University of Georgia Athletics
Roose Is Chasing Growth And Connections
March 05, 2026 | Softball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
If you watch Keirstin Roose when she's in the batter's box, you might notice that she looks away from the scoreboard as much as possible. There's a very good reason for this.
"I intentionally don't look at my batting average when it's up there on the board — I avoid eye contact with it," the Georgia softball second baseman and leadoff hitter said.Â
It's not superstition, and it's not just her average on the scoreboard that the graduate transfer goes out of her way to avoid. She never looks at her numbers and said she will have her dad black out her stats in articles before sending them to her so she can read what's written without seeing her average. Roose doesn't want to know her stats at all, because she feels like knowing them can get in her head.
"I know I can get very obsessive about the numbers, and what I've been working on is the obsession towards the growth and the obsession towards the connection. I can always grow, and I can always connect with people. I can't always get a hit," she said.Â
"I have found myself, in the past, continuously looking up at my batting average, and when I'd get a hit, or when I wouldn't get a hit, I would know just about how many points it went up or down. It gets you away from a growth mindset of the game, and I don't want to chase the outcomes. I want to chase the growth, and I find it's easier to do that when I take the numbers out of the equation."
(So that Roose can read this without issue, her impressive statistics through the 12th-ranked Bulldogs' first 23 games can be found here: https://gado.gs/e9w.)
Roose joined the 12th-ranked Bulldogs after spending four years at Coastal Carolina, where she was a standout on and off the field. A four-time NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete, who earned a bachelor's and master's degree while at Coastal Carolina, Roose hit .368 with 15 home runs, 20 doubles and 54 RBIs last season.
She came to Georgia both to play her final season and work on a master's in Biomechanics. But she's used to a heavy workload. At one point at Lakeland High School in Indiana, she played five different sports: soccer, golf, basketball, softball and track.
"I'm so glad I did it, because of the time management component; being able to, from a young age, organize a schedule," she said of playing so many sports. "My parents did a good job of giving me autonomy in that they really pushed me to sit down with my calendars and figure it out. They were like, you're going to be in college soon, and you're going to have to do it for yourself. They didn't spoon-feed me, which I'm very thankful for.
"I'm a very structured, organized person, and that helps tremendously when you're in college."
It also helps when you're a Type 1 diabetic, which Roose found out she was two years ago.
"It was, for sure, a life-changing moment — there's no other way to put it. I had to really adjust how I lived and how I thought, because you can't just not think about it, as much as you'd like to ignore it," she said.
While having diabetes isn't something she's happy about, she is thrilled that she can be an inspiration to those with it, especially young people who also have it and see her shine on the softball field.
"I will have little girls come to the games now and be like, I'm a Type 1 diabetic, and it's so inspiring. I see you perform at such a high level with this. I think it just gives them permission (to do things) and just the idea that they don't have to be limited in what they do because of a silly disease. It's a really cool opportunity that it's given me," she said.
"I think hard things give you relatability with people, and I feel like I can relate to anyone and connect with anyone. I mean, that's the human experience: connecting with people."
Roose hits the gym about as hard as she hits a softball, which means she puts her body through a lot on a regular basis. She needs a lot of fuel to do all of the work she does, so "don't mess with my food, because I love food," she said. She's had a learn a lot about the foods she should and shouldn't eat as a diabetic, but she also has learned to "give myself grace" and eat something because she just wants it from time to time.
One of those foods is ice cream. There is a Dairy Queen she passes by regularly, and her go-to there is the S'Mores Blizzard.
"I like living life, and I like eating ice cream," she said. "I have ice cream probably every other day, but I've learned how to give myself insulin for it."
Roose often sounds like a coach when she talks about life and softball. She said her favorite thing about playing the game is the team component.
"I absolutely love connecting with everyone on the team, and as the season goes on, the connections are getting deeper: the jokes, the fun, and even the difficult parts. I feel like I've grown a lot closer with my teammates through some of the adversity we've faced so far," she said.
As for coaching one day, Roose said it's a possibility.
"It's hard, because I love life outside of softball, and I know coaching is all-consuming and your life is softball. But I also love softball," she said. "If the right opportunity came along, I think I could see myself coaching. I love teaching people, so I'm sure I'll end up as a coach somewhere. It's just going to happen — I know it.
"I'm learning that when I think I have a plan for my life, it just doesn't go that way," she said. "I'm kind of letting it happen as it happens, and trusting that I'll end up somewhere good."
There are still a lot of games to be played before she has to make any big decisions, both at Georgia and then possibly professionally. The Bulldogs open SEC play on Friday at ninth-ranked Arkansas.
