By Dave Krider
MaxPreps.com
Kenzie Fowler, arguably the premier softball pitcher in the nation, doesn’t take anything for granted – life included – these days after going through a near-death experience last summer when she was only 16 years old. A blood clot in her shoulder moved to her arm, then into her lung and came dangerously close to her heart, putting her in the hospital for 14 days – 12 of those days in intensive care.
When asked about goals, the Canyon del Oro (Tucson, Ariz.) junior told MaxPreps, “I take every moment as it comes. I have a new perspective after surgery. It really makes you appreciate what you have.”
Fowler has made a magnificent comeback, though, by pitching the underclass-dominated Dorados to their second consecutive Class 4A-Division I state championship. The sturdy six-footer stopped Tucson Sahuaro, 3-2, in the finale, scattering two hits and striking out 12. In the semifinals, she eliminated Phoenix Sandra O’Connor, 2-1, in another nail-biter. She struck out 11, but had a very uncharacteristic six walks. She obviously was strong, however, because she threw 154 pitches.
She completed her junior year with a superb 24-1 record (the team was 33-4). In 148.7 innings, she struck out 309, walked 28, allowed 42 hits and compiled a 0.33 earned run average. Opponents batted a measly .085 against her. At the plate, she drove in 33 runs, hit five home runs and batted .448.
Fowler called her second title victory “fantastic. There’s nothing really better than winning a state championship. It feels like I’m on top of the world.”
The Tucson native was destined to become a softball pitcher, because her mother, Kelly, was a softball pitcher and her father, Lance, played men’s fast-pitch softball. Both have served as coaches, too, with Kelly currently an assistant at CDO after being a head coach there for two years before Kenzie reached the varsity.
Kenzie started playing coach-pitch with her parents at age seven. She was a dancer from ages 3-13 and a swimmer from ages 5-13, while also dabbling in basketball and volleyball. “She is kind of a natural and has really good hand-eye coordination,” Kelly pointed out. “I just let her gravitate to what she liked most.”
Since she was nine years old, Fowler has worked with Gale Bundrick, who currently is the pitching coach at the University of Arizona. “He helped me to have good mechanics and taught me a changeup, rise, curve and drop ball,” she related.
At age 10, Fowler joined the Desert Thunder travel team where she experienced the highs and lows of a pitcher. On one occasion she struck out all 21 batters and on another occasion she walked 17.
As an eighth grader, Fowler turned a mistake into a baffling play. With a runner on first she began to pitch when the ball slipped out of her hand. The runner took off, but the ball hit the ground, bounced back into Fowler’s hand and she threw the girl out at second base. Already intimidated by Fowler, the opposing team thought it was a “trick play.”
That “play” laughingly became known as the “Rufus,” but never was used again.
It was no surprise to CDO coach Amy Swiderski that Fowler not only made her varsity as a freshman but was an overnight sensation. A couple years earlier, she had heard about a 13-year-old throwing 65 miles per hour and had to see for herself. After one look, she exclaimed, “Oh migosh, she IS throwing that hard!”
Fowler concedes, “I’ve always thrown pretty hard, because I’ve been a big kid for my age. My stride is longer than most girls. By the time I let go, I’m pretty close to you (the batter is only 40 feet from the mound).” She has mastered six pitches, but still believes her best asset is “staying calm. I keep my composure. I’m not a person who gets flustered easily. I’m a pretty mellow person in general.”
Assessing her ace’s talents, Swiderski says, “She is very, very blessed, because she is a tall girl. She has the body of a pitcher. She also is blessed with a great work ethic. She is one of the most mechanically-sound pitchers I’ve ever seen. She loves to play the game, but she doesn’t play for personal glory.”
Beginning her freshman year at CDO, Fowler admitted, “I was kind of nervous because they didn’t have another pitcher.”
No problem! All Fowler did was “throw almost every inning” as the Dorados posted a 29-5 record and finished second in the Class 4A state tournament. She pitched an amazing 210 innings and compiled a 28-4 record. She struck out 420 batters and walked only 45. She gave up just 47 hits (three for extra bases) and four earned runs. Even more eye-popping statistics: 10 no-hitters, four perfect games, 21 shutouts, a 0.133 earned run average and a 0.156 batting average for opponents. In addition she batted .375 and drove in 16 runs.
In the state title game, Fowler suffered a tough 1-0 loss to Phoenix Cactus, which scored on a single and double in the seventh inning. “It was a really huge game and pretty heart-breaking,” she said.
