Senior outfielder Kynzie Oliver is lithe and lightning fast on the bases for Oak Forest.
She’s also pretty quick getting to the dining table for her pregame regime.
“It really depends on the day,” Oliver said. “But usually it’ll be Greek yogurt, and then I put in protein powder and fruit.”
She also brought some in-game snacks with her out to center field Monday afternoon.
“I was eating Special K,” Oliver said, laughing. “We always have a candy bucket in the dugout, but this year, we also started bringing cereal.”
Oliver used that as fuel, crossing the plate three times for the host Bengals in a 16-0 nonconference win in four innings over Chicago Washington.
Kamryn Castillo added two hits, including a two-run triple, for Oak Forest (1-1). Addison McClure and Lily Short also had two hits. Junior right-hander Hailee Morin struck out 12.
Through her four years at Oak Forest, Oliver has shown an insatiable appetite for athletics.
She has played four varsity seasons in both basketball and softball. She’s a two-time varsity player in volleyball. She will not play in college to concentrate on nursing at Western Kentucky.
But it’s more than nursing that’s bringing her there.
“I’m really good friends with Olivia and Zoe Trunk at Sandburg,” Oliver said. “Their older sister Charlotte went to Western Kentucky (for nursing), so I’m following in her path, seeing how much fun and how well she did there.”
Saying goodbye to sports?
“I’m sad but I’m not,” Oliver said. “It will be nice to work and have a normal life. But I’m sure it will be hard dealing with my free time.
“I go to the gym on my free time already, but I’ve always been like go, go, go. I’ve never had a break.”
Oliver made her first major impact at Oak Forest in softball. During a breakout sophomore season, she hit .413 with six doubles, two triples and two home runs. She also stole 15 bases and scored 32 runs as the Bengals reached the Sweet 16 in Class 3A.
Oak Forest coach Nick Fuentes has coached her for four seasons not only in softball but four as an assistant coach in girls basketball.
“Kynzie is a great person,” Fuentes said. “And she’s gifted, man. She has one of the best arms, and she can track a ball better than anybody I’ve seen in the outfield. She can swing and she can run. She has all the skills.”
Her junior season brought some ups and down, but she’s ready to close out strong and enters the spring with a head of steam after earning all-conference honors in basketball.
It was her first all-conference selection in any sport.
“That felt really good,” Oliver said. “I wouldn’t say I’m a background player, but I’m the player who just shows up and does the work and does it more for the team than to stand out for myself.”
It shows in the respect she gets from her teammates, according to senior third baseman Morgan Reczkiewicz.
“She’s the best teammate you could ever have,” Reczkiewicz said. “Like during basketball, in the games I’ve gone to, she’s not a ball hog. She passes the ball but also knows how to shoot.
“On the softball field, she’s always talking. I always hear her from the outfield. This season, she came up with a fun ‘one-out, two-out’ thing I’m really enjoying. She’s just a good person to be around.”
Oliver’s brother Connor, a 2019 Oak Forest graduate, plays baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ High-A affiliate in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“It’s hard to live up to the standard, I’ll say that,” Kynzie said. “But it does push me at the same time. And it’s nice that all the baseball kids will come to me, asking about my brother.
“Some of them even ask for his number and reach out and text him.”
She believes her big brother’s advice will carry her beyond high school.
“He just says, ‘Work ethic is everything,'” she said.
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
