Kim Klonowski is enjoying Youngstown State.  She has started all 39 games this season for the Penguins softball team and has more than respectable statistics batting .316 with 5 home runs and a team-high 31 RBI.  She was a Second-Team All-Horizon League pick last year as a sophomore and always poses a threat to smack one out against opposing pitchers.

Refreshingly, Klonowski gets it.  She understands that there may not be a million dollar contract to play softball professionally.  She understands what “student-athlete” means.  She is majoring in chemical engineering and takes her education very seriously.  She also was very good-natured and a tip of the cap to her parents for the great measure of respect she shows both on and off of the diamond.

 

Paneech:  How did you settle on chemical engineering for a major?

Klonowski:  I would like to think I am a good student (laughing).  My sophomore year of high school, my dad sat me down and said “find a major“.  He is an engineer and my uncle is a chemical engineer so I got into it and looked around.  The choice was then chemical or biomedical, and YSU had chemical.  I chose YSU because they had the engineering and they had softball, so it was a really good fit for me.

Paneech:  You lead the team in RBI with 31 and have hit a few bombs this year.  What do you attribute the power to: pitch selectivity, bat speed, or mechanics?

Klonowski:  I pretty much credit bat speed and mechanics.  [Coach Brian] Campbell has done alot with us to make sure we hit inside the ball and drive right through it and that has definitely been the difference.  I am getting comfortable hitting for power, but when you get one out you are lucky.

Paneech:  I came to a couple of games this year and quite frankly, it was freezing.  Do you think that the season should be moved back a month to play in more favorable conditions?

Klonowski:  No, I think you have to learn to play in the elements, no matter what.  When you play a game in the cold, it is a disadvantage to everyone who is playing in it.

Paneech:  Do you follow Major League Baseball?

Klonowski:  Yes, I am a Tigers fan, but Albert Pujols is my favorite player.  My favorite Tiger is Miguel Cabrera.

One Word Answers

Favorite TV Show:  Real Housewives of Orange County.

Fast Food:  Wendy’s.

Biggest Phobia:  I am a germaphobe, big time.

Best Movie Ever Made:  A League of Their Own.

Favorite Soft Drink:  Diet Coke.

Worst Habit:  I am constantly putting on hand sanitizer.

Favorite Cereal:  Cinammon Toast Crunch (every morning).

Musical Preference:  Rock, like Shinedown and Fallout Boy.

Worst Class Ever Taken At YSU:  Organic Chemistry 2.  It was so hard!

Best Class Taken At YSU?  All of my engineering classes are real cool.

Quotable:  “This year’s team has alot of fight.  We can be down a few runs but one person sparks a rally and everyone goes, it is very contagious.  We never give up, and that’s great!”