There are athletes who you can just look at and tell they’re special and Dakota Kennedy is one of them.
It’s not surprising as both of her parents were DI athletes—her mother, Marviña, was a 6-foot-1 power forward for the UTEP women’s basketball team and her father, Erik, was a pitcher for Grambling University.
Dakota’s club coach, Lindsey Munoz (formerly Lindsey Ziegenhirt) of Lady Magic 16U Munoz, says of her star freshman: “At 5-foot-10, Dakota passes the eye test and has the bloodlines to back it up.”
And don’t think colleges haven’t noticed it—Dakota received offers from Big Ten and SEC schools the night before the recruiting rules changed in April of 2018 after already receiving ones from multiple Top 10 programs before then but chose to wait until September 1 of her junior year to continue the recruiting process.
The attention in the last year has only increased.
“Her stock has skyrocketed,” adds Coach Munoz. “Dakota has attended camps at Oklahoma, Michigan and Arizona and she has received invites to attend camps at Washington, Oregon, Arizona State, Indiana and Arkansas to name a few. Her following includes most schools from each of the Power 5 conferences and a variety of others. We expect her phone to be ringing off the hook next September.”
NAME: DAKOTA KENNEDY
Hometown/State: Folsom, California
Grad Year: 2022
Position(s): Outfielder
Club Team: Lady Magic – Munoz
High School (City/State): Folsom High School
GPA: 3.8
Recruiting Situation: uncommitted
Height: 5-foot-10
Top Honors/Accomplishments: Principal’s List in 8th grade for getting all A’s all year
Key Stats: High school: hitting .562 with five home runs and seven steals in first 16 games; highest batting average and most home runs in the Sierra Foothill League; Club: in fall/winter ball hit .500 with six home runs and 12 steals in 24 games.
Play Other Sports? Volleyball, track & field
Preferred College Major: Dentistry
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You had several Power 5 Conference offers before the new recruiting rules were implemented… where you tempted to commit early? What led to you deciding to stay uncommitted?
I was most definitely tempted to commit early because that was what everyone was doing. I decided to hold off because I thought if these schools are really interested in me, they will wait a couple years until I am a junior to offer me again. I also felt if I waited, I would better know what school I would want to attend.
You were in the Top 25 of our first 2022 Extra Elite 100… was that cool for you or were you bummed you weren’t higher?
It was really cool for me because I didn’t expect to be ranked anyways. I wasn’t bummed at all because it just showed that I can work even harder and eventually maybe get #1.
What does it mean to you to be considered as one of the top 100 players in your grad class?
To me, it means that I have to keep working and not slack off because you never want to go down, you always want to stay on top, and that just means I need to work hard and always do my best.
Your parents were college athletes… what do you know of their experiences previously and how have they helped you become the athlete and softball player you are?
It really helps having two parents who also were college athletes because they know what is it like to have to manage school and sports at the same time and they can give me tips on how to make it easier. They also push me hard because they know how far I am capable of going, and I’m really grateful to have them as my parents.
Your club coaches are raving about your athleticism now and have you’ve taken a step forward in regard to your speed, explosiveness and power. What has working out with your trainer at Playmakers Elite, Mike Johnson, done to elevate your athleticism?
I can honestly say that working out with Mike Johnson is one of the best decisions my parents could’ve made for me. He is so invested in all of his athletes and wants to see them all succeed. He’s not the type of coach to let you slack off or just coast through his workouts, he’s going to make them hard and VERY tiring, but at the end of it you know it was all worth it. I can already see improvements in my speed, strength, and explosiveness and I’ve only been going to him for five months. I like to imagine how much stronger and quicker I will be after one year!
When was this first time you realized that you really loved softball and what triggered that feeling?
I think once I started competitive softball was when I really realized I had fallen in love with this sport. To this day I still struggle to wake up for school at 6:45 am, but if I need to be awake at 5 am to get to the softball fields on time for an 8 am game, you can be sure that I will hop right out of bed with no problem!
What are you looking forward to most this upcoming summer?
This season we got a lot of new players which I know will just make our team 10 times better. Ultimately, I am excited to see how we will compete in tournaments and, most importantly, this season we are trying to win PGF, so I’m really excited to see how we are going to rise to the occasion.
