Robbinsville High senior Katie Fowler endured a case of heartburn — literally.
The Ravens second baseman didn’t have the usual symptoms of uncomfortable indigestion. She had a heart that would pound much too fast at times; and there was only one way to fix it. Light it up!
“They go in through my legs and burn a piece of my heart that’s not functioning properly,” Fowler explained “They say it’s something I was born with, but it didn’t flare up until I was in middle school. I started having issues throughout high school and finally got it fixed, hopefully.”
Just what was the problem? “Every so often my heart would start racing over 200 beats per minute, and I couldn’t really breathe,” Fowler said. “It made it difficult during games when it happened but the whole team has been so supportive through the whole thing.”
Fowler returned that support in a big way. On May 1 she underwent the procedure, which she felt “wasn’t anything super major” despite the fact it was being done on the body’s most vital organ.
Nine days later, Fowler was back in uniform and she had a hit and run scored in Robbinsville’s win over West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North. She was just warming up, however, as on May 13 she belted a two-out, two run double in the fifth inning to snap a 1-1 tie and power the Ravens past Steinert in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals.
Coach Christine Levering could do nothing but marvel at the effort right after the game. “She’d been out a week-and-a-half recovering, and she must have been playing softball laying down in her sleep because she figured out a way to come back stronger than ever,” said Levering, whose team lost a thrilling MCT final, 2-1. “She couldn’t walk for a couple days after her surgery and she comes back and does this. I couldn’t be more proud of her. She’s awesome.”
As the team’s lone senior, Fowler has had to be awesome in more ways than one. She not only must perform, but be a leader.
Not a problem.
“She’s our only real captain right now so I just told her at the beginning of the year ‘You are our senior, you are our leader right now and you gotta lead by example,’” Levering said. “She thrives on that. She’s such a great leader. The girls all respect her, they look up to her.”
It is a role that Fowler embraces.
“I feel like I’ve always been somewhat of a leader my whole life,” she said. “I like being able to help out the younger girls and talk to them. It’s something I’ve been excited to do since my freshman year, knowing I’d be the only senior. I’ve been trying to do the best that I can for everybody. I don’t like yelling. I try to lead by being friends with everybody. It works most of the time.”
Her bat works fairly frequently as well. Entering the state tournament Fowler had hit safely in 15 of 20 games, for a .418 average. She had seven doubles, a triple and was tied with Caroline Walls with a team-high 19 RBIs. It is a far cry from her junior year, when Fowler hit just .225 with seven RBIs. And that was quite a comedown from the previous season when she hit .484 for the Ravens Group II state championship team.
“I was really in my head last year, it wasn’t a great atmosphere,” said Fowler. “We were all kind of stressed out living up to the whole Robbinsville mystique. I think this year we’ve had great energy and I’ve been able to feel more comfortable on the field and with my teammates. We’re all playing for each other rather than for ourselves, which was a big issue last year.
“It was such a big team last year, we had over 20 people on the team. Only so many people could be on the field and it was competitive but sometimes it was not super healthy competition. This year even the girls who aren’t on the field are so supportive. They want us to succeed. It’s been a big part of our team atmosphere.”
Fowler began playing at age nine, first on the baseball diamond with her brother before playing travel softball with the Robbinsville Outlaws. Most of the players on that team are now her Ravens teammates.
From there Fowler went to the Bordentown Bombers and “had a great experience with them.” She now plays for the East Coast Inferno and Sam Norarianni, who “has taught me so much. I credit a lot of what I’ve been doing to him and that whole team. I love playing there.”
Although she has become a stellar defensive second baseman for the Ravens and a solid first baseman for the Inferno, Fowler was too much of a hazard to start out as an infielder.
“When I started I played outfield because it was the safest place to put me,” she said with a laugh. “I had no experience playing softball and being in the infield would have been really rough. Now I can play anywhere because I’m not a hazard to myself in the infield.”
In fact, “she’s an awesome second baseman,” according to Levering.
Fowler arrived in high school just in time to miss her freshman season due to COVID. She made the most of her 30 at-bats as a sophomore and showed a penchant for thriving under pressure. Although she did not play in every state game, she produced in those she played in. Fowler had a hit and RBI in both the quarterfinals and state final, and delivered two hits in a Tournament of Champions loss to Clayton.
After her struggles last year, Fowler has returned with a vengeance.
Every game when she’s in those big situations with two outs and people on base , I say “Do the job,” and she does the job and sends us to winning games,” Levering said. “She’s had the most clutch hits for us this season.
“She was never hitting top five for us but this year she’s gotta be in our top four. (The Steinert game) showed why we need to get people on for her – she gets important hits.”
Fowler said there is no secret in her ability to come up big. Asked if she has a different approach when she bats with runners on, a little smile emerged.
“I know the answer should probably be yes but when I get up to bat I’m not really thinking much,” she said. “I’m thinking I want to hit the ball. That’s my mindset every single at-bat, whether there’s runners on, whether there’s no outs, two outs, I just want to get in and get a hit because I like hitting.”
And while she is confident at the plate, her first appearance upon her return from heart surgery provided some uneasiness.
“I was a little nervous my first at-bat back,” Fowler said. “My heart was racing, but in a normal way, and my hands were shaking. I told everyone ‘I feel like it’s the first game I ever played.’ I wanted to help the team and make sure my presence there was helping, not hurting.”
After getting her big hit against Steinert, Fowler felt she was truly back, saying “It’s good to get back to what I’ve been doing all season and being able to help out my teammates.”
Fowler is not only a leader and a quality performer, she also displays class on the field as she was named Robbinsville’s nominee for the Colonial Valley Conference’s Sportsmanship award. Each school nominates one coach and one athlete.
“I’m really honored to have been given that award because sportsmanship means a lot to me; I think it’s a part of the game that’s sometimes overlooked,” Fowler said. “I’m honored that our athletic director (Matt Dalessio) thought of me when having to nominate someone.”
To top it off, Fowler is a superb student. She is the vice-president of the RHS National Honor Society with a 4.0 GPA and 4.4 unweighted GPA. Next up for Fowler is Villanova University, where she will major in Political Science in hopes of being a lawyer, while also trying to remain active in sports.
“Villanova’s been a dream of mine my whole life,” She said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m going to try and play softball or some club sport. I just love softball so much.”
As witnessed by the fact she returned to her Ravens team just nine days after surgery.
“I probably could have been out longer,” she said. “But sitting there watching everybody play was killing me.”
So she returned early, and started killing other teams with her bat.