Kelly Barnhill

Kelly Barnhill is a former NCAA All-American and current professional softball pitcher. She represented the Florida Gators in college softball from 2016 to 2019. In 2017, she won the espnW Player of the Year, Honda Sports Award, and USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year awards. She leads the Gators in career no-hitters (7), strikeouts, strikeout ratio (10.5), and WHIP. She also has the highest career strikeout ratio in the NCAA Division I and the Southeastern Conference.

The Chicago Bandits selected Barnhill with the first pick in the 2019 NPF Draft. She took part in the first season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball league in 2020. As a softball player, Barnhill has also represented Team USA and Team Mexico. At the 2016 World Cup of Softball, Barnhill played for the USA Women’s National Softball Team and won a silver medal.

Barnhill won the gold medal in the 2016 WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship after pitching four innings with four strikeouts and two hits allowed. She was chosen first overall by the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch league on April 16, 2019. Amanda Lorenz, a teammate of hers at Florida, was chosen by the USSSA Pride immediately after her. The Pride swept the Bandits in the best-of-five championship series despite the Bandits having the better regular season record in the 2019 NPF season. On February 10, 2020, Barnhill agreed to a one-year deal with the Bandits.