PERSEVERANCE PAYS Freshman Kayce Nieto proves her value in every game, despite a hip injury

Playing through pain is often a way to measure a player’s dedication. It shows an athlete’s toughness, what the athlete is willing to go through for teammates and the importance of persevering through difficulty.
Freshman pitcher Kayce Nieto embodies all these qualities. In only her first year playing in the toughest softball conference in the country, she is becoming a major factor for the Utes and doing so with a hip injury.
Nieto wasn’t able to pitch in Utah’s doubleheader Wednesday against Weber State, but her effect has been felt throughout the season. Conference victories have been sparse this season, and Nieto has pitched in all three of the Utes’ wins.
“She’s improved every day,” said head coach Amy Hogue. “She’s hurt and fighting through some pain and has some surgery scheduled soon as the season is over, but I feel she has given us everything she has and then some. [She] has gotten all of our three ranked wins, all of our three Pac-12 wins.”
The last two wins came against UCLA on Saturday and Sunday, and it was the first time all year Nieto pitched in back-to-back games. After the series came to an end, she said she was in a lot of pain but was happy to know her coaches and team supported her.
“I don’t know when I’m going to go down — it is kind of a day-to-day thing,” Nieto said. “Some days it feels awesome, like Saturday, and there are days like Sunday where it kills and sucks to play on. It is nice to know [my teammates] are behind me on [my injury].”

Nieto’s injury occurred last fall. At the time, she didn’t know she was injured, so she trained as she usually would. She lifted, ran and practiced at full speed. It wasn’t until winter she realized she would have to take things easy. During the winter, she began working on the movement or spin of her pitches since she expected to lose a lot of power because of the injury.
“You can never have enough spin on the ball,” Nieto said. “No matter who you are or how great your spin is, you can never have enough. That is going to be the key to my success, and that is just the kind of pitcher I am.”
The decision served her well. Both Hogue and pitching coach Cody Thomson said she has more movement on her pitches than the rest of the pitching staff. The result is a hobbled player holding the team’s best ERA.
Second baseman Jackie Sweet has seen a fair share of Nieto’s pitches, and she said the post-injury pitcher is even more effective.
“You could have someone that throws hard, and you just get the bat head out there, and you’ll hit it, but with movement, you really have to be selective with your pitches and know the strike zone,” Sweet said. “It is harder to hit for sure.”
While Nieto has the support of all of the coaches and players now, that wasn’t always the case. Hogue wasn’t so sure about how productive Nieto was going to be coming into the program.
“Kayce has been somebody that Coach Thomson … has been sold on since they day he saw her,” Hogue said. “He knows his stuff, so I trusted that she would get better every day, because the day I saw her, I thought, ‘We have a long way to go with this kid.’ ”
Despite the skepticism, Nieto has come through for the Utes. She continues to progress throughout the season. In her first six games, she was 2-4, but in her last four she is 3-1.
Thomson’s confidence in the young pitcher seems to have paid off. When he first saw her play, he didn’t expect anything less. Nieto was in Texas playing at the high school national championships. Thomson said even then she had great movement skills. He remembered a batter she faced that missed a pitch of hers by feet. He said then and there he was sold.
“In the Pac-12, you are not going to throw the ball by anyone even at 70 miles per hour,” Thomson said. “You throw it down the middle, and if it doesn’t move, it is going to get hit hard. So it is the key, it’s the only key.”
Nieto, according to Thomson, has improved leaps and bounds since she first came to Utah. The Utes’ defense and pitching is predicated on getting quick outs via ground balls and fly outs. This becomes a problem when the pitcher is a rise ball pitcher, as Nieto was. Thomson said she has made a complete turnaround, and now she is very adept at throwing drop balls and changeups.
Nieto also remembers the first day she knew she was going to be a Ute.
“I honestly thought it was too good to be true,” she said. “I remember the game. I remember the day crystal clear. After my coach told me that [Thomson] was interested, I was on cloud nine.”
Fast-forward to the present, and so is Hogue. The team has found new life of late, and part of the team’s success can be given to Nieto.
Hogue said she is glad Thomson pulled the trigger on Nieto.
“She is exactly what he imagined, and what I didn’t see,” Hogue said.