| Baylee Klingler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Texas Smoke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Infielder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born:September 20, 1999 Houston, Texas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Baylee Klingler (born September 20, 1999) is an American professional softball player for the Texas Smoke of the Women's Professional Fastpitch and member of the United States women's national softball team. She played college softball at Washington. As a senior in 2022, she won the Pac-12 Conference Triple Crown.
Klingler attended Dickinson High School in Dickinson, Texas. During her career she posted a .569 batting average and .638 OBP with 31 home runs, 18 triples, 41 doubles and 144 RBI. [1] She was a four-time First-Team All District and four-time First-Team All Galveston County honoree. [2] During her junior and senior year, she was a member of the All-State team. She was also named an Under Armor All-American, MaxPreps All-American and FloSoftball All-American. She was a two-time Galveston County Female Athlete of the Year finalist, Galveston County softball co-player of the year and 2018 Galveston Offensive MVP. [3] She was ranked as the No. 4 recruit in the 2018 class by FloSoftball and No. 5 by Extra Inning Softball. [4]
Klingler began her collegiate career for the Texas A&M Aggies in 2019. During her first year in conference play she led the team in home runs (5), RBI (16) and slugging (.493), ranked second in batting average (.280) and third in on-base percentage (.325). She started all 55 games and finished the season with a .296 average, five home runs and 28 RBI. Following the season she was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. [5] [6]
On June 18, 2019, Klingler announced she was transferring to Washington. [7] [8] During her second year in 2020, in 25 games she hit .481, with 37 hits, eight doubles, five home runs, and 33 RBI in a season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In five games, she had 11 hits, four runs, two home runs, and eight RBI with a .733 average and .688 OBP. She matched her career high with a four-hit game against Fullerton and has had multiple hits in four consecutive games. She was subsequently named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week ending March 3, 2020. [9] [10]
During her junior year in 2021, she hit .416, with a .507 OBP, 72 hits, 17 doubles, 16 home runs, 53 RBI and 56 runs. She led the Pac-12 in runs scored, doubles and extra-base hits, and ranked second in RBI. She was one of three Pac-12 players with a batting average over .400 and one of two players with an on-base percentage over .500. She became the first Husky since Ali Aguilar in 2017 with 50 runs and 50 RBI in the same year. [11] Following the season she was named to the first-team All-Pac-12 and named a second-team All-American. [12] [13]
During her senior year in 2022, she led the conference in batting average (.434), slugging percentage (1.007), home runs (24), RBI (71) and total bases (149). She became the third Pac-12 Triple Crown winner in history after Jenny Dalton (1996) and Stacey Nuveman (1999). [14] Her 24 home runs were the second most in a single-season in program history, trailing Kristen Rivera's record of 25. Following an outstanding season, she was named Pac-12 Conference Softball Player of the Year, first-team all-Pac-12 and named a unanimous first-team All-American. [15] [16] She was also named a top-three finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. [17]
On April 17, 2023, Klingler was drafted second overall by the Texas Smoke in the 2023 Women's Professional Fastpitch draft. [18] [19]
Klingler represented the United States at the 2017 World Cup of Softball where she hit .500, with two runs scored, six RBI and a home run and won a silver medal. [20] She also represented the United States at the 2017 Junior Women's Softball World Championship. [21] During the tournament she hit .393 with 10 runs scored, two home runs, and 12 RBI, and won a gold medal. [22]
On August 31, 2023, Klingler was named to the United States women's national softball team for the 2023 Pan American Games. [23]
Klingler is the daughter of former American football player Jimmy Klingler. Her brother, Cory, played college football at Rice, while her sister, Courtney, played college softball at Houston. Her uncle, David Klingler, was also a former football player. [11]
Stacey "Nuvey" Nuveman-Deniz is an American, former professional softball player and current head coach at San Diego State. She played for the UCLA Bruins at the catcher position on-and-off from 1997 to 2002, winning a National Championship in 1999. She also won two Olympic gold medals and one silver medal for Team USA.
Jessica Ofelia Mendoza is an American sportscaster and former softball player. Currently, she serves as a color commentator and analyst for ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball and Los Angeles Dodgers coverage on Spectrum SportsNet LA. As a softball outfielder, Mendoza was a collegiate four-time First Team All-American and two-time Olympic medalist. Mendoza played from 1999 to 2002 at Stanford and was a member of the United States women's national softball team from 2004 to 2010. She won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She played professionally in National Pro Fastpitch and was named 2011 Player of the Year and currently ranks in the top 10 for career batting average and slugging percentage.
Jenny Louise Topping is an American, former collegiate four-time first team All-American, medal winning Olympian, retired professional All-Star softball player. Topping played college softball at Washington and Cal State Fullerton primarily as a catcher. She is best known for being a member of the United States women's national softball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics that won a gold medal. She also played professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch for the Akron Racers.
