Kaia Parnaby (born July 14, 1990) is an Australian, former collegiate

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, 2020 Olympian, left-handed professional softball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

, originally from Sydney. She is a

and earned a scholarship to and played for the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

. She played university softball for the

Hawaii Rainbow Wahine The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Con ...

team in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

where she was recognized as all-conference and the 2013 Pitcher of The Year. She also helped them to their first-ever appearance at the

2010 Women's College World Series The 2010 NCAA Division 1 softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 8, 2010 and is part of the 2010 NCAA Division 1 softball season. The 64 NCAA Division 1 college softball teams were selected out of an eligible 284 teams on May 16, 2 ...

. She also played for the

Aussie Peppers The Aussie Peppers were a professional softball team based in North Mankato, Minnesota. They were founded in 2018 as the Aussie Spirit as part of the National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League ...

, a traveling team affiliate in the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

. She is a member of the senior Australia women's national softball team and played in the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Personal

Parnaby is from New South Wales. She attended Narrabeen Sports High School and NBSC Freshwater Senior Campus. She currently attends the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...

. In 2011/2012, she was a junior.

Softball

Parnaby is a pitcher, and plays in relief. She started out playing softball for Manly Warringah Softball Association. In 2004, she was named to the New South Wales U16 team. In 2006, she was named to the Australian All Schools team. In 2006, she represented Australia on the junior national U19 team. She had a scholarship with and played for the

(AIS) in 2006. She was the first player from Manly Warringah Softball Association to earn a spot on the AIS roster. In 2006, she played for the New South Wales side that won the Australian All Schools Softball Championship.
Parnaby transferred to North Shore District Softball Association in 2007 joining their Open Women's and State League teams. In 2009, she was again with and played for the AIS team.

Senior national team

Parnaby has been a member of the senior Australia women's national softball team. In March 2009, she participated in a

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

-based training camp. In 2011, she was a member of the Australian side that competed at the

World Cup of Softball The USA Softball International Cup previously known as the World Cup of Softball, was an annual women's softball tournament. The first eight World Cups were held at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The competition is gover ...

. She played in the 8–0 loss to the United States. She is a member of the 2012 Australia women's national softball team and is on the short list to compete at the 2012 ISF XIII Women's World Championships . Parnaby was named to the roster for the Tokyo Olympic games. She went 1–2 for

Team Australia Team Australia was an auto racing team competing in the V8 Supercars and Champ Car World Series. It was created in early 2005 when two Australian businessmen Craig Gore and John Fish bought into Derrick Walker's Walker Racing operation. Aft ...

, tossing 13 innings and surrendering 13 hits, 6 earned runs for a 3.23 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, also totaling two walks and struck out 7. The team placed fifth and did not medal for the first time in softball at the Olympics. Full details are in

Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics Australia competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia is one of only five cou ...

University

Parnaby plays for the

in the United States. She played with the team during the 2010, 2011 and the 2012 season. In February 2012, her team played the

UMKC Kangaroos The Kansas City Roos, known before July 1, 2019, as the UMKC Kangaroos and also sometimes called the Kansas City Kangaroos, are the intercollegiate teams representing the University of Missouri–Kansas City that compete in the National Collegi ...

but she did not pitch in the game. In a March 2012 game in the Bank of Hawaii Invitational against

Radford University Radford University is a public university in Radford, Virginia, United States. It is one of the state's eight doctorate-granting public universities. Founded in 1910, Radford offers curricula for undergraduates in more than 100 fields, graduate ...

, she struck out eight players and limited them to three hits in a 7–0 victory for her team. At the time, her team was ranked twenty-second in the nation and went on to win the Invitational. Their record to the season went to 17–0 with Parnaby having a 7–0-record season to date.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parnaby, Kaia 1990 births Living people Australian softball players Olympic softball players for Australia Softball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Australian lesbian sportswomen Chicago Bandits players Hawaii Rainbow Wahine softball players Japan Diamond Softball League players LGBTQ softball players Sportswomen from New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportswomen 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people