From Key West to Honolulu: Two of FIU’s best athletes thriving in softball and golf

It would be hard to find two American athletes on one college campus whose hometowns are further away than FIU’s Karissa Kilby and Isabella Perez.

In fact, there are 4,779 miles separating golfer Kilby’s native Honolulu and softball catcher Perez’s beloved Key West.

But, despite that one major difference, these two Panthers women are actually quite similar, and that starts with their athletic prowess.

Kilby was one of five golfers – and the only one from FIU – who made first-team All-Conference USA last season.

At 5-9 and 130 pounds, Kilby is deceptively strong, driving the ball 260 yards on average. That’s at least 20 yards longer off the tee that most of her competitors.

In addition, she typically gets another 30 yards with her roll.

“It’s a big advantage when her second shot is a pitching wedge while everyone else is hitting a 7- or 8-iron,” said John Koskinen, who is in his first year as FIU’s golf coach. “It helps that her ball flight is flat. She doesn’t launch the ball super high, and her shots tend to roll forever.”

Perez can also handle a club – or, more specifically, a bat.

A lefty swinger and a righty thrower, Perez surprised as a true freshman last year, finishing second on the team in batting average (.331), runs (21), walks (18) and doubles (nine). She also led the squad with 22 RBIs, and she was No. 1 among full-time starters in on-base percentage (.402).

But while all of that is good, Perez, a 5-5, 145-pounder, is best known for her elite defense.

She threw out 16 runners attempting to steal last season, which ranked tied for 11th in the nation. No true freshman ranked above her, and only 14 runners made it safely against Perez.

“With her footwork, quick release and accuracy, I love the way ‘Bella’ can shut down an opponent’s running game,” FIU softball coach Mike Larabee said. “Her ‘pop time’ to second base is amazing.”

Larabee said he has timed Perez’s throws to second base at 1.68 to 1.72 seconds, which is outstanding.

In fact, it’s similar in its elite quality to Kilby’s 110-mph clubhead speed on the golf course.

“Karissa has lightning hands,” Koskinen said. “There are not many girls at this level who can reach 110 (mph).”

Interestingly, Kilby, 20, has never been to Key West, and Perez, 19, hasn’t ventured out to Honolulu.

Yet, the two tourist destinations are not as different as they may seem.

Said Kilby about her home state: “Everyone from Hawaii is like family.”

Said Perez about her hometown: “Everyone knows each other in Key West. Everyone is family. Everywhere you go, you run into somebody you know.”

One more way that Kilby and Perez are alike is that they obsessively strive for perfection.

Perez, for example, said she “hates messing up” on the field.

“I’m really hard on myself,” said Perez, who is majoring in elementary education and wants to become a teacher like her grandmother Gina Smith and her aunt Monica Fletchall.

“If I make even one bad throw, I probably won’t sleep well that night.”

Kilby, a psychology major, appears to be even harder on herself.

For example, Kilby shot the best round of her life last year at Doral, posting a 65. But rather than be overjoyed, she obsessed over her mistakes.

“I still think about my bogey on the final hole,” Kilby said. “That’s how you’re conditioned to think in golf because there’s always something to work on.”

Kilby, who is in her third year at FIU, enjoyed the two best tournaments of her college career last season, finishing second twice.

But even that didn’t totally please her.

“It’s more frustrating when you come close but don’t get it done,” Kilby said. “But you go back to the van with your teammates and try to look happy.

“I try to be grateful in those situations because I know everyone behind me (in the standings) would’ve loved to have finished second.”

In a way, Kilby was raised on golf.

Her father, Mark, who wasn’t a particularly good golfer, would take his daughter to the range even when she was just a newborn in her stroller.

At 16 months, Kilby was gifted a tiny set of golf clubs, and her passion for the sport grew from there.

When she was 11 years old, Kilby had to choose between volleyball – which she had put in a lot of work to make herself a player – and golf.

“I was golfing in the morning before school,” Kilby said. “After school, I would practice volleyball from 5 to 9. Then I would have my dad drive me to the golf range, where we practice until midnight.

“I have that part of my personality that is obsessed with being the best. I was 11 years old, and I was getting just five hours of sleep a night.”

That was not sustainable.

Kilby eventually dropped volleyball and focused on golf, working with Casey Nakama, who had been Michelle Wie’s swing coach.

“He built my swing,” Kilby said of Nakama. “Plus, I have long limbs, which helps me with my power.”

However, once Kilby arrived at FIU in the fall of 2021, she ran into some new roadblocks.

During her freshman season, Kilby said she was essentially bullied by “a couple” of teammates who did not want her to succeed.

“They were not good teammates,” Kilby said. “It was intense, but they’re no longer on the team.

“Golf has this weird dynamic because you’re teammates but you also want to beat other.”

Last year, she had other issues.

At times, she tried too hard. At other points, she admits she got “sidetracked by social things” as she tried to find the right balance between golfing and partying.

Kilby went home to Hawaii this summer, and she won her first tournament in five years. Just as importantly, she made a big decision.

“I have two years left of college,” she said. “I want to see how good I can get with total focus on golf.

“(New coach Koskinen) is helping. He’s challenging me with new drills, new apps. He’s making golf exciting again.”

Perez’s story is interesting also because she had no college offers in July of 2021 and had to travel all the way out to California … only to get a scholarship offer from FIU.

Adding intrigue to the situation was that Larabee had been hired by FIU just prior to that Huntington Beach tournament, which is the largest in the country for softball with more than 300 coaches attending.

Larabee, who previously served as an assistant at the University of Maryland, was immediately impressed by Perez.

“Bella was my first FIU recruit,” Larabee said. “I liked her defense but also her durability. Her team didn’t have a backup catcher. Bella caught every inning, and it was hot, especially with all that gear on. She’s a warrior behind the plate.

“On offense, she puts the ball in play. She’s a line-drive hitter, but I think the power will come.”

Perez is such a warrior that she missed only three games last year as an FIU freshman, and that was because he had a hairline fracture on her left shinbone.

Perez’s sport choice was a natural because her father, Xavi, played baseball, and her mom, Terese, played softball – both at Key West High.

Isabella Perez started playing softball at age four. Six years later, she became a catcher quite by accident as her father’s club team didn’t have anyone to play the position.

Perez made the move from shortstop, and it has stuck, even though her career hasn’t been easy. As she got older, she sought a higher-level travel team, which meant traveling four hours to Miami to play for the Stingrays.

“The first few tournaments we played were awkward because those girls had been playing together their whole lives,” Perez said. “But, after that, they took me in.”

Freshman year at FIU last season was another adjustment.

“It was intimidating because everyone was older than me,” Perez said, “and I had to yell at them sometimes.”

Larabee calls Perez a “fierce competitor”, and that’s one final thing that ties her to Kilby.

From Key West to Honolulu, Isabella Perez and Karissa Kilby are two of the finest athletes on FIU’s campus.