Warsaw Softball Coach Hilary Kiser Is Home Again

Warsaw Lady Tiger softball coach Hilary Kiser returned to her hometown after living in Michigan the previous four years- specifically near Chapman Lake - during the summer of 2024. She immediately became a vital part of Golden Lawn Care, a business her father, Gary Kiser owns.

Kiser, who has custody of her nieces since 2018, and has almost always held down at least two jobs, was eager to be very closely located near her entire family again. She and her nieces traveled to the Lake City frequently for visits, but there was no return trek to Michigan last summer.

It didn’t take Kiser long to hold down a second job, long-term substitute teaching algebra and geometry for Warsaw Community High School.

She was home again, even recognizing offspring among her classmates and teammates with whim she donned the orange and black for an impressive high school sports career in softball and basketball.

Kiser was home again, ensconced in the school community as well as working outdoors in the local area.

Two jobs tuned into three jobs when the Tigers’ athletic department announced her recommendation for the Lady Tigers’ head softball coach in an October 7, 2024, press release.

Kiser, a key contributor in the Tigers’ last softball sectional season in 2007, was also home again in her debut Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) coaching season.

The three-time defensive MVP was welcomed immediately following her first season to the NLC recently earning Co-coach of The Year honors, shared with NCL championship coach, Brian Miller (Mishawaka).

Surprise! – Fresh from turning in her equipment after falling short of a sectional title at the hands of the Elkhart Lions, the customary meeting where the coaches gather when everyone’s postseason ends came quickly.

Northwood head softball coach Mandy DeMien and the aforementioned Cavemen coach, Miller furnished tips for Kiser to prepare for the coaches’ All-Conference selection meeting, her first.

Kiser wasn’t hesitant to talk about all the thoughts running through her mind in such short notice.

“Mandy told me, ‘hey, I just remember my first year going into this this. Here’s what you need to expect. This is what you need to bring, and this is kind of how the meeting goes.’ Kiser recalled. “I printed out my stats, and I've got some notes taken down, and (assistant Lady Tiger softball coach) John (Eastwood) and I are talking the whole way there.

“That's another thing, too. I didn't realize people didn't bring their assistant coaches to this meeting, O.K., but he was super helpful… yeah super helpful. We went into there (NorthWood High School – meeting location), and they tried to start with me, but I asked if I could I go last because I felt I didn’t know what I'm doing.”

Kiser recalled taking copious notes and she marveled at some of the detail “for instances” each coach offered (e.g., two game-winning hits where an athlete had two-strike at bats) for their candidates’ places on the All-Conference team.

The time arrived for the Coach of The Year vote, and Kiser threw in the name of the NLC champion’s team coach recalling from her playing days in the NLC that the head coach of the title-winning team was usually voted for this honor.

Plymouth softball head coach Josh Troyer announced there was a tie vote for the honors. This seemed peculiar to Kiser because the league did not have a co-champion this season.

“(He) came back and said ‘Hey, you know we have a tie.’ Would you guys be opposed to having another coach in there, or do you wanna vote again?’ Kiser noted, still in a surprised tone at our breakfast chat. “I was confused, but all the other coaches said they were fine with the results. I’m looking around, and they're all kind of looking at me.

“There are times when I can be pretty oblivious to things because I don't I don't ever anticipate receiving an award… so then Troyer announces, ‘In that that case, congratulations Brian Miller and Hilary Kaiser!’ I'm trying not to freak out because Eastwood is.. like… nudging me under the table saying, ‘This is huge.’

Kiser was aware she had won more games (9 in fact) in the 2025 season than the program had won among the 2022-2024 seasons (7 wins). She did not have any idea, however, this would warrant postseason honors.

The task at hand – Kiser knew the challenge awaiting her last fall when she embraced the opportunity to coach the Tigers, and to, furthermore, redirect Lady Tiger softball to an upward trajectory.

She took the role not hell-bent on seeing postseason honors on her horizon. Instead, with old friends among Tiger softball alumni, and current Tiger Softball community members (player parents, specifically) in her ear during in the most recent summer, Kiser continued receiving the same message among these folks:

Bring Tiger softball back to where it used to be.

There are a lot of coaches in her shoes who would have made speeches about esoteric “Money Ball” metrics, and other kabuki we non-coaching, lay people wouldn’t understand. Kiser, issued one spoon to eat an entire elephant, continues to use one spoon one bite at a time.

“You know what there's so many drills out there,” the Lady Tiger two-sport athlete noted. “People (are) doing crazy things and I'm just going back to the basics, fundamentals - mechanics. If you have good mechanics you're going to hit the ball, basically.

“We started those winter workouts and I was super excited, and (former Tiger softball coach) Sam Tew approached me to say, ‘You have a lot of girls here.’ I want to get to the point where we know that it's not optional, though, that it's (implicitly) mandatory.”

Kiser knew, especially with the possibility of winter sport athletes