Taylor Kelly (Brandts) returned to her alma mater in 2024 as an Assistant Coach.
Kelly was a standout on the Highland Cavalier squad from 2014-18 and is arguably the most decorated female student-athlete in UVA Wise history. She was a four-time All-Mountain East Conference performer and the conference’s first Pitcher of the Year. She was named MEC Pitcher of the Week eight times and NFCA National Pitcher of the Week once during her career. She was named NFCA All-Region three times, D2CCA All-Region twice, and was a Fastpitch News All-American twice during her career.
The King George, Virginia, native compiled a .148 career ERA with a 78-30 record in 129 appearances over her collegiate career. She had 107 starts, pitched 92 complete games and had nine saves.
She currently dominates the UVA Wise career pitching records as she has the lowest ERA (1.48); ranks first in wins (78), saves (9), appearances (129), starts (107), shutouts (37), innings pitched (733.0), and hits allowed (590); and ranks second in strikeouts (644); and batters faced (3037). Kelly also holds the season records for lowest ERA (0.99 in 2017), games started (30 in 2017) and shutouts (15 in 2017). She is tied with Bayleigh Allison (2024) for wins in a season with 23.
Prior to UVA Wise, Kelly was a standout player at King George High School, where her senior season she had a 1.23 ERA while going 19-1 and striking out 218 of the 524 batters she faced.
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