Kwiatkowski changed Manalapan High School softball
Named News Transcript’s Female
Athlete of the Year
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Manalapan’s Kristy Kwiatkowski shows off the swing that made her one of the most feared hitters in the Shore Conference over the last three years. She also was one of the state’s best catchers (below).
From her first day of practice with the Manalapan High School softball team, Kristy Kwiatkowski wanted to make a difference. Did she ever.
Manalapan softball won’t be looked at the same way again, thanks to her exploits. During her three years with the Braves, Kwiatkowski raised the bar both for what is expected from an individual as well as from the team. For her achievements, Kwiatkowski is the News Transcript’s 2001 Female Athlete of the Year.
Before Kwiatkowski arrived at the Manalapan campus (her family moved from California in the middle of her sophomore year), the Braves had no winning tradition on the diamond. They had a Shore Conference Division title way back in 1977, and that’s it. The Braves also never had a player as committed to softball as Kwiatkowski. In addition to her high school ball, she plays traveling softball and her season runs to November (she plays for the Blazing Angels out of Bristol, Pa.).
In her first year, the Braves caught everyone off guard, winning 19 games and capturing the Brave Invitational. Kwiatkowski was playing third base at the time and displaying the power that would be her trademark — power that had teams pitching around her and intentionally walking her. She would bat .458 with 38 hits; five of which were doubles, four triples and three home runs in her debut. She added 23 RBIs.
In 2000 she moved behind the plate, and Manalapan had a defensive stone wall with a cannon for an arm. She canceled the opposition’s running game. She also elevated her average to .506 and still hit for power with four doubles, three triples and three home runs. Kwiatkowski drove in 26 runs as Manalapan won 15 games.
The best was yet to come.
Combining senior leadership and experience with a talented sophomore class, the Braves jelled in the second half of the season and produced the greatest year in Manalapan softball. It culminated in the Shore Conference Tournament Championship, a 21-7 record (best ever single season in school history), the top ranking in the Shore area, and the Braves’ first-ever appearance in the state rankings, No. 13.
"This year we felt that we had to do it," Kwiatkowski said. "For the seniors, we knew it was our last chance. All we wanted to do was leave with that championship banner."
They did, setting a standard for future Braves to follow. The senior class had proved that Manalapan softball can beat the top programs and win championships, and can dare to reach for state recognition.
Kwiatkowski left her own legacy as well, earning First Team All-State honors from the Associated Press and other organizations. She was the first from her school and the Freehold Regional District to be so honored. She batted .539 with 41 hits in 76 at-bats. She had 11 doubles, three triples and five home runs, and led the Shore in RBIs with 36.
"The past two years I put way too much pressure on myself to bat .500," Kwiatkowski said. "I was more laid back this year. I was more interested in getting hits when they mattered, driving in runs."
She accomplished both with her .539 average and 36 RBIs. She also crossed the plate a team-high 34 times. She seemed to be in the middle of every Braves’ rally, either driving in the winning run or getting on base and scoring.
Her approach to hitting is rather simple.
"My goal is to hit the ball hard and through the middle," she explained. "I don’t chase pitches that are high or low. Being a catcher, I look at what kind of strike zone an umpire is calling, and I look for pitches in that zone.
"As a power hitter, I get a lot of pitches that are low and on the outside of the plate," she added. "I go up there looking for it. My plan is to hit the first good pitch."
There is so much more to Kwiatkowski than her gaudy batting statistics, according to Braves’ Coach John Natoli.
"Kristy brought a lot of special qualities," he remarked. "She loves the sport. She plays each week in tournaments. She has that softball savvy. She just loves playing the sport, and she is a leader by example. Kristy brought the program up, showing everyone what hard work will bring you."
And, of course, there were her considerable softball talents. Natoli called her a five-tool player, someone who can hit for average and power, can run well, has a strong arm, and plays defense. He also remarked that she could play any position where the team needed her. She pitched as well as played third base as a sophomore before going behind the plate her final two years.
"She made good contact every time up, ran the bases aggressively, and her defense speaks for itself — no one ran on her," Natoli said.
Kwiatkowski takes as much pride in her defense as she does her remarkable hitting.
"When runners get on, I hope they challenge me," she said. "I’ve always played catcher. My dad (Mark) started working with me, teaching me how to block pitches and proper footwork. I always had a pretty good arm.
"When runners get on base and I hear coaches tell them to stay there and not try and run on me, there is no bigger respect than that," she said.
Kwiatkowski was never lacking for respect.In addition to her offensive and defensive talents, she simply knows softball, and Natoli called on that this spring, resulting in pitcher Cherise Maltais becoming a 20-game winner (20-7) and one of the Shore’s most dominant hurlers.
"Kristy called the pitches," he said. "She knew what we wanted to do with each hitter and what pitch to throw in what situation. I wanted Cherise to concentrate on throwing the ball to Kristy’s glove."
Maltais, one of the heroes during Manalapan’s SCT title-run, credits Kwiatkowski for her success this year.
"Kristy was a big part of the team," the sophomore said. "She helped my pitching by calling the pitches and getting me to use all of my pitches. We worked well together. She was my security blanket."
Softball has been a security blanket for Kwiatkowski as well.
"I’m a very, very competitive person," she said. "Softball is an outlet for me. It allows me to use my competitiveness."
It’s never easy transferring from one school to another in the middle of your high school sophomore year, let alone moving from the West Coast to the East. Again, softball came to the rescue, making the transition easier.
"The first day of softball practice when we went out for practice, there was snow on the ground," Kwiatkowski recalled. "It was like a culture shock. Without softball I don’t know how I would have made it. I made 12 friends through softball."
The friendships and memories would change Manalapan softball.
"What I’ll remember are all the good times we had on the bus rides," Kwiatkowski said.
Those memories would include the 2001 season when, after a so-so 10-5 start, the team finished 11-2 over the second half of the season and won the SCT, 6-3, over Ocean Township in the final.
"When we beat Freehold Township, it was all uphill for us after that," she said. "We knew they were one of the best teams in the Shore, and we knew when we beat them that it proved we could play with the top teams.
"We had a young team with a lot of sophomores, and it took some time for everything to fall in place," she added. "Our offensive production was up this year. Erin Silk came through for us and Cherise helped me out by having a big season batting behind me. Teams couldn’t pitch around me as much."
Kwiatkowski’s power came to the forefront during the SCT tournament. Her fence-clearing blast in the top of the first with one on staked the Braves to a quick 2-0 lead over the then No. 1-ranked team, Middletown South, in the SCT semifinal. It was her second long ball of the year against the Eagles.
In the final, Kwiatkowski was in the middle of the four-run rally in the sixth inning that brought the Braves back from a 3-2 deficit. Kwiatkowski scored the third run of the inning on a two RBIs hit by Silk.
It’s that clutch play that Kwiatkowski will be taking to Yale University, New Haven, Conn., this fall.
But it’s her legacy as one of the Shore’s most complete players in recent history that she’ll be leaving behind.