Â
Staff Writer
If you watch Keirstin Roose when she's in the batter's box, you might notice that she looks away from the scoreboard as much as possible. There's a very good reason for this.
"I intentionally don't look at my batting average when it's up there on the board — I avoid eye contact with it," the Georgia softball second baseman and leadoff hitter said.Â
It's not superstition, and it's not just her average on the scoreboard that the graduate transfer goes out of her way to avoid. She never looks at her numbers and said she will have her dad black out her stats in articles before sending them to her so she can read what's written without seeing her average. Roose doesn't want to know her stats at all, because she feels like knowing them can get in her head.
"I know I can get very obsessive about the numbers, and what I've been working on is the obsession towards the growth and the obsession towards the connection. I can always grow, and I can always connect with people. I can't always get a hit," she said.Â
"I have found myself, in the past, continuously looking up at my batting average, and when I'd get a hit, or when I wouldn't get a hit, I would know just about how many points it went up or down. It gets you away from a growth mindset of the game, and I don't want to chase the outcomes. I want to chase the growth, and I find it's easier to do that when I take the numbers out of the equation."
(So that Roose can read this without issue, her impressive statistics through the 12th-ranked Bulldogs' first 23 games can be found here: https://gado.gs/e9w.)
Roose joined the 12th-ranked Bulldogs after spending four years at Coastal Carolina, where she was a standout on and off the field. A four-time NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete, who earned a bachelor's and master's degree while at Coastal Carolina, Roose hit .368 with 15 home runs, 20 doubles and 54 RBIs last season.
She came to Georgia both to play her final season and work on a master's in Biomechanics. But she's used to a heavy workload. At one point at Lakeland High School in Indiana, she played five different sports: soccer, golf, basketball, softball and track.
"I'm so glad I did it, because of the time management component; being able to, from a young age, organize a schedule," she said of playing so many sports. "My parents did a good job of giving me autonomy in that they really pushed me to sit down with my calendars and figure it out. They were like, you're going to be in college soon, and you're going to have to do it for yourself. They didn't spoon-feed me, which I'm very thankful for.
"I'm a very structured, organized person, and that helps tremendously when you're in college."
It also helps when you're a Type 1 diabetic, which Roose found out she was two years ago.
"It was, for sure, a life-changing moment — there's no other way to put it. I had to really adjust how I lived and how I thought, because you can't just not think about it, as much as you'd like to ignore it," she said.
While having diabetes isn't something she's happy about, she is thrilled that she can be an inspiration to those with it, especially young people who also have it and see her shine on the softball field.
"I will have little girls come to the games now and be like, I'm a Type 1 diabetic, and it's so inspiring. I see you perform at such a high level with this. I think it just gives them permission (to do things) and just the idea that they don't have to be limited in what they do because of a silly disease. It's a really cool opportunity that it's given me," she said.
"I think hard things give you relatability with people, and I feel like I can relate to anyone and connect with anyone. I mean, that's the human experience: connecting with people."
Roose hits the gym about as hard as she hits a softball, which means she puts her body through a lot on a regular basis. She needs a lot of fuel to do all of the work she does, so "don't mess with my food, because I love food," she said. She's had a learn a lot about the foods she should and shouldn't eat as a diabetic, but she also has learned to "give myself grace" and eat something because she just wants it from time to time.
One of those foods is ice cream. There is a Dairy Queen she passes by regularly, and her go-to there is the S'Mores Blizzard.
"I like living life, and I like eating ice cream," she said. "I have ice cream probably every other day, but I've learned how to give myself insulin for it."
Roose often sounds like a coach when she talks about life and softball. She said her favorite thing about playing the game is the team component.
"I absolutely love connecting with everyone on the team, and as the season goes on, the connections are getting deeper: the jokes, the fun, and even the difficult parts. I feel like I've grown a lot closer with my teammates through some of the adversity we've faced so far," she said.
As for coaching one day, Roose said it's a possibility.
"It's hard, because I love life outside of softball, and I know coaching is all-consuming and your life is softball. But I also love softball," she said. "If the right opportunity came along, I think I could see myself coaching. I love teaching people, so I'm sure I'll end up as a coach somewhere. It's just going to happen — I know it.
"I'm learning that when I think I have a plan for my life, it just doesn't go that way," she said. "I'm kind of letting it happen as it happens, and trusting that I'll end up somewhere good."
There are still a lot of games to be played before she has to make any big decisions, both at Georgia and then possibly professionally. The Bulldogs open SEC play on Friday at ninth-ranked Arkansas.
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Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
Players Mentioned
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