Always Look For The Positive In The Negative

Photo courtesy of the Huntsville Item

by Cheval John

“She is as good as anybody in the state of Texas. She is everything that everybody wants and we are lucky to have her.”

Those were the comments of Sam Houston State Bearkat head softball coach Bob Brock after the Bearkats (3-13) run ruled Prarie View A&M Tigers by the score of 11-0 in the first game of the double header to get their first win of the season.

The person that he was referring to was first baseman Kim Damian.

In the last 16 games, Damian has batted .358 with a career high 4 home runs and 11 RBI.

“I basically came up with a different approach and try to get ahead in the count,” Damian said. “With coach Brock switching me to bat first, I get a better selection on pitching compared to when I was batting third.”

The junior from Angleton, led the charge in that first game against the Tigers, going 3 for 3 with a double, a two-run triple and a grand slam that capped a 6-RBI game.

“Kim is having a great year,” Brock said. “I made a change in putting her at lead-off and she has really took off.

Damian started playing softball since she was five years old.

In addition to softball, she played volleyball and basketball while she was in middle school.

“Playing volleyball and basketball kept me in shape,” Damian said. “Especially with basketball, there’s a lot of running and it helped when it came to softball.”

Though those sports helped, softball was her main sport because she was really good at it and she pursued it full time when she entered Angleton High School.

During that time, Angleton won the district championship in 2006. She improved tremendously as she was a Brazoria County and District MVP after leading them to a Texas 4A state runner-up finish and another district championship in 2009. She was named to the first team All-State and All-District that same year.

She also played for club teams, the Texas Connection and Texas Sting.

She received many offers from different universities, but it was a no-brainer as she choose to play at Sam Houston State.

“I always thought of coming to Sam Houston State, mainly because it was closer to home,” Damian said.

In her first year, she had a batting average of .195 with two home runs and 6 RBIs and had a total of 17 hits.

She improved in her sophomore year with a .347 batting average, with 3 home runs and 24 RBIs. She totaled 43 hits during that season.

Defensively, she was error-free at first base with 331 putouts and eight assists in 339 chances.

Though she has been successful during her softball career, she always know that her biggest fans will always be her parents.

“I owe a lot to them because they were always there for me,” Damian said. “They always backing me up no matter what happens in a game, whether I do good or bad. I am thankful for them being there for me.”

The Bearkats will play one game against Liberty University and a double-header against University at Buffalo at Bearkat Softball Complex on Wednesday. Start time is at 2 p.m.

About Cheval John

Cheval John is the Founder and CEO of Vallano Media, LLC, a marketing agency which helps small to mid-sized businesses use social media correctly to build a loyal following and in the process become more profitable. Cheval is also the host of "What's The Word?" a podcast about finding out what inspires people to choose their respective careers and how social media impacted their lives and business. He is the author of two books including the Amazon Best-Seller, "8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn." He has spoken at Social Media Week Lima in Ohio and at Social Media Day Houston 2017 about topics around live streaming and podcasting. Cheval has been featured in media outlets including Ebony Magazine, Social Media Today and Forbes. He was named a Houston Top 25 Social Media Power Influencer (2016 and 2017) and a Twitter Top 50 Influencer by Onalytica in 2018.

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