JAD...I thought I would share this with you (and other parents who have kids in sports...there are younger kids out there that think your kid is a hero):
My daughter is a huge fan of Katherine. We live fairly close to you guys (next county over) and we would see you most weeks at pitching lessons...although me or my daughter have never introduced ourselves. My daughter takes lessons from Adrienne, as well. We would either be before you or after you a lot of the time and she would beg me to stay and watch Katherine. We would also be out eating (usually at Monterrey) and my daughter would come running to me saying "Katherine is here!!" There would be other times when we would be at the same park for a tournament and after her games, my daughter would make me "go find Katherine" so she could watch her pitch.
We were so excited to hear about her commitment to Purdue (of course after hearing about that, my daughter mysteriously wanted to play for Purdue) and the disappointment of what followed and then the excitement of the signing with Duke. We are going through the recruiting process right now and I am constantly referring back to Katherine's story as lessons to teach my daughter that the process is not an easy one. She has been a topic of our conversations in our house for years now.
All this to say, you or Katherine have no idea that my daughter exists, but she has been looking at Katherine as a hero for years.
BTW...Congrats on the year she is having so far. I know it makes you so proud!