08/13/2026
Some people simply play the game while others leave a mark on it. 💜🥎
After more than 25 years with the Lyons Spirit, and a lifetime of competing at one of the highest levels of women’s softball, one of our originals has decided that, at 51, it’s time to hang up the cleats.
And make no mistake, she isn’t walking away because the game passed her by. She can still compete. She can still make the play. She can still be the person you want the ball hit to when the game is on the line. She’s simply choosing to step away on her own terms, when the time feels right for her. And there’s something pretty special about that.
For so many of us, she has been proof that there doesn’t have to be an expiration date on doing something you love. She showed us that you can keep competing, keep chasing championships, keep showing up for your teammates, and keep living out a dream long after most people think you’re supposed to stop.
Karen Bauer was fearless, dependable, and tough! But what she gave this team went far beyond what happened between the lines. For the past several years, she also took on the often thankless job of managing us, attending preseason and scheduling meetings, organizing lineups, collecting team fees, handling all the behind-the-scenes details, and somehow still showing up ready to compete herself. So much of what allowed the rest of us to simply show up and play was because she had already taken care of everything else.
It’s hard to imagine this team without her because, quite honestly, she has always been part of it.
Thank you, KB, for the 25+ years of memories, leadership, friendship, sacrifice, and some damn good softball. But most of all, thank you for showing so many of us that we never had to stop playing simply because we got older.
We’ll miss having you beside us more than you know, and we wish you nothing but happiness in whatever comes next.
One of the originals. One of the toughest. And absolutely irreplaceable. Thank you for everything, KB!
