‘I just kept going’: Agawam High School student pitches 16 strikeouts

AGAWAM, MA. (WGGB/WSHM) - In this week’s Friday Night feature story, David Horwitz spoke with an Agawam softball player about her performance of a lifetime.

“I kind of just got into a groove, I was like okay you got this, and I just kept going,” said Kylie.

That’s exactly what Kylie Circosta did!

On March 30th, the senior softball player pitched 16 strikeouts and she is new to the position.

“My best friend McKenna was our pitcher last year and she got hurt over the summer and I took it by myself to follow in her footsteps,” said Kylie.

Coach Kathleen Georgina told us Kylie typically plays second base and after the injury to their starting pitcher, she didn’t know what to do.

“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen but after seeing that game I was really excited for the season,” said Coach Georgina. “I think we’re going to be successful for sure.”

Coach Georgina, a former pitcher at Springfield College has been coaching at Agawam High School for over 20 years.

She said she has never seen anything quite like Kylie’s performance.

“After the first few innings when she struck out eight of the nine or 7 to 9 the first batters, I was very impressed I don’t think we’ve had someone do that that quickly never really have a pitch to really except for a couple games last year she has improved so much over the winter and got so much faster I was really impressed,” said Coach Georgina.

While Kylie is new to taking the mound, she has fire power in her blood.

“My mom grew up playing softball,” said Kylie. “She was a pitcher for Agawam for high school and both of my cousins they were pitchers and catchers on the varsity team, and they were captains as well.”

Kylie told us it is a mental game.

“I have got to build myself up in my head and remember to be confident and hype myself up,” said Kylie.

The team won states back in 20-13 and came up short in the playoffs last year.

Despite their winning culture, Coach Georgina said success is not always measured with wins and losses.

“I want to make sure they play as a team, work as a team, no one player is more important than the other,” said Coach Georgina. “They are all playing for each other.”

Kylie told us why coming together as a team is critical to their success.

“You have got to communicate,” expressed Kylie. “You need to know where the ball is going if you don’t communicate you look lost and you can’t help each other out…”

No matter what happens this season, Kylie said it is the relationships they have built that will last a lifetime.

“It’s actually brought me to my best friends,” said Kylie. “My teammates have become my best friends and growing up with them is great.”

Kylie is headed off to UMass Amherst as a business major and is unsure if she will continue playing at the next level.

The Agawam athletics won 13-4 on Wednesday night over Frontier. They are now 1-2 on the season.

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