Fowler got her revenge as a sophomore, however. She opened the season with a 19-strikeout perfect game and closed it by shutting out Scottsdale Chaparral, 1-0, in eight innings to win the Class 4A state championship, thanks to a walk-off home run by Kate Wilczynski. It was, remarkably, her fourth consecutive state-tourney shutout.
She wound up with a 28-1 record. In 179 innings, she struck out 376, walked 29, gave up 46 hits (eight for extra bases), and four earned runs. Her ERA was 0.156 and opponents batted .077. She fired 23 shutouts, six no-hitters and two perfect games. She also batted .393 with seven homers and drove in 27 runs. The Dorados finished 33-3 and were ranked No. 2 in the nation. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association named her first-team All-America for the second year in a row.
Despite these glowing statistics and great success, Fowler had been experiencing problems from an unknown origin over the final third of her sophomore campaign. “I had pain and couldn’t breathe,” she noted. “It hit me big in the semifinals against Glendale Cactus. My arm could hardly go around. I was throwing about 50 percent of normal speed, but I just hit my spots and hoped for the best.”
Fortunately, she got plenty of run support and won easily, 6-0.
Two days later she pitched again and won the state title game. She estimates she was back to “about 80 percent of my normal speed.”
Because she has played softball non-stop for many years, she quickly moved to her travel team with recent physical problems being chalked up to possible asthma or even pneumonia symptoms. But she kept pitching until a practice session during which her arm turned purple and swelled to nearly twice normal size. Even an incredible tolerance for pain couldn’t keep her out of the hospital this time.
It finally was diagnosed that she was suffering from thoracic outlet syndrome, caused by a lack of blood flow between her right arm and ribs. It is particularly common in tennis players, golfers, weightlifters and workmen who swing heavy hammers.
She entered a grueling seven-hour surgery with the possibility of suffering a stroke or heart attack. Several blood clots were removed, including one that was 3.5 inches in length and had been present so long that it was calcified. A part of her rib also was removed and she now sports a four-inch scar on her right collarbone.
Kenzie’s father, Lance, recalled, “You’ve got to put your trust in a lot of other people, put your faith in the Good Lord and let it go. It was very emotional. It just scared everybody because the surgery was very risky. It certainly changed our family, because we were living pretty fast.”
Fowler refuses to blame her condition on pitching too many innings. “It was just a freaky thing,” she believes. “It had to do with my pitching, but not because I was pitching too much. My muscles got over-developed and compressed a vein.”
The surgery cost her a spot on the prestigious USA Junior National Team, which played last summer in the Netherlands. She had spent October and November of her sophomore year helping the USA win a Pan American Games qualifier in Puerto Rico.
“It was so amazing, just the fact of wearing the USA uniform,” she said. “It was pretty much the coolest thing ever. I was the baby (only sophomore). I still have the gear and wear it all the time. It (not being able to make the Netherlands trip) was devastating, because I had looked forward to it for a whole year.”
Despite “lots and lots of rehab” and having her arm in a sling for two months, Fowler was able to go with her travel team to the Gold Nationals in Oklahoma City. Like the loyal teammate she is, she made herself useful by keeping the scorebook.
An unexpected benefit of approximately nine months of intense rehab work – and very little throwing – is that Fowler took hours and hours of batting practice. Swiderski placed her in the key No. 3 slot in the batting order and calls her “one of the best hitters in the state.”
Her first game back as a junior produced some expected butterflies. “I got a little bit of applause and I won the game,” she says proudly. “I’m probably 90 to 95 percent back, pretty close to 100 percent.” She’s throwing up to 66 MPH after hitting 71 as a sophomore.
Was there any fear? “No, because I’m a free woman,” she replied.
Even though she doesn’t have quite all of her speed back yet, the young right-hander is an overall better pitcher this year. “I don’t have a dominant pitch,” she says. “Most people see me as a rise ball pitcher. But this year I’ve really focused on my drop ball.”
Fowler carries a 3.5 GPA and loves to make videos. Being a “cover girl” on a couple of magazines, she has signed as many as 100 autographs during a single day. She helps mentor incoming freshmen and coach younger softball players. She has made a commitment to the hometown University of Arizona and idolizes former Wildcat great Jenny Finch “because she is a hitter and pitcher and dominant in both.”
She calls Arizona “the best program in the nation. We’ve had season tickets since I was a toddler. I kind of grew up in the bleachers.”
There’s no doubt about her deep love for the University of Arizona softball program, because the first thing she said after waking up from surgery was “What’s the score?”
