Team USA Softball Player Holds Clinics in Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS — About 30 girls sat reverentially in a circle, awaiting instruction from one of the most talented softball players on the planet.

The scene unfolded at D-BAT Saratoga Springs, a baseball and softball training facility that opened in 2024. The academy’s guest of honor last Saturday, Kinzie Hansen, spent the day leading young softball players in catching and hitting clinics.

Hansen’s accolades are plentiful and include capturing a gold medal at the 2022 World Games, winning four-straight Women’s College World Series titles (her team was the first in college softball history to achieve this), catching for Team USA, and playing for the AUSL’s Oklahoma City Spark. Hyping her appearance, D-BAT owner Adam Britten called Hansen “one of the most successful softball players of our generation.”

Somewhere in her packed schedule (Hansen had to be in Chicago and then Oklahoma shortly after visiting the Spa City), the 24-year-old found time to train and mentor the next generation of softball players. Assisting her in this task were, among others, high schoolers Grace Schaefer from Spa Catholic and Kelsey Compositor from Saratoga Springs.

“There are only two things you can control: your attitude and your effort,” Hansen said in her opening remarks to the girls. In this clinic, Hansen focused on her specialty: catching. The position can be both physically and psychologically demanding. The entire team looks at the catcher throughout the game, and it’s the catcher’s job, Hansen said, to lead by example.

Another of Hansen’s commandments surely pleased the parents in the room. The softball star reminded the kids at her feet that “without [your parents], you probably wouldn’t be able to play the game that you love.” The circle of girls then turned towards the adults nearby and said “thank you, parents” in unison.

“It’s been really fun,” Hansen told Saratoga TODAY about her clinics at D-BAT. “A lot of the girls have been very engaged. I know that sometimes in the past clinics that I’ve done, some of the girls seem a little bit bored, but I think that today, almost every single girl that’s been here has been completely invested in what’s been going on. So that makes me very proud. We’ve had a lot of fun. I mean, I was sweating my butt off too while I was coaching them, so it’s been a really good time.”

Hansen continued, “Coming to these under-saturated areas where there’s not as many good softball training coaches, seeing the passion and the amount of girls that can show up is tremendous… The love for the game, it makes these young girls have confidence and find a purpose. I find it so interesting that a lot of young girls nowadays with social media, they can struggle sometimes with confidence and identity and things like that. But playing softball and having your sisters on your team, or a sisterhood of teammates, it can be tremendous for their development.”

As a former Oklahoma Sooner and current Oklahoma City Spark, Hansen said she was excited for the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will include softball games played in Oklahoma City. Hansen’s sport will return to Olympic competition after being snubbed at the 2024 games in Paris.

“Oklahoma is like the mecca of softball,” Hansen declared. “We can fit almost 20,000 people in that stadium. So, I’m really excited for that to be packed out for Team USA. I don’t know another site in the country that can hold that many people for a softball field. Oklahoma is like my second family, so I’m excited to see the turnout for that.”

Perhaps one day, a girl from one of Hansen’s clinics will find themselves playing at softball’s mecca, too.