National basketball Freshman of the Year McKenna Woliczko might be better at softball

Archbishop Mitty's springy 6-foot-2 power forward has transitioned smoothly to one of California's most eye-catching shortstops and productive, power leadoff hitters

SAN JOSE — The Archbishop Mitty Athletics Hall of Fame boasts a long list of female legends, all renowned in their sports. Some locally, others regionally and, a few even, globally. 

Among them: 

• Soccer Hall of Famer Brandi Chastain (class of 1986)

• Multi-Olympic gold volleyball medalist Kerri Walsh (1996)

• WNBA's Danielle Robinson (2007)

• College/World Cup/professional softball star Keilani Ricketts (2009)

• U.S. figure skating sensation Polina Edmunds (2016)

• 2023 No. 6 WNBA Draft selection Haley Jones (2019). 

There's slew of others including four-sport standout Katherine Stahl (1992), volleyball's Amanda Gil (2008) and softball's Jasmyn Jackson (2014). 

A current bright-eyed, big-smiled, fast-twitched Monarch, McKenna Woliczko, appears on a lightning track to include her name among the Mitty greats. 

And we mean fast. 

She's still only 14-years-old. 

Woliczko (pronounced Va-lich-koh) hasn't even completed her freshman year, but what she did on the basketball court — named the SBLive National Newcomer of the Year — and what she's currently doing on the softball diamond — hitting a team-best .471 — has many on the San Jose campus, and beyond, shaking and tilting their heads in amazement, if not disbelief. 

At 6-foot-2, McKenna Woliczko is one rangy shortstop. Photo: Eric Taylor / Photo by Eric Taylor

'OLD-SCHOOL COMPETITOR'

Among them are Woliczko's coaches, both Mitty Hall of Fame inductees themselves, basketball's Sue Phillips (a 1986 graduate and three-sport star), and softball's Megan Yocke (2007, field hockey, softball). 

Yocke has the Monarchs at 17-2 overall, 6-0 in the West Catholic Athletic League, heading into Wednesday's home game with Sacred Heart Cathedral. Mitty has risen to No. 5 SBLive's Power 25 state rankings. 

The springy and strong-armed Woliczko, all 6-foot-2 of her, has played in 16 games, taking over the leadoff spot the first week of league play. She is batting .455 (25 of 55) with 17 RBI and 18 runs, all team bests, with three doubles, a triple and home run. 

Numbers tell only a portion of Woliczko's contributions. 

“What I like most about McKenna is her competitiveness,” Yocke said. “Her competitive nature makes her make plays. It is never a concern when the ball goes to shortstop. Whether it’s pretty or not, she doesn’t care. She just wants to make the play. She’s an old-school competitor. That’s what I love about her.”

It showed in the biggest game of the year, a monumental 3-2 home win over league rival and state power Saint Francis. Woliczko handled four hard-hit balls cleanly while showing off a cannon for an arm. 

At the plate, she had a double, scoring the second run in Mitty’s 3-run sixth inning. The win broke an eight-game loss skid to the Lancers, the defending Central Coast Section champions. 

The Monarchs travel to Saint Francis (21-2), 6-1) on Friday to close out the regular season in another Northern California Titanic. Since its loss to Mitty, the Lancers have won five straight by a combined score of 59-2. They've obviously refocused. 

UPDATE: On Wednesday, Mitty beat Sacred Heart Cathedral 13-1 — its 10th straight win — and Woliczko, now batting cleanup, went 3 for 3 with a home run, upping her season average to an even .500 (29-of-58) with 20 RBI. Since the win over St. Francis, Mitty is also 5-0 and outscored foes 45-9. 

“Saint Francis is always a great team,” Woliczko said after the comeback win over the Lancers. “Both teams always come out fighting. The game could have gone either way. I’m glad we were able to come through.”

The other freshman on the team, Kyleigh Mace, pitched a complete game in a spot start as the pair of frosh showed great poise under pressure.

McKenna Woliczko has a rifle right arm. Photo: Eric Taylor

'SUPER-DUPER' ATHLETE

Woliczko is close to another freshman, Jaime Oakland, star outfielder for the Lancers. She's the daughter of Saint Francis head coach Mike Oakland and Dina Oakland, a physical education teacher at Mitty. 

Mike Oakland is Woliczko's club coach with the Cal Nuggets. 

“McKenna is super-duper athletic,” Mike Oakland said. “She runs really well. She’s a tremendous athlete.”

Yocke believes Woliczko could pursue playing softball at the next level, however with 22 scholarship offers to college basketball programs already, hoops is likely her meal ticket, though anything is possible she said. College is still more than three years away. 

Among her basketball offers: Stanford, South Carolina and Tennessee. 