Natasha Renee Watley is an American, former collegiate four-time first-team All-American, two-time medal winning Olympian, retired seven-time pro All-Star softball player. Watley played college softball at UCLA, and helped the Bruins win a national championship. She represented the United States women's national softball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal, and again at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and won a silver medal.
Lovieanne Jung is a Filipino-American, former collegiate All-American, two-time medal winning Olympian, retired softball player. She began her college softball career at Fresno State as a second baseman, then transferred to Arizona and played as a shortstop. She represented the United States women's national softball team winning a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Caitlin Faith Lowe-Nagy is the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats softball team. Lowe is a former collegiate four-time first team All-American and medal winning Olympian. She played college softball for Arizona and led her team in back-to-back Women's College World Series championships in 2006 and 2007. She won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Lowe played with National Pro Fastpitch's USSSA Pride for six seasons, winning three titles and being named 2012 Player of the Year, before officially retiring in 2015.
Kaitlin Elizabeth Cochran is an American, former collegiate four-time first team All-American, retired softball player. She attended Rosary High School and Arizona State University from 2006 to 2009, where she won the 2008 Women's College World Series title. Also with United States women's national softball team, she won four World Cup of Softball crowns. She holds various records for the Sun Devils in the Pac-12 Conference. She was drafted first overall in the National Pro Fastpitch but elected not to play. She is also one of nine NCAA Division I players to bat .400 with 200 RBIs, 50 home runs and an .800 slugging percentage for a career.
Jenny Dalton-Hill is an American former collegiate All-American softball player and current sports commentator. She played for the Arizona Wildcats from 1993 to 1996 where she won three Women's College World Series championships. Having also played baseball, Dalton-Hill is a former member of the Colorado Silver Bullets and United States women's national baseball team, earning a bronze medal at the 2010 Women's Baseball World Cup. She holds the career Pac-12 and NCAA Division I records in RBIs. She is the first and one of nine NCAA players to hit .400 with 200 RBIs, 50 home runs and an .800 slugging percentage in her career.
Jennifer Ann Spediacci is an Italian-American, former collegiate All-American, 2004 Olympian, right-handed batting softball pitcher, originally from Fremont, California. She was a student athlete for the Washington Huskies from 1997-00 in the Pac-12 Conference, competing in four Women's College World Series and holding the school ERA record. She also who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Alison Paige Aguilar is an American, former professional softball player at shortstop. She played college softball at Washington from 2014 to 2017 where she was named a three-time First Team All-Pac-12 and a National Fastpitch Coaches Association Second and Third Team All-American in her last two years. She won the Cowles Cup with the Scrap Yard Dawgs of the National Pro Fastpitch in 2017. She also played professionally in Japan. She represented Team USA at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal.
Gabrielle "Gabbie" Plain is an Australian, former All-American college softball pitcher for Washington. In her freshman year, Plain led the Huskies to a runner-up appearance in the 2018 Women's College World Series, where they lost to Florida State, 2–0 in the finals. Plain represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Rachel Lauren Garcia is an American former softball pitcher and current pitching coach for UC San Diego. She played college softball for the UCLA Bruins and led the Bruins to the 2019 Women's College World Series championship, where she was named the Most Outstanding Player.
Dejah Monique Mulipola is an American professional softball catcher of Samoan and Mexican descent. She played college softball at Arizona from 2017 to 2021 where she was twice named a National Fastpitch Coaches Association First Team All-American. She has been a member of the United States women's national softball team since 2019 and helped them win a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She most recently played in the Athletes Unlimited Softball where she won the 2022 championship as the top individual points leader.
Nicole "Sis" Bates is a former American college softball player for the Washington Huskies and a member of the United States women's national softball team. She currently is a member of Athletes Unlimited Professional Softball, as well as an ambassador and mentor within the sport of softball.
Jocelyn Aloha Pumehana Alo is an American professional softball player for the Oklahoma City Spark of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). She played college softball for the Oklahoma Sooners. Alo was named 2018 NFCA National Freshman of the Year, and named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022. She is the NCAA Division I career leader in home runs. Alo was drafted first overall by the Smash It Vipers in the inaugural WPF draft.
Tiare Rose Jennings is an American college softball player for the Oklahoma Sooners. As a freshman in 2021, she was named NFCA National Freshman of the Year, Softball America Freshman of the Year and was selected as a first-team All-American.
Maya Ann Brady-Timmons is an American college softball player for the UCLA Bruins. As a freshman in 2020, she was named Softball America Freshman of the Year.
Jayda Coleman is an American college softball player for the Oklahoma Sooners. She also represented the United States at the 2019 U-19 Women's Softball World Cup and USA Softball International Cup.
Anissa Urtez is an American professional softball player of Mexican descent. She played college softball for Utah. She represented Mexico at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Chelsea Gonzales is an American professional softball player of Mexican descent for the Smash It Sports Vipers of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). She played college softball for Arizona State. She represented Mexico at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
