Kelsey Nunley

Classroom

Kelsey Nunley is working on two undergraduate degrees from the University of Kentucky, one in communications and the other in community and leadership development. She has been on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2013, 2014 and 2015 as well as having above a 3.0 GPA in all of her undergraduate semesters so far.

Character

Nunley is an incredibly wonderful person to be around on a day-to-day basis, and she is always wearing a smile. She is extremely organized and timely to all team functions on and off the field, whether it is games and practices or academic and social obligations. She is always chosen to represent the Wildcats in the media room after wins and losses, while handling herself with grace and dignity no matter the circumstance. She has taken on the role of captain for the second year in a row, and is continuing to lead Kentucky to places that the program has never seen before. At Kentucky, captains are not only voted on by the team but support staff as well.

Community

Nunley has dozens of community service hours in the Lexington area, as well as in her home of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. She has helped out with the United Way, God’s Pantry, the Lexington Miracle League, Breakfast with Santa at UK Children’s Hospital, Salvation Army and the Christian Student Fellowship. In all of her years at Kentucky, Nunley has assisted in community service with the Kentucky Backpack Program, through which student-athletes pack lunches for local kids at elementary schools who aren’t privileged enough to afford their own lunches. Nunley takes the time to pack those lunch sacks and then deliver them to the schools in the Lexington area. Additionally, she spent time helping clean Commonwealth Stadium and prepare it for UK’s opening football game after a multi-million-dollar renovation.

Competition

Nunley has achieved essentially everything she can in the circle for the Wildcats, including leading Kentucky to its first-ever Women’s College World Series in 2014, pitching every single pitch of the NCAA Tournament for UK. Nunley helped lead UK to the 2014 SEC Tournament Championship, in which the team made the championship game. Nunley then pitched in a four-game NCAA Regional in Lexington against Ohio, Marshall and Virginia Tech, as well as a three-game Super Regional win over No. 3 seeded UCLA on the road. She has been named the SEC Pitcher of the Week on three occasions, was on the 2014 Women’s College World Series All-Tournament Team in 2014, All-SEC Second Team in 2014 and 2015, and was named to the 2015 SEC Coaches’ Preseason All-SEC Team. Nunley is 84-41 in her career for the Wildcats with 104 career starts and a career ERA of just 1.97 in the SEC, which is widely considered the best hitting conference in the country. Nunley is Kentucky’s all-time wins’ leader with 84, passing Chanda Bell in 2015, and also is second on the UK strikeout record with 727 K’s in her career including 219 of them in 2014. Nunley won the 2015 UK Female Athlete of the Year, covering all Wildcat sports, which is given at the annual UK CATSPY Awards.