Amherst's Cassidy Kettleman commits to play softball at Indiana

Amherst junior Cassidy Kettleman appears to have a motor that never stops, so it was no surprise that a national pandemic wasn't going to slow her down when it came to the recruiting process. The Comets standout center fielder and leadoff hitter orally committed to play softball for Indiana University on Tuesday night. The Hoosiers won out over finalists Louisville and Miami of Ohio. "Their softball program, I like their coaching style for sure. I just love how aggressive they are because I love being aggressive on the base paths especially," Kettleman said Wednesday. "(The pandemic) really slowed a lot of the conversations, especially not being able to go look at campus since the dead period, so for sure it's been difficult but the coaches worked really well with everybody, making sure we took it at our own pace and didn't really rush us, so that was nice." Not that being in a rush would have been much of a problem for Kettleman. She began playing softball around 9 years old — for two teams — while also playing for a travel soccer organization. "I love being busy. I don't like sitting around and not doing anything. I've lived the constant go-go-go life my entire life," said Kettleman, who played for the Amherst Wranglers in OGSO and the Amherst Chargers in Emerald Necklace that first summer. "I kind of fell in love with both sports at the same time. We'd go from a softball game, get in the car and change uniforms and go play a soccer game, then, hey, look, I have another softball game, so I change clothes again and go back out onto the softball field." While she finally had to give up soccer because of the strenuous demands of playing elite softball, she still follows a breakneck schedule throughout the year. Kettleman worked her way up the travel softball ranks — starting with the Sun Dogs locally before playing for Thunder Elite, Ohio Outlaws and finally landing with national powerhouse Beverly Bandits — and spends her summers and falls traveling all over the country playing in tournaments. Before the hectic tournament travel begins, Kettleman and her family already are spending weekends on the road in preparation. "We practice in Columbus on Sundays for four hours a day," she said. "This past year we decided to work on both Saturday and Sunday. We would drive down Saturday morning, practice for four hours, usually we'd have a team cookout and hang out after practice, then stay at the hotel and have another four-hour practice the next day." While travel ball owns her weekends, Kettleman does not rest during the week. "She put a ton of time in — not only with travel ball but when she was home during the week she got in the weight room quite a bit," Comets coach Lacey Reichert said. "She's getting stronger, she's getting faster, she's hitting the ball harder — it's exciting to see what she's going to do as a junior and senior." Especially because Kettleman had a breakout freshman season in 2019. She led the team in batting average (.580), doubles, triples and stolen bases, and set program records in hits (55), runs scored (49) and RBIs (8) in a game. The Comets finished 19-3 overall and 16-1 in the Southwestern Conference, winning their fourth straight SWC championship, and Kettleman was named to the MaxPreps All-American team. "It was amazing. I didn't even realize it was happening at the time," said Kettleman, who also participates in the Comets marching band. "The season was over and people were like, 'You were leading us in almost everything,' and I was like, 'What are you talking about? I'm just playing the game.' "I'm always being pushed by my parents, Coach Reichert, my teammates for both high school and travel ball — everyone just pushes each other and we definitely get each other to the next level." Who knew that next level would be competing in the Big Ten? "That's been her goal since seventh or eighth grade, to play Division I softball," Reichert said. "Having such an outstanding freshman year — both in high school and travel — you just knew it was going to happen and it was just a matter of where she was going to land." Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.