Introducing 2028 Extra Elite 100 No. 1 Kate McCartney… “A Once-In-A-Generation Talent”

Speak softly and carry a big stick.

That’s been the approach so far in life for Kate McCartney, announced last Friday as the top-ranked player in the 2028 Extra Elite 100, and it’s worked out amazingly well to date, thank you very much.

“Kate doesn’t say much,” her father, Sean, confirms, “but she is super humble and hard working. Kate just does her thing.”

That thing is to play fastpitch softball at an amazingly high level already in her young career which makes Kate a once-in-a-generation type of success story—be it defensively from her spot at shortstop or with her bat where she hits home run balls so far into orbit, they’ve been mistaken for Chinese spy balloons.

Well, that last part may be a wee bit of an exaggeration, but not much else about her athletic resume is.

Kate led her Lady Magic – Munoz team to a PGF 12U Premier National Championship last summer highlighted by her going 2-for-4 with four RBIs including a bases-clearing triple in the title game win over the Birmingham Thunderbolts.

She compiled a batting average of .512 at the 2022 PGF Nationals against top competition and also had an amazing 27 RBIs over the week. Heading into PGF, Kate had produced a .472 batting mark with 24 doubles, 10 triples, a dozen dingers, 101 RBIs and an 88% success rate on the base paths (36-for-41).

Check out this shot from last year which even sounds like a homer:

Yes, Kate – who was given the nickname “Zetta” by her father –  certainly lets her play do the talking for her on the softball fields and is fine with letting her 13-year-old twin sister, Emmy, handle the verbal stuff.

Emmy, the youngest of the two sisters by a single minute, is into theater and debate and knows what she wants to be in life: an NFL General Manager.

Younger brother, Liam (age 11), meanwhile, is—like his older sis—into outdoor stuff such as soccer, baseball and horse riding.

Kate, the eldest of three, also played soccer early on, but ultimately had to give it up to focus more on softball.

“She is, well, herself,” the matriarch, Liz, explains. “Kate was given the gift of athleticism, but what I love about her is that she’s humble, loving and really herself. Like Emmy and Liam, she uses the gifts she’s been given and, while all three kids are very different, they all have their special strengths.”

When Kate and Emmy were born, however, there was an immediate concern with the oldest child.

“The hospital did hearing tests on the twins before they could come home,” remembers their mother, “and Kate was diagnosed with a 65 percent hearing loss in her left ear. It was a birth defect where the ear bones didn’t develop totally while she was in the womb, but it hasn’t stopped her from becoming the athlete and the person she is today.”

And don’t mistake the oldest sibling’s lack of gabby verbiage for lack of activity, either… far from it. If anything, the NorCal teen should be praised for all that she is able to do in just a 24-hour day.

The first time we reached out to Kate this week, she was on her way to a piano practice, which she has done for nearly a decade (since age 4).  When asked what styles of music she likes to play, she says simply, “all different types of music, from Jingle Bell Rock to Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Note: she loves, loves, loves Christmas—from the music to the food to the movies such as Elf.

Kate looks at her piano playing as “mental relaxation” and her father proudly points to a year ago when, during the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, Kate heard Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Eminem and Mary J. Blige performing and worked her way to the family’s piano where she figured out the melody to a song she had just heard.

Along with softball, Kate shines in another sport where she’s equally prolific and accomplished.

The second time we pinged Kate this week, she was on her way home from basketball practice for her Placerville, California school team after, just last week, scoring a career-high 42 of her team’s 50 points. This, mind you, is for the 8^th grade team on which she is averaging 30 points per game.

“Kate was playing on a super high-level travel hoop team,” her father answeres when asked which sport she is best at, before concluding: “but it looks like softball is the choice.”

“Basketball was actually her first love,” Kate’s mom, Liz, adds, “but during the (COVID0 pandemic, AAU hoops indoors was shut down so she tried out for the Lady Magic in softball and loved it because she could play outdoors and continue to grow and develop.

“Softball is my primary sport,” Kate confirms, and believes she’s ahead of the game, candidly, because of “my mental strengths” and because she’s “big, fast and athletic.”

Her weekly schedule certainly reflects the athlete’s dedication to fastpitch: she does speed and agility workouts weekly along with hitting four times per week, frequently driving with a parent the half hour each way to work out with her club head coach, Ernie Munoz, on hitting drills and other position-specific work.

Kate was born with athleticism in her genes as her father played basketball at Humboldt State and her mother competed in softball while younger. Kate’s grandfather, on her mom’s side, played college football at Pacific in the 1970’s and, seeing the value of sports, the McCartney parents wasted no time in getting all three of their kids into athletic activities.

“She played softball as soon as we could sign her up for t-ball,” the teen’s mother remembers, “and that was when she was only five (years old).”

Kate’s parents met while high school students at Tracy High, in the San Francisco Bay area, and today live in Placerville, California, which is about two hours away from where they went to senior prom together.

Placerville, a relatively small town of ten thousand, is located between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe and has been an idyllic and picturesque place for the McCartney kids to grow up.

Their family home is on an acre, but an adjacent neighbor owns 15 acres and kindly lets Kate, Emmy and Liam ride their quads on the property.

“Kate loves the outdoors,” her father says of his daughter’s other passions. “She turned 13 in November and also loves to build and fix things. Kate has talked about Engineering, Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine as possible areas of study.”

Though her life right now is “all about softball,” Kate and her family—when not spending their weekends practicing or traveling with the Lady Magic—have a lot of other options when it comes to being active in the outdoors.

The McCartney’s live just 20 minutes from the 30-mile long American River and enjoy boating and tubing when they can.

Additionally, the three siblings cherish the times spent at their grandparents’ cabin in Twain Harte, California—about four hours away from Placerville—where they paddle board and enjoy the scenery of this one-time gold producing country in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range.

“Kate has the mature ability to be ‘all in’ with whatever she chooses to focus on,” adds Coach Munoz’s wife, Lindsay Ziegenhirt-Munoz, who is an assistant coach on the Lady Magic as well as a college liaison for the club org.

“Whether it’s school, softball, or other activities, she has the discipline to be great in everything she does. Kate is a true pleasure to coach and we look forward to watching her grow!”

Grow she has, as the 5-foot-7 athlete is admiringly called a “5-tool player and a generational talent,” by Coach Lindsay.

Perhaps it’s the protein balls and eggs she eats regularly: “Kate averages four eggs per day!” reveals her mom, but if there’s a Kryptonite for this young Super Girl, it may be the same things that most of America covets: sweets and treats.

“I like to cook and bake,” Kate admits. “I like helping my mom out in the kitchen and love ice cream, M&M’s and baking chocolate fudge, too!”

Fortunately, the athlete is so busy and on the run that she rarely has time to indulge in the sugary stuff, but when she does, she’s quickly working it off via softball, basketball or through her water sports (depending on the season).

Not only does her active lifestyle keep Kate busy, it also keeps her focused on the important things in life: family, friends, activities and getting things done successfully one day at a time.

So far, based on the results and the raves of her coaches and teammates, that plan is working to perfection.

“I just want Kate, Emmy and Liam to be kids,” their mother concludes, “and, for Kate, certainly, softball helps keep her grounded.”

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball