a fun sport and I love the fielding part and always being ready to make the play. It can kind of be nerve racking not knowing when the ball is going to come your way but at the same time, that’s what makes it so exciting. I can’t wait for my senior year with Brooke, Emma and Maddie.”
The Raccoon Valley Radio Network will have more on the Kinney signing over the next couple of days.