SLO County softball star headed to Long Beach State and a career in biomedical research

Behind Nipomo pitcher Kate Barnett’s face mask are two glaring eyes giving a boxing staredown to a batter.

“If I’m on the mound, and I look a batter in the eyes, and they look away, I’ve already won that at-bat,” the senior said.

In the dugout, she’s often the loudest one leading chants.

“Ball in the dirt, ball, ball in the dirt,” she yelled from the dugout as an opposing pitcher spiked a pitch during a recent. “She can make it work. She can make it work.”

That focus and intensity has helped her become the Titans’ team leader, both on the mound and at the plate, guiding Nipomo into a tie for first place in the Ocean League amid an eight-game winning streak.

On the stat sheet, Barnett leads the Titans in nearly every category with a .436 batting average and a 0.86 ERA, to go with 7 wins and 153 strikeouts over 81 innings of work this season.

That performance has earned her a scholarship to play softball at Long Beach State.

Despite her ferocity on the mound and in the box, however, off the field Barnett describes herself as a “bookworm.”

“It’s really funny because on the field I’m this very extroverted person,” she said.

Off the field, Barnett says she likes to read, crochet or do arts and crafts.

But she also has other aspirations beyond sports.

Barnett will major in biology and minor in chemistry at Long Beach State. After graduation from college, Barnett says she wants to pursue a career as a biomedical researcher and develop safer pharmaceutical drugs for people.

How Nipomo softball player improved her game

As an athlete, Barnett is a competitor at heart who looks for every edge she can.

Instead of playing her junior year, for example, Barnett ran cross country and track to improve her endurance as a pitcher.

When she returned to softball for her senior season, Head Coach Robert Oliver noticed how much she had improved, particularly in her command of the game and patience.

“She definitely developed the ability to maintain composure in tough situations and just keep pitching,” Oliver said. “Where she might’ve got a little bit more rattled when she was younger, now her composure is really up there.”

Barnett has another secret weapon.

On the mound, she throws with her right arm. At the plate, she swings left-handed.

“My right eye is my dominant eye, which means when I hit lefty … the right eye is going to be closest to the picture,” Barnett said.

The other benefit to hitting left-handed is she’s a step closer to first base, which allows her to slap the ball to the left side and beat out infield hits.

The slapping technique allows the speedy Barnett, who also runs the 100-meter, 200-meter, 4-by-100 relay, and 4-by-400 relay for the Nipomo track team, to reach first base before the throw gets there.

It’s an advantage not lost on her coach.

“I made a mistake with my (own) kid,” Oliver said. “I should have taught my kid how to hit lefty.”

What makes her a great teammate

In the classroom, biology and STEM-related subjects have always been Barnett’s strong suit.

But it wasn’t until her family experienced a health scare that she began to focus on a possible career path.

In 2016, when Barnett was in sixth grade, her mom had a kidney transplant.

“It was kind of a rough year,” Barnett said. “But just being able to see how she came back … and (that) she was able to rely on family and friends made me realize that family is always going to be there for you.”

She said she wants to become a biomedical researcher to “help people who’ve been through the same situation as me.

“Being able to have empathy towards those is why I envisioned myself in (biomedical research),” she said.

Barnett’s desire to help others also shows up in her approach as a teammate.

At the beginning of the season, Oliver struggled to find enough players to field a team. “I picked up a couple who have never even played a game of softball before,” he said.

On the one hand, the coach had multiple players new to the sport. On the other, he had a player bound off to a Division 1 program next year.

Still, Oliver said, Barnett has “been the best teammate,” and she regularly shares her knowledge with her less experienced teammates.

“It doesn’t always work that way,” he said. “When you have a really highly skilled player working with the beginners, they don’t always take them under their wing and try to help them. Sometimes that leads to some frustration, and I haven’t seen that from Kate at all.”

She hasn’t even touched the field as a college athlete, but Oliver thinks Barnett could translate that trait to a career in coaching one day.

“She has a gift for just taking her excitement and enthusiasm for the game and translating it into teachable skills for young players,” Oliver said.

For now, Barnett is focused on finishing the season strong as the Titans battle for a league championship.

In a recent game against Santa Ynez, she reached a notable personal milestone along the way: 1,000 strikeouts in her travel ball and high school career, which she kept a secret until after her accomplishment during the game.

“That strikeout count is going to reset once I get to college, so I just really wanted to hit that milestone,” she said.

If Barnett ever reaches that number again, it will be in the collegiate ranks as she continues to stare down batter after batter.

Nipomo’s next game is Friday at 4:30 p.m. at home against Pioneer Valley, which now shares first place with the Titans.