Earlier this month, Natalia Kenyatta—a 2024 catcher and utility player for Coach Tammy Vermelen’s D1 Vision 16U softball team—committed to Michigan State.
Ranked as a Top 200 prospect in the Class of 2024 and the 89th catcher overall, she recently shared with Extra Inning Softball how the recruiting process went for the backstop.
Here, in Natalia’s own words, are how she went through the recruiting process and ended up committing to her future Big Ten school…
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Today, I am 17 years old and I am from Madison, Alabama and am a junior at Bob Jones High School.
I moved here when I was 9 years old from San Diego, Calif. and I actually DESPISED softball growing up because I thought it was too girly and weird so I played baseball from ages 8-10.
While I was playing in one of my baseball games, a father of a young softball player saw me play and later asked my parents if I wanted to try softball. I honestly wouldn’t know where I would be right now if my parents didn’t convince me to try it out.
I started playing softball at age 10 and fell in love with the sport. I’ve played on a few travel ball teams but none were really playing at the highest level or going to high level tournaments like I knew I wanted to.
I knew that if I wanted to receive a D1 scholarship then I needed to be playing against the best in the country so—after my summer season of 2021—I decided it was time for a change.
I ended up going to D1Vision Softball and it has been one of my best decisions ever!
Coach Tammy Vermeulen is the best coach, recruiter, mentor, and role model and she wants what’s best for every single one of her athletes and makes sure they achieve their goals.
D1Vision is a national club that has some of the best athletes in the country and I get to call them teammates. Joining a new team was scary especially after I was with my old team for three years, but after my first tournament that Fall I knew God had put me in the right place.
I felt like family the moment I met my teammates and coaches. I am a 2024 (graduate), so the Summer of 2022 was critical for my recruitment. We got our schedule and we were in all of the top tournaments that Summer and I was so excited, but that summer season didn’t look how I wanted it to.
I worked so hard, did all the training and everything I could, but I still couldn’t secure myself a for-sure starting spot on the field.
To be so honest, I spent most of the Summer season as a DP (Designated Player) not really going into the field at all. Usually when someone doesn’t get playing time they make excuses, but not me. I knew if I wasn’t playing it’s because of the work I didn’t do. It had nothing to do with anyone else, so I worked harder.
When the Summer season came to a close, I wasn’t confident at all. We had over 20 D1 coaches watching us in every single game and I knew that none were looking at me.
Going into the Fall and nervously waiting for September 1st to come around was the most I’ve ever doubted myself. I got a few calls, emails and texts on September 1st and the days following, but not one school really wanted me.
At first, I was really upset about it.
I thought I had done everything right: I practiced, I worked out and I ate right.
I worked harder than anyone and I thought it was all for nothing. Like I said, I am on a team with the best athletes in the country, so seeing all of my closest friends be successful and live their dreams was hard. I am everyone’s biggest supporter, so I never let it show, but it’s hard seeing your fiends succeed when you think you’re not going to.
I went to some camps in the fall before the season—one of which was Michigan State. Coach (Sharonda) McDonald-Kelley and her staff had invited me to camp, so my mom and I took the 11-hour drive all the way up to East Lansing for camp.
And I loved it up there!
The campus is beautiful and it was just an amazing trip. After camp, the MSU coaches talked to Coach Tammy and told her that they’d be out to watch me in the Fall. I was so excited, but also nervous that I wouldn’t play a lot.
Loved being able to get in a workout with my favs yesterday!! @CHerron_10 @AjVineski @d1vision_sb @BrenttEads @Los_Stuff @ShoMcDonald @CoachDStenger @nadiataylor88 @StinaMcC7 @CoachRGillispie @CoachKvilhaug @CoachTimHoman @TyraPerry13 @Ltrout07 @Vanntastic8 @TrenaPrater @c_lyon22 pic.twitter.com/kUFQOSoKDE
— Natalia Kenyatta (@KenyattaNatalia) December 30, 2022
Fall season came around and I knew this was my time. I had continued to work hard during the off-season and it paid off because I started in every game during my Fall season with D1V!
Coaches came to our games and I felt like I was really being seen because I was doing great! I had the highest betting average and I made very few errors in the field.
After the Fall season I had a few coaches contact me, but once again none really wanted to commit to me. After the Fall, I truly started to trust God and told myself that whatever happens happens. I knew I wanted to play D1 softball and I knew that things would fall into place.
I started to stop stressing out and just control what I could control. January comes around and I was getting prepared for another Big Ten camp. I was excited to show what I could do.
A couple days before, Coach Tammy contacts me and says she’s been talking with MSU. I was very excited but didn’t want to get my hopes up. She then tells me they want me to come on a visit ASAP!
I was so excited and just couldn’t wait. We were figuring out dates to go, but realized that I would already be in Illinois that Sunday so why not just do it all the same week?
So, the weekend comes and I go to camp and have a great time; then, we drive to East Lansing for my visit.
That’s when I fell in love.
Michigan State University has the best campus. It was so beautiful and full of nature. When I saw Coach Sho (McDonald-Kelley), Coach Nad (Nadia Taylor), and Coach Danielle (Stenger) again they treated me like I was already family.
I was there for two days and felt like it was where I was meant to be.
It’s funny talking about how things fall into place because, while I was on my visit to MSU, I was texting Coach Tammy and schools were reaching out to her about me.
Before my visit was over, I had two other D1 programs who wanted me to go on visits that next weekend. I thought about them at first, but I knew MSU was the place for me. I knew that the atmosphere in East Lansing was where I wanted to call home for the next four years.
I was nervous at first because it felt so official and didn’t know what I wanted to do next, but, I prayed to God and I talked to Coach Tammy and it just secured my feeling that this is where I was supposed to be.
I committed to Michigan State University on January 16, 2023.
They say that God works in mysterious ways, and I truly believe that with my entire heart. God put me in the right place at the right time and knew I had what it took to play Power 5 softball.
The recruiting process is brutal.
It sucks honestly but, believe me when I say trusting the process matters so much. Put your faith in God and know that he is always working for you and that you will end up where you’re meant to end up!
— Natalia Kenyatta
