Softball" Geneva grad Keller adjusting to curve ball
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Illinois University sophomore Katie Keller showed she still has her sense of humor - and competitive spirit.
The 2018 Geneva graduate saw her softball season come to an early end when the NCAA canceled spring sports. And with her NIU classes now online, Keller headed home where her younger sister Sam, a senior at Geneva who will play college softball next year at Winona State, has her softball season in jeopardy.
"At this point she's realizing she might not even have a senior season," Katie Keller said. "She's devastated too. She told me she really wanted to break my home run record. She's mad. If this (high school season) gets canceled she won't have a chance. I said, 'All right, you might have done that, so maybe they should cancel it.' "
Katie Keller is, of course, joking. The 12 home runs she hit as a junior at Geneva will be safe for another year, but she obviously would rather both siblings be playing.
Keller moved back home March 14. Her dad set up a place in the basement she could get a small workout in but it's nothing like what she was used to in NIU's weight room, which is closed.
"It's not fun right now," Keller said. "Feeling like I don't have anything to do. It's crazy. That's (working out) kind of what I like to do in my off time. Right now we're just waiting it out and seeing how it goes down. It's really strange because you don't know when."
It's all quite a change for Keller, who made the transition from high school to Division I athletics look easy.
As a freshman with the Huskies Keller shook off an 0-for-13 start to hit .424 including a school-record 21 doubles, slugging .689 with a .506 on-base%, 35 runs and 26 RBI. She was named to the NFCA Division I freshman Top 25 list, the first for a player from the Mid-American Conference.
"I got my first hit pinch-hitting and after that no slowing down and got some nice recognition," Keller said. "Definitely surprised how well it went."
Keller picked up where she left off in her sophomore season, hitting .394 with 3 home runs in the first 22 games, including a 2-for-3 game with a homer and 2 RBI in a win over IUPUI on March 8.
Unfortunately for Keller, the Huskies played just two more times, a doubleheader March 11, before their season - like others around the country - was called off.
Keller and her teammates were at Liberty University in Virginia getting ready to play a five-game tournament when they got the news. They learned first from social media, then met with coach Christina Sutcliffe.
"She (Sutcliffe) basically just said she had no words for how terrible she felt for us and how we had to give up what we love doing every day," Keller said. "I figured postpone it but they went straight to canceling. I thought maybe there would be a chance if this would die down we would get a chance to get back on the field.
"Just devastating. There were tears. Our entire team was crying with each other."
If there's a ray of light, it's that the NCAA is giving spring sports athletes an extra year of eligibility. But for Keller, a premed and biology major on track to graduate in three and a half years, taking that extra year isn't a sure thing. She and her friends have to decide between starting their post-college lives or playing a sport they love.
"I have to wait to see," Keller said. "At first I thought I'm taking that. I would do anything to have a year back. It's just something to think about. I have two years to decide."