Bartlesville’s Kelsie Yales is hoping to improve on what was an all-district performance for her last season as a freshman.
Yales compiled a 9-10 won-loss record from the pitcher’s circle with a 2.63 earned run average and recorded 67 strikeouts. She’s also a vital part to the Bruins’ lineup as a hitter.
“During the offseason I feel like I improved most on my hitting and on my changeup,” Yales said. “This season, I’m looking forward to trying to work more with the team and when we go to St. Louis for some games.”
“She has continued to work offensively and can be one of our strongest hitters,” Bartlesville head coach Kyle Minton said. “She is a hard worker, great competitor, and we are looking forward to seeing how she grows the next three seasons.”
Yales, who wants to be better both physically and mentally as a sophomore, wants to get Bartlesville to a deeper postseason run. The Bruins went 17-18 overall in 2022.
“For myself, I want to try to do better than last season on the physical and mental side, and for our team, I want us to either get farther into regionals or even go to state,” she said.
A straight-A student last year, Yales says her biggest influence comes from within her family.
“My biggest influence for softball has been my mom, even though she didn’t really play it when she was younger,” Yales said. “Because she always wants the best for me and she always pushes me to my full potential.”
Yales has hopes of playing softball at the Division I level when she finishes her career at Bartlesville. Her favorite memory so far was last season when her coaches had a specific t-shirt designed.
“They got a shirt made that had me doing a thumbs up on it,” Yales said.