Megan Kelnar: Battling Through

Megan Kelnar grew up and went to high school just 20 minutes up I-35 from Texas State. The Kyle native always wanted to stay close to home when going to college, but the path wasn’t as straightforward as anticipated.

Her freshman year of high school, Kelnar played in the outfield for Hays High School. She was one of a couple freshmen named to the varsity team that year and she quickly became an impact player for her school.

She was not only a softball standout, though. Kelnar played volleyball and was a weightlifter in high school. She had a sport for every season and liked to keep herself busy, always looking to compete.

In March of 2020, things changed in a blink for the then-outfielder. In one of her softball games, Kelnar’s cleat caught in an outfield fence, and she twisted just wrong, breaking her leg. March of 2020 was a trying time for most people due to the looming COVID-19 pandemic but with the addition of her leg injury, things became even more difficult.

“I did everything I could do in high school,” she said. “That was probably the hardest part, going from doing everything to just, nothing.”

Her injury happened almost in the nick of time, though. Just one-week later hospitals shut down non-life-threatening surgeries due to COVID-19.

“I was one of the last surgeries before hospitals started only doing life-threatening surgeries,” Kelnar said. “Had it happened much later I would’ve just had to let it heal on its own and get it rebroken and reset when things reopened.”

After her surgery, the rehab process was long and tiresome. Though she was grateful to have been able to get the surgery, she struggled with not being able to see friends or do much of anything during the lockdown. Even her physical therapy was largely done over Zoom from her backyard. 

“I remember things like doing calf raises while my mom would hold a laptop for my doctors to see,” she said. “They’d be sitting in their office trying to get measurements through the screen and I’d just be standing in my yard.”

While rehabbing her injury, she started working her way back to playing again and eventually, started trying to get recruited. 

But getting recruited had another challenge thrown in too, since an NCAA rule change had made it so coaches weren’t allowed to recruit athletes until their junior years. Kelnar, a sophomore at the time, had to wait a bit longer to start reaching out to coaches.

When looking at college, Kelnar knew she wanted to go to Texas State from the get-go.

“It was important to me to stay local,” Kelnar said. “Both my parents went to Texas State, and we always go to my grandparents and my nana and papa’s, so being able to still do those kind of things is huge. My family means a lot to me.”

Not only did Kelnar’s parents attend Texas State, but she had been watching Texas State softball and going to their camps her whole life.

“I have pictures of me from when I was like 6-8 years old,” Kelnar said. “I’ve been going to the camps like every single summer. I’ve always wanted to go here. I looked up to the girls on this team and coach Woodard when I was growing up."

When she got to her junior year and could be recruited, one of Kelnar’s coaches who was a friend of head coach Ricci Woodard got her to come out to some of Kelnar’s games. Eventually, Woodard asked her to come on an official visit.

“She’s a kid who I knew would have a lot of grit,” Woodard said. “I knew she’s already gone through the adversity with her leg injury and if she could do that, she can grow into a really good college player.”

It was a perfect fit for Kelnar. She already knew she liked the school and was excited to be part of the program.

When she got to Texas State, she quickly bonded with one of the other catchers who had been on the team, Makayla Hall.

“I couldn’t have done it without Makayla,” she said. “She took me under her wing immediately and showed me the way we do things. We were throwing partners, anything we did we did together. She gave me a lot of confidence.”

Kelnar had to adjust to the college game and expectations, but eventually she was able to soak it in and be just as excited as she was nervous. 

“Being able to be on the field and just have that ‘I made it’ moment was exciting,” Kelnar said. “It was scary at the beginning, but it’s like that exciting nervousness.”

One thing that did change when she got to Texas State, though, was becoming a catcher.

Kelnar had played in the outfield for most of her high school career, though she had caught before, it wasn’t where she spent a lot of her time.

“When I was younger my coach would just put me in outfield if who we were playing could hit or catching if not” Kelnar said. “I love catching way more, though. You get to touch the ball on every pitch and really stay locked in the game.”

As Kelnar adjusted to being both a Bobcat and a near full-time catcher, she developed a relationship with her pitcher, Jessica Mullins.

“Me and Jess clicked pretty much immediately,” Kelnar said.

For Mullins, a junior with the program, she was happy to have a new catcher come in but saw quickly that Kelnar was a bit on the quiet side. 

“I told her l was like, ‘girl you can’t be that quiet,’” Mullins said. “We get hype after every pitch here. After I told her that she got out of her shell a little bit more. It was amazing to see her blossom into the player and person that she is now.”

Mullins has also recognized that Kelnar has an ability to help her calm down while she’s pitching, too.

“Meg knows whenever I start getting too anxious or too giddy,” Mullins said. “She’s going to call time and she’s going to calm me down. She always knows the right thing to say to me. She knows what I need, and that’s the best thing for a pitcher and catcher duo.”

Woodard has seen the pair bond improve overtime and it only is making Kelnar better.

“Any time you have a duo that know each other like that is makes a difference,” Woodard said. “When you have a pitcher and catcher that have a similar ideology about things, they’re going to play better.”

As the Bobcats prepare for the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Championship, Kelnar looks back on her freshman year with a lot of appreciation for the growth she’s had. After coming back from a devastating leg injury to now playing on a team she grew up watching, her first year was something to be proud of.

“If she keeps working and keeps the same mentality I’ve seen from her so far,” Mullins said. “She’s going to have a great career here.”