“I never really picked what sport I would play in college, because you never really know,” Woliczko said. “Now, I’m leaning toward playing basketball in, but the door is always open (for softball).”

Woliczko tore up the WCAL in the winter, so much so, she was tabbed the league’s MVP. The Monarchs went on to win the CCS and NorCal Open Division titles, before losing a heartbreaking 69-67 state Open finals to Etiwanda. Mitty controlled play most of the way and led by seven with just over two minutes left. 

Woliczko had 18 points and 10 rebounds in that one, about what she averaged on the season (20.4 and 10.2), while shooting 74 percent from the foul line and 60 percent from the field. 

In the NorCal title game vs. Salesian-Richmond at Mitty, Woliczko really showed her stuff, with 29 points and 21 rebounds in an 86-49 rout. 

All of it led to even bigger awards — the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News named her Player of the Year, SBLive named her first-team All-California and the national Newcomer of the Year, equivalent to the country's best freshman. 

She was Cal-Hi Sports' California Freshman of the Year. 

Considering that she averaged only a little more than 18 minutes per game, her numbers and feats are all the more remarkable. 

“All the accolades, awards and offers are great,” Woliczko said. “It’s crazy. I never would have expected it. I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without my coaches and my team. I want to thank them for getting to this moment.”

McKenna Woliczko (20) went right from the state-title basketball game at the Golden 1 Center versus Etiwanda to the softball diamond. Photo: Ralph Thompson

FAMILY GENES

It is no surprise Woliczko blossomed into such an athlete. 

Her mother, Erica, was three-sport athlete at Capuchino High in San Bruno, playing volleyball, soccer and softball. 

Her dad, Aaron, prepped at Santa Cruz. He's the West Coast Conference’s Senior Associate Commissioner for men's basketball and sports administration. 

A resident of San Bruno, some 45-minute drive to the north the Mitty campus, McKenna picked up softball at the age of 7. Other sports would follow.

“I was just a kid who played any sport,” Woliczko said. “I played with the boys, I played with everybody. I played football soccer, volleyball, basketball. I played travel soccer. It was a big sport for me. I’d probably be doing soccer if I wasn’t playing basketball. It got to the time where I had to choose between soccer and basketball because basketball was going to be a big commitment.”

Shortstop has always been Woliczko’s main position, but she can play any other position except pitcher. 

“Sports can be super-stressful, but should be fun,” Woliczko said. “I’ve gotten to the point where this is just fun. I don’t tear myself up over something that might happen in the game.”

“I do not like to lose,” Woliczko said. “I’m a lot like coach Phillips when it comes to that. She will not take a loss or a tie. Going into a game, I’m always super-nervous. The nervous always changes to competitiveness.”

McKenna Woliczko (left) loves to celebrate as much as she hates to lose, which isn't often. The combined records of Mitty's basketball and softball games to date in 2022-23 is 43-5. Photo: Eric Taylor

ANOTHER LEAP

Woliczko likely inherited her competitive nature and winning ways from her parents. 

Erica, a catcher, earned a scholarship to University of Pacific, where she met Aaron, who was a four-sport standout in high school. Erica, then Reynolds, played four seasons at UOP (1997-2001), helping the Tigers to NCAA playoff berths three times, including a 50-win season as a senior. She also is one of the few in college history to homer in both her first and final collegiate at-bat.

Aaron played for three Hall of Fame Coaches: Pete Newell Jr. (Santa Cruz), Bob Burton (West Valley junior college) and Bob Thomason (UOP). He was a three-time All-Conference guard at Santa Cruz and All-Conference at West Valley, a team that went 60-7 over his two seasons and a No. 4 national ranking in 1994-95. 

After red shirting a season, Aaron helped UOP teams to records of 24-6 and 23-10, the latter team he played with Michael Olowokandi, the NBA's No. 1 pick of the 1998 NBA Draft. He then moved to the coaching ranks at UOP and Montana Tech.

Aaron and his 1996-97 teammates were selected into the Pacific Athletic Hall of Fame.  

Aaron Woliczko helped UOP teams win 47 games in two seasons in the late 1990s. Photo: Courtesy UOP

“The genes are a lot of help,” McKenna said. “But, my parents tell me I am way better than they were at this age.”

Certainly they weren't as accomplished. Few are: Locally, regionally or globally. 

And that goes for either gender. 

She might end up as one of the top two-sport athletes in the state, if not the country, in 2022-23. By the end of her career, that sport number could increase to three. 

Monarchs’ longtime track and field coach Gaspar Torregoza may pay McKenna a visit very soon.

Erica Reynolds (2), now Woliczko, was a starting catcher over four seasons at the University of Pacific from 1997-2001. Photo: Courtesy of UOP athletics.