Kelsey Hall steps up to the plate for Arizona State, defying the odds after multiple ACL injuries and personal loss to lead the Sun Devils softball team. (Photo courtesy of Kelsey Hall)
TEMPE – Two ACL tears, a meniscus tear, four surgeries and the loss of a close loved one. Arizona State University softball outfielder Kelsey Hall has battled through all the obstacles life has thrown at her as she enters her sixth year.
“She is a warrior,” Sun Devils softball coach Megan Bartlett said. “She has a warrior spirit, she is resilient, she is mature. She has perspective beyond her years because at this point she’s had to deal with some stuff that many of her peers just haven’t had to deal with. Kelsey is our warrior and leader.”
Hall began her collegiate career at Fresno State in 2020, where she started 23 of 25 games and earned a .857 fielding percentage as a freshman. The following season, just three games into her sophomore campaign, she tore her left ACL and meniscus.
After the injury, Hall transferred to Boise State in 2022 to begin her junior year.
“Around season time I wasn’t at full strength,” Hall said. “It was probably about a 30 percent deficit while I was still playing.”
Despite the deficit, Hall put up a .392 batting average and a .947 fielding percentage that year, which earned her Extra Inning Softball National Comeback Player of the Year, First-Team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Pacific Region and Second Team All-Mountain West.
Despite suffering two ACL tears and four surgeries, Kelsey Hall has emerged as ASU softball’s top offensive force this season. (Photo courtesy of Kelsey Hall)
Following that season, she had another surgery to clean up her meniscus and remove a cyclops lesion that formed from the original ACL repair. Hall then returned to the diamond for her senior year, where she had another phenomenal season.
She batted .385 and had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, earning Mountain West Player of the Year, All-MW First Team and for the second year in a row, NFCA All-Pacific Region First Team.
Hall graduated from Boise State in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Following graduation, she decided to transfer to ASU for her fifth year of eligibility. But before the season started, she suffered the unimaginable loss of her father Mike, whom she calls her best friend.
“He was my everything,” Hall said. “We went everywhere together. [He was] a typical softball dad, without the craziness. He was also my biggest influence. One of my biggest reasons I came to Arizona State was because my dad had said he wanted to watch me play on the West Coast.”
Hall fulfilled her dad’s wish and posted a .345 batting average and a .961 fielding percentage before ASU’s final game of the season, where she tore her ACL, this time on her right knee.
After suffering the injury, Hall recalls contemplating returning to softball for her sixth year of eligibility.
“Is this a sign from someone that I need to hang them up?” Hall said. “But I looked at it like, ‘So much has happened in my life and I just really need to enjoy it because I’m not going to get a seventh year of eligibility. This is it.’”
What she didn’t realize though, is that deciding to return for another year would bring up new emotions about her dad.
“I could get teary-eyed thinking about it,” Hall said. “I remember I just sat in the dugout for the first time and sobbed. It was really hard, but I came back and I’m still a leader. I recognized that’s one of the reasons I was brought to Arizona State by Coach B [Bartlett].”
Kelsey Hall, right, shares a heartfelt moment with her dad, Mike, after a game – one of countless memories they cherished together before he died. (Photo courtesy of Kelsey Hall)
Bartlett is entering her third season as the Sun Devils’ head coach, and Hall has been a part of two of them.
“Kels has been integral in building this program back,” Bartlett said. “This is her third program. Not only does she have a large knowledge base, but she is charismatic, articulate and people gravitate to her.”
In her time as a Sun Devil, Hall inspires her teammates to be better players and people.
“She has taught me a lot about strength,” best friend and teammate Tanya Windle said. “She’s definitely the biggest leader on this team. She holds people accountable for the little things, whether it’s not wearing the right shirt or forgetting your helmet in the dugout. I’ve never really looked up to anyone until I met Kelsey Hall.”
With everything Hall has been through on and off the field, she can support her teammates from a different perspective.
Now, Hall, who will graduate with a master’s degree in communications this spring, is cleared to hit and has started in all 30 games this season, just nine months after her last ACL injury.
She continues to be a leading force for ASU as she is first in OPS (1.152), RBIs (35), slugging percentage (.699) and second in batting average (.387). The 22-8 Sun Devils host the 26-4 University of Arizona for a three-game series Thursday through Sunday.
“She’s like a sponge,” ASU assistant coach Hailey Decker said. “Anybody who has emotion, she’s going to put her arm around them, empathize with them and help them get to that next place. She is a funny, warm-hearted feeler.”