Karen Keast

Elected : USSSA New York Hall Of Fame in 2013
Inducted : March 2014, Syracuse, NY

From the time she was 10 years old and played on her first organized team, the arrival of summer has always meant one thing to Karen Keast – it’s softball season!  Growing up in East Syracuse, Karen watched her father Charley take the mound to pitch for his recreation team.  Little did she know that after years of playing SS and 3B, she too would finish her playing career as a pitcher. At the age of 16, she joined her first women’s slow pitch team, the Hayloft.  From there it was on to play for the Jreck Subs, Shifty’s and Murray’s teams of the 80’s and finally on to the Park Hill Tavern teams of the 90’s.  While many league and playoff championships were won, it was the life-long friendships that were formed that meant the most to Karen.

 

One of those friends was Dottie Lesley, whose untimely death at the age of 29 spurred the creation of the Dottie Lesley Memorial Softball Benefit.  This unique 8-team one-pitch, double-elimination tournament was one of the premier softball events of the summer, and in 15 years raised over $90,000 for the Ronald McDonald House of CNY.  As a member of the tournament organizing committee, Karen was proud to help keep Dottie’s memory alive each summer.    

 

In her current position as Director of Recreation for the Town of DeWitt, Karen ensures that softball has a home at Maxwell Park, working with Dave Kasouf to help organize and run a number of adult recreation leagues.

 

Karen would like to thank her first and best coach – her Dad, Charley, for instilling in her the love of the game of softball and for teaching her how to win and lose with perspective.  She would also like to thank her long-time teammates and best friends for all the great memories, both on and off the field