Kelly Batis was born to play baseball. His father did it. His uncles did it. And his grandfather did it. “I came from a big baseball family,” he said. “Pretty much, my whole family played baseball.” His baseball career started
Kelly Batis was born to play baseball. His father did it. His uncles did it. And his grandfather did it.
“I came from a big baseball family,” he said. “Pretty much, my whole family played baseball.”
His baseball career started at a young age — T-ball at 5 years old — and he has played every year of his life since then.
“My Bronco year was my best,” he said, recalling his year playing for the Kekaha Indians for the Bronco division in Little League. “That year I hit 12 home runs.”
The 17-year-old Waimea High School senior would watch and play as much baseball as he could in order to improve. He’d sit with his grandfather to watch the major leaguers play and study their every move.
“I wanted to learn from the pros,” he said. “I’d watch how they do their hitting. I’d watch their fielding and I’d watch the pitchers. I would try to pick up whatever I could from them.”
For Batis, it’s the intensity and the excitement of the game that keeps him drawn to it.
“You never know what’s going to happen in a game. Anything can happen,” he said.
“Anything” can be striking out the most players in the league, coming up with a save or hitting the game-winning run. Batis hopes for things like that to happen for him and his team this year.
“I want to win the KIF,” he said. “I’m working on my pitching, I hope to hit a high batting average and lead the team in RBIs. Those are pretty much my goals for this year.”
Waimea won the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation title during Batis’ sophomore year. That year, Batis pitched every game against baseball rival school Kaua‘i High School.
“That was pretty stressful,” he said of all the games he pitched against the Red Raiders.
He said that when it comes to baseball, it’s always a battle against the Raiders. Both teams have great baseball talent, which has been built up over the years with all the experience each teams’ players have.
That year, Waimea prevailed and Batis was named a KIF all-star pitcher.
Last year, however, the Menehune were unable to repeat that magic. In the final game of the season, Kaua‘i and Waimea played a double header in which the first game would determine the winner of the KIF.
Kaua‘i went on to win game one 10-0 in six innings with Jordan Buster getting the win to give the Raiders the title and state championship berth. But they still had one more game to go before officially ending the season.
Batis came in relief in the second game, pitching three innings and giving up three runs. Batis was awarded the win when the Menehune defeated the Raiders 10-9.
This season, Waimea so far has had a rough start. Having hosted the Waimea Invitational tournament last weekend, Waimea’s closest game came on the last day when it faced Campbell High School of O‘ahu. Waimea lost 12-10.
“We did pretty good,” Batis said. “If we cut down the errors we could’ve done better. Our defense was pretty good.”
Batis does have a life outside of baseball. He likes to spend time with his family and friends either at the beach or going camping.
He even tries to get a few golf swings in.
“I play golf when I have the time. But I’m not on the team, I play for fun,” he said.
To add to his athletic resume, Batis is the current KIF record holder for the longest field goal in a football game.
In October, in a game against Kaua‘i, both teams were tied at 7-7 with eight seconds left to the half. Batis broke the KIF record with a 52-yard field goal and gave the Menehune the lead.
But baseball remains his favorite and top sport. He wants to play baseball in college and wants to study justice administration.
“I want to be a policeman when I grow up,” he said.
Waimea will hosts its first game of the regular season against Kaua‘i at 2:45 on March 12.
Kelly Batis
Age: 17
Family: Parents Wayne and Karen; sister Katie and nieces Paige and Maya
Hometown: Kekaha — “I’ve lived here all my life. It’s a nice little town.”
Sports: Baseball, football, golf
Baseball position: Right-handed pitcher, first base
Favorite baseball team: Atlanta Braves
Favorite player: Chipper Jones
Achievements: KIF all-star pitcher (2006); KIF record-holder 52-yard field goal (football 2007)
• Lanaly Cabalo, sports editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com
