I had the privilege of interviewing softball third-year outfielder and shortstop Kyli Hernandez and third-year outfielder Kiera Inman ahead of their first home games on April 11 and April 12 against UMass Lowell. The team is currently 8-25 overall and 3-5 in America East Conference play. They only have ten more games left to play before the America East playoffs hosted in Orono.
Inman is tied first in the conference with two triples and is tied for fourth with four home runs. Last year for the 2025 season, she played in 41 games and recorded 16 hits, 14 RBI and 13 runs scored. She also had three doubles and one triple on the year and tied for the team lead with nine stolen bases. Born and raised in Argyle, Texas, she fell in love with softball when she first started at three years old in little league. She then found Maine during her senior year of high school during the recruiting process and was immediately attracted to the Black Bear culture and team environment. Similarly, Hernandez always knew she wanted to go to an east coast school for a change out of the west coast in Whittier, California, and loved the charm that Maine has as a state and community. Hernandez played in 36 games for the 2025 season and recorded five hits, six RBI and scored 11 runs.
Now that they have three years of experience at a D1 level, they both have important individual and team goals they aspire to achieve, like doing well in playoffs with a home advantage and to play the best they can for themselves and the team.
“Keeping our head up is a big thing,” said Inman. “We’re coming into our home opener, which is exciting. It will be a beautiful day to come out and have fun.”
We also went into depth about how hard it was to be on the road playing away games every week since Feb 6. Not only is their routine thrown off, they have to stay on top of getting their studies done even with the amount of class they have to miss. Exhaustion and fatigue are also a factor with the long bus rides, but Hernandez reiterated that they signed up for this and it’s part of the job.
Inman and Hernandez have not had the easiest journey when it comes to the sport they play, like most athletes at the D1 university level. They have had to overcome adversity and persevere through a lot of tough seasons and are making the most of their last two seasons. Something that always prevails for them is their roots in religion and the strong belief that they are only playing for one person, which is God.
“We have an audience of one that keeps us together,” said Hernandez. “We do a prayer in the outfield before every game, it feels like protection because we do it for Him.”
Something that is big in their lives and keeps them grounded is The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), which is a platform spread across universities and high schools in America that connects athletes and coaches to unite, inspire and change the world through the gospel. Inman and Hernandez inspire and challenge their teammates and other UMaine athletes to come together for something that is bigger than themselves.
