Kylie Reynolds Continues Pitching Success in Italy
Playing the sport she loves in a foreign country has been a culture shock for Kylie Reynolds.
The former Kent State softball pitcher has been forced to overcome a language barrier and playing against older competition in Italy since March.
Her play on the field has not reflected the adversity she has faced.
Reynolds, a three-time Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year while at Kent State, brought her signature curveball and dominating style of play with her to Italy.
The result?
Reynolds is currently 10-1 with four shutouts and a pair of no-hitters playing for the Fiorini Forli Pro Softball Club based out of Northeast Italy.
For the Greensboro, Ga. native, changing her style on the field was not the problem. While some players have trouble adjusting to playing overseas, Reynolds has been able to use her curveball and rise ball to strikeout players at the same rate that helped her break several Kent State records.
“The level of play is surprisingly really good,” Reynolds said. “The thing with Italian hitters is that they’re strong on low and drop, so I’ve been able to use that to my advantage.”
Reynolds’s journey to Italy came quickly. After graduating from Kent State in Dec. 2010, she was contacted by an employee of Fiorini Forli. While the idea of traveling to Europe to continue her playing career came up before, it was not until she was on a plane that the reality set in.
Reynolds was signed to a three-month contract in March. The owners of the team wanted to see her play before deciding to keep her on the team long-term.
It did not take long for her next contract offer to come.
She had her contract renewed at the end of April to stay an additional three months. While Reynolds has performed her way to becoming the team’s second starting pitcher, she is still getting used to the differences between playing in Kent, Ohio and in Italy.
During her time at Kent State, Reynolds played in front of a similar crowd at every home game. The home crowds in Italy are much different.
Fans cheer and boo the home team. They travel with the team on the bus and follow the team closely.
“The fans can be pretty brutal sometimes,” Reynolds said. “For me, it’s been kind of beneficial that I don’t fully understand Italian so I don’t know what they’re saying to me. I have had some instances where I’ve hit some batters …”
While Reynolds primary focus is winning games for Fiorini Forli, her purpose overseas is much more complex. As a tool to reinvent the game of softball overseas, her league mandates that players work with local youths in developing softball and baseball skills.
Reynolds works with Italian players regularly on the fundamentals of softball. While teaching the simple motion of swinging a bat or throwing a pitch sounds simple, Reynolds does so with a limited amount of the Italian language to her disposal.
While she understands the basic softball terminology in Italian, the kids that she teaches usually speak Italian and she speaks English. Both try to understand as much as possible, but Reynolds said that she is still forced to use hand motions to demonstrate her point.
“You kind of just work with whatever Italian I know and try to work with them as much as I can,” Reynolds said.
The transition to Italy is much different than the one Reynolds made in the summer of 2009 when she traveled to Australia to play softball for the United States International Softball team.
Her stay only lasted two weeks, but Reynolds said there are major differences between softball in Australia and softball in Italy.
“We played really good teams and we played really bad teams, so we got a little bit of everything,” Reynolds said. “With this, I kind of feel like as a whole, it’s better. There’s owners putting money and time to get these programs going.”
For Reynolds, the experience has been unimaginable. Her parents visited her a few weeks ago and she is getting used to the simple things in life that people take for granted.
Even a trip to the grocery store has become a chore for Reynolds, but she’s enjoying every minute of it.
“I’m smelling the meat and the cheese to try to figure out what I’m buying,” Reynolds joked.
