Cool story of a talented freshman from the West who had Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC schools interested, but she’s heading to the East Coast for one key reason—she wants to play with her sister who’s a year ahead of her and going to the same Big East program!

Learn more about this talented infielder and see video of her in action below!

***

Name: KIANA TATE
High School: Centennial
City: Las Vegas
State: Nev.
Grad Year: 2018
Club: Lil Rebels – Gordie
Position(s): SS/2B/C
GPA: 5-5

Club Stats: hit .429 as the leadoff batter during 2014 PGF 14U Nationals
Club Accomplishments: 5th place at 2014 ASA/USA Softball 14U Nationals; 17^th place at PGF Nationals (last two years); 2014, 2013 ASA 14U Nevada State champs

College: Seton Hall
Recruiting Interest: also recruited by UNLV, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Ohio State, Utah, LMU, George Washington
Why Seton Hall? “I decided to commit to Seton Hall to play with my sister Jaden, who’s a 2017 commit. The school is perfect, exactly what I was looking for: it’s in a major conference (the Big East), is a small private Catholic school, has small classes, and is a university where I can prosper academically as well as athletically. Not to mention it’s only a 30 minute train ride to New York City!”

How Seton Hall First Noticed Kiana: According to the athlete’s father, Glen, “Seton Hall first noticed Kiana from videos that were sent during her letter writing.

Coach Paige Smith was the first coach to start recruiting Kiana Tate. She would follow our team and got to see us perform at an AFT camp in Southern California and at PGF in 2013.”

“That must have been enough for her to see as she offered Jaden and Kiana during the summer of 2014. Our of all the coaches that recruited Kiana, she was in contact with Coach Smith more than the others.”

“Coach Smith had the upper hand from the beginning as she was the first coach to show interest not only in Kiana but also her sister Jaden. Their dream has been to remain together after high school and continue on to college.”

“After Kiana and sister Jaden took our visit to Seton Hall, that was it. They fell in love with the school and its facilities.”

Measurables: ranked in the 98% percentile of all players tested in the OnDeck Measurements index.
Video Study: the sisters are big proponents of using video to study their mechanics as well as game situations and how to make plays.

“I would always video every game,” explains their father, “whether it was a friendly, tournament , or showcase. I used it as a teaching tool as well as for recruiting needs. The video had two purposes: in the beginning it was used for just critiquing their play on the field.”

“We would spend time looking at video of their footwork in the middle infield as well as there at at-bats. When things needed to improve, we worked on it together. I always told them that film doesn’t lie.”

“We would also go over each at bat, talk about situations, pitch count, everything involved with the game of softball. These moments weren’t always good, tensions flared at times during film session. but I wouldn’t expect nothing less. Kiana is a competitor, doesn’t like to lose, and wants to play with the best players against the best players at its highest level.”

Video Highlights: