Athlete of the Week | Kyndall Hahn's kindness, work ethic stand out for Garfield

Spring after spring, Kyndall Hahn has raced from the diamond to the track.

After racing from indoor track to travel softball all winter.

In her wake, the speedy Garfield senior has left her coaches amazed.

"Probably one of the hardest workers that I've seen in track and in any sport," G-Men track and field coach Matt Pfleger said. "When she's in softball, she's constantly lifting and I'm sending her the workouts that we're doing for track. She's asking me this and that. She's a student of any sport she does."

Hahn acknowledged the grind has been tough at times.

Especially the travel softball trips to Indiana and Columbus throughout the summer and the 7 a.m. Sunday practices in Elyria during the school year.

“It was really tough, but honestly just I want to be good," Hahn said. “I don't like when I don't perform well and obviously I know I can't be perfect, but I know that the only way that I'm going to perform well is if I work hard.”

As G-Men softball coach Tina Faulhaber pointed out, Hahn's drive could have faded. After all, Hahn was already a .360 hitter as a sophomore.

But the Record-Courier Athlete of the Week never rested on her laurels.

“She doesn't slack off where a lot of people, they're like, 'I'm pretty good, I don't need to really work that hard,'” Faulhaber said. “Not her. Every day she's getting better at something.”

Finding that extra drive

A softball player since age 5, Hahn recalls always loving the sport.

COVID-19 only fueled her drive.

After all, it was COVID-19 that robbed Hahn of her varsity debut.

After competing in JV volleyball during the fall of her freshman year, Hahn was set to play a significant role for the softball team in the spring.

"I remember being really impressed with her speed and her bat control right away," Faulhaber recalled. "Right away, I was like, 'Oh, OK, here's someone.'"

Then, COVID-19 delayed her varsity debut until her sophomore year.

“I feel like that's when I really started to get a different kind of drive and motivation that I didn't have before,” Hahn said. “I still showed up to practice [before] and I still worked hard but nothing like I do now.”

Angel in the outfield

There's a fire that drives Kyndall Hahn.

There's also a kindness that was on full display this season.

Take a collision in the outfield with a freshman teammate that left the ball and Hahn stuck in the mud on a chilly afternoon.

Faulhaber recalled being nervous that the freshman would be in tears after getting in the senior centerfielder's way. Instead, when they got to the dugout, Hahn simply told her coach, "We talked about it. We're all good."

The next day, there they were, senior and freshman, asking Faulhaber to hit them fly balls so they could work on their communication.

Told about that story, Hahn's track and field coaches weren't surprised.

"She's one of the best kids," G-Men sprints coach Kelliann Collins said. "She's so positive. She's always helpful to everyone else. Just a joy to be around. She's one of those kids that every team needs. Every team needs a Kyndall."

Hahn said it was just a matter of empathy.

“I've been in that position and, like, for me in that position, I just wanted to learn and get better,” Hahn said. “I didn't want to mess things up for anybody and I knew she tries so hard. That freshman gave it her all every single time, kept a great attitude, so I just really liked working with her."

Indeed, Hahn recalled her own transition to the outfield early in high school, a change she made both for the G-Men and her travel ball team.

It didn't come easy.

It came through drop steps, ladder drills and YouTube videos.

“People underestimate outfield,” Hahn said. “It's extremely difficult. It's definitely not an easy thing to learn, especially if you've never played there before.”

Playing chess at the plate

A .360 hitter as a sophomore, Hahn surged to a team-leading .475 as a junior and another team-leading .538 as a senior. Perhaps most impressive, Hahn went from 28 strikeouts as a sophomore to just three this past season.

“I hate striking out," Hahn said. "I hate popping out because it's not even making the defense work. They literally don't. Anybody can catch a pop fly and the defense doesn't even have to do anything when I strike out."

Behind those numbers came endless work, starting with the right-hander's move to the left side of the plate years ago to better take advantage of her speed. Her newfound career as a lefty began with bunts. Endless bunts.

“The assistant [travel ball] coach would throw me at least a full bucket of bunts just before every single game,” Hahn said. “Even if it was five games in a day, every single time we would warm up it was a bucket of bunts."

As time went on, Hahn mixed far more slapping in with her bunts, including her work with former McDonald standout Megan Ward.

"She is awesome," Hahn said. "She just changed my whole perspective on slapping this year."

What Hahn ultimately developed was an ability to play chess, not checkers, at the plate. An ability to scour the defense, see where everyone was playing, and switch between bunts and slaps with ease.

The defense played back? Drop a bunt down.

The defense came in? Slap it by the approaching third baseman.

Hahn, in her own way, proved as dangerous at the plate as any slugger.

“Obviously, I would love to be a home run hitter, but that's my thing,” Hahn said. “Like, God gave me speed. That's what he gave me to work with. So I'm going to work with it and I'm going to play that game."

By the end of her career, as Hahn prepares to play softball at the next level for Mount Union, she had left a clear legacy in Garrettsville.

“She's just that player,” Faulhaber said. “The one you want to bat, the one you want on base, the one you want the ball hit to, but she's also that young lady who you want in the dugout being a captain, representing your team.”

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Athlete of the Week | Garfield senior Kyndall Hahn puts in the work