Emotions were flowing April 22 when Emma Kennedy and her Slippery Rock softball teammates took the field for a doubleheader at IUP.
The Crimson Hawks program’s “Strikeout For Cancer” event that day honored those who have battled cancer, who are battling cancer or who have died from the various forms of the disease.
Kennedy remembered her grandmother, Linda, who survived breast cancer but passed away from pancreatic cancer. Linda’s name was announced when Kennedy was introduced.
“The entire day, I knew I was playing for her,” said Kennedy, a Gateway graduate and the starting senior catcher for a Slippery Rock team that improved to 17-6 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play with a sweep of IUP.
“I just felt she was with me that whole day, pushing me, keeping me strong and keeping me upright to support my team where I could come up big in clutch situations.”
Kennedy came through in a big way. She went 2 for 4 in both games against the Crimson Hawks. She homered and drove in three runs in an 8-6 victory in Game 1 and doubled in a run in Slippery Rock’s 7-4 Game 2 triumph.
Through the doubleheader sweep of IUP, Kennedy was second on the team in batting at .378 (34 of 90) with six doubles, three home runs, 20 RBIs and 15 runs scored.
“For me, it’s just my mental game,” Kennedy said. “It’s something I had struggled with over the years, taking every at-bat too hard when I get out. So, it was important to have a new mindset. As long as I am hitting the ball hard and seeing it well, it is OK when I get out. When I do come up in those pressure situations, or in any situation, I am still calm and collected.”
Slippery Rock coach Stacey Rice said Kennedy has always proven herself to be a top-flight competitor.
“This year, she has just come alive,” Rice said. “She’s always been a strong defensive catcher, but this year, her offense has just exploded. Recently, she’s been hot at the plate. She had a great first game against IUP, and she kept it going in the second game. Her leadership on and off the field has been so important for us. She just goes about things with incredible energy. And when you’re taking those foul balls to the knee, to the head and to every limb of the body, it shows just how tough she is.”
Kennedy was calm and collected April 13 when she produced her best offensive game of the season.
She went 4 for 5 with six RBIs as The Rock collected 17 hits in a 19-4 romp in the second game of a doubleheader against Cal (Pa.).
Kennedy singled home a run in the third and then took full advantage of her two opportunities at the plate when Slippery Rock batted around in the seventh.
She doubled home two runs in her first trip to the plate and then smacked a three-run homer to cap the 11-run uprising.
“We had lost the first game (15-13), and as a team, we felt we shouldn’t have lost that one,” Kennedy said. “For Game 2, we came in with the mentality of putting our foot on the gas pedal and were not letting up. Going up to bat each time, I was just thinking about making sure everything was timed up right. My first at-bat was a double that hit the top of the wall and bounced back in. After I scored, my whole team was like, ‘Emma, do some pushups.’ I came up to bat again and launched that home run. We were not letting up, and we were going to win, no matter what. And we had fun while doing it.”
Slippery Rock took a 23-18 overall record into a PSAC game against Gannon on April 24, a doubleheader rematch against Cal (Pa.) on April 25 and the conference finale against Edinboro on April 26.
Those games were to be contested past the deadline for this week’s edition.
The games with Cal also marked senior day for Kennedy and the other five seniors on the roster.
“With it being our senior season, we are pushing to go as far as we can and make it the best run of it all,” Kennedy said. “I can really see us going to regionals and doing everything and more we set out to accomplish.”
Kennedy appeared in 35 of her team’s first 41 games with 24 of them starts, while sophomore catcher Sarah Brown made 17 starts.
“I am getting a little older, and catcher is such a rough position to play,” Kennedy said. “There has been that plan to keep us both fresh and healthy with rest while also making sure we are working with (the pitchers) we work with best.”
“We work really well together. Both of us catch every single pitcher. We talk about how they are throwing each day and what’s working and what’s not. We also talk a lot about what each of us sees in the other’s game from throws we make to how we are visualizing the game. It is just a constant support system. It’s nice to be able to lean on someone who knows what you’re going through.”
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Slippery Rock was to begin the PSAC tournament April 30 at Veterans Park in Quakertown. It concludes May 3.
“We’ve all come a long way together,” Kennedy said. “The key to it all is keeping our bodies healthy because we are getting older now. Everything is starting to hurt a little more than it used to. We’re also always concentrating on staying loose at the plate and loose in the field. We’re trying to not put too much pressure on ourselves.”