Karamouzis shines on and off the field

Kate Karamouzis of Rockville Centre, a scholar-athlete at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., was recently selected by College Sports Communicators to join the Academic All-District softball team. 

This designation recognizes Karamouzis for both her academic achievement — having maintained a grade point average of at least 3.5 — and her success behind home plate.  

She graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in 2019, after which she decided to attend Babson College, which she explained stuck out to her because of its great combination of athletics and academics.

“I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to study coming out of high school, and Babson has a very strong business program,” Karamouzis said. “I thought that would give me a good foundation for education (while I continued) looking for something that I wanted to do while getting to play softball.”

She joined the Babson Beavers NCAA Division III softball team as a catcher in 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of games played were greatly reduced. Despite only making one start that year, she would continue to strive towards success, both on the field and in the classroom. In 2021 the team went on to claim the NEWMAC tournament championship crown. 

Karamouzis started in all 48 games during her junior year in 2022, amassing an impressive batting average of .324 with 20 RBI and 32 runs scored. 

She was a senior captain of the team in 2023, when she batter a career-best of .348 along with nine doubles, five home runs, 24 RBI and 27 runs scored, 

Upon receiving her undergraduate diploma in business, she decided to return to Babson in 2024, to complete her master’s in business analytics at Babson. 

This season was the third consecutive year that Karamouzis had been named to the Academic All-District team. 

She started in all 39 games in the 2024 season, concluding her collegiate softball career with a batting average of .274. Karamouzis exhibited her mastery of the field, leading the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference in walks with 30 and had the third highest on-base percentage with a .508 clip.

Karamouzis started her playing career as a youth playing with the Rockville Centre Little League, and played competitively throughout her formative years in middle school and high school. She was about 5 years old when she joined her first Little League team, where she played various positions. 

She eventually found her softball calling at the catcher position while in high school and has primarily been playing there ever since.

Although proud and honored for her third nomination for the Academic All-District team, Karamouzis shared that the award that is the most meaningful to her came from her Babson teammates. 

The softball program uses the acronym, “TRAITS,” which stands for trust, respect, accountability, integrity, toughness, and selflessness — a school of thought that reflects the various qualities that each player should strive for. 

Based off these traits the team votes and chooses players at the end of each season for the Babson Player of the Year Award. Karamouzis has also won this award for the past three consecutive seasons. 

“(This award) has been probably the most meaningful award that I could ever get in my career because it was voted by a group of girls that mean so much to me each year, and to know that I was chosen to lead them and that they think of me as such a good teammate is all I’ve ever wanted,” she said. 

When asked to reflect on how she was able to be such a productive student while an incredible student simultaneously, Karamouzis explained how the student-athlete experience is quite a balancing act. 

“It really takes a lot of hard work and being able to find a good balance. It’s definitely difficult … but it is really rewarding at the end of the day,” she said. 

Karamouzis said she plans to continue working in athletics while pursuing a career in business analytics. She also said that this summer she will work with the Cape Cod collegiate baseball league in Massachusetts as a junior operator.