On Friday, Kiel is driving to Adelaide to umpire softball at the Pacific School Games, attempting the 12-plus hour drive in a day. 

However, that might not be the furthest softball takes the 18-year-old Canobolas Rural Technology High School graduate, who is considering three offers from US colleges to play. 

Kiel has received offers from New Jersey, Texas and Illinois, but the New Jersey offer is the one that seems to be tickling her fancy, as it has medical courses and a country campus. 

“I’ll probably focus more on playing than umpiring next year,” she said. 

Kiel started umpiring when she was 14 and never stopped, gaining level two qualifications, which would allow her to umpire up to under-17 state competitions. 

She’s had a busy year umpiring and playing, as well as completing her HSC. 

“Balancing between school and sport was quite difficult, I had to sacrifice my social life a bit,” she said.

“At the start of the year I was quite dedicated to [softball]… in the beginning of the year I was away from school a lot so had quite a bit of catching up to do and that was a bit difficult.” 

“I’m quite happy with it – obviously we don’t have results back yet – but I feel I did pretty well on my HSC and now it’s time to focus on myself and sport.”

She hasn’t umpired much this season, working a lot in order to save for when – or if – she moves to the States. 

Kiel never had a chance to escape the sport’s clutches – her grandfather started the baseball competition in Lithgow, and he mum got Kiel and her sister into the sport when she was young. 

“It’s a really competitive sport but it can also be a social game, messing around with your friends and it’s a real team atmosphere so it’s very inclusive and I quite like that.”

She said she found it difficult to break into state sides as a “country kid”, which is one of the reasons she began focusing more on umpiring. 

It’s paying off, as this is the second year she’s been to the Pacific School Games as an umpire. 

“It’s the 10^th anniversary for that which is quite exciting, they’re doing some cool stuff,” she said.

“It’s so friendly, we’re all there and we’re all friends and it’s really awesome.”

She said umpiring can be a tough gig.  

“People don’t really like umpires, we have a lot of negative stigma towards us and you have to be really careful the way you present yourself and you have to have pretty thick skin,” she said.

“The crowd might not like some of your calls.

“It’s a bit hard sometimes, sometimes what they do say gets to you but you’ve got to let it go over your head and go with the flow.”

Kiel said she owed a lot to her parents, who are on the 12-hour drive to Adelaide. 

“Definitely my parents forking out money left right and centre… because I’m one of four we’ve got a lot of stuff going on, and they’re really committed to us.”

Kiel was also one of very few recipients of  NSW Blue award from Combined High Schools, the highest honour a secondary student-athlete can achieve.

She also thanked the Canobolas High Performance Athlete Program “for all the work they’ve done” for herself and fellow student Mac Reith-Snare, who will play softball for NSW All Schools in the tournament. 

His sister Eva, at Orange High School, will also be in Adelaide representing NSW in hockey.