After banging out hits without a problem since her freshman season at Ripon High, Nicole Kaiser has put herself in a situation to continue doing so at the collegiate level. On Monday, she inked a National Letter of Intent to play softball at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Kaiser has committed to the Lions as a student-athlete and will join the NCAA Division I university’s softball program. The Lions closed out last season with a 32-21 overall record.
Loyola Marymount competes in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference, alongside six schools in the states of California and Oregon. Loyola Marymount head coach Gary Ferrin has the Lions scheduled for tournaments in Florida and Utah for the preseason. Before competing against University of California at Bakersfield, Santa Clara University of San Diego and Utah Valley University in PCSC play.
“There was never a doubt that Nicole was going to play Division I softball,” Ripon head coach Robert Vernon. “She was way ahead of the curve from the moment she arrived. I knew coming in that she was a pretty good player but I didn’t know how good.”
“She’s a pretty humble kid and when she came in it was pretty evident that we had a special athlete.”
Kaiser has definitely earned her opportunity to continue on into the collegiate ranks after accumulating an impressive body of work in her short three years in the lineup for the Indians. Kaiser has led the ball club in hits in two of her three seasons and has hit .429 with 31 doubles and three homeruns in three Ripon seasons. During the 2011 season Kaiser hit safely in all but five Ripon contests and only committed one error in 86 chances from her infield position. She has also been helpful to the Indians’ pitching staff, going 3-1 last season with 14 strikeouts and just two walks.
With scholarship in tow, don’t look for Kaiser’s numbers her senior season to drop off.
“I am not even worried about her being able to perform,” Vernon said. “She a pretty seasoned player tht plays travel ball at a really high level. I’m confident that she’ll be able to perform; I am not worried that she’ll succumb to any pressure at all.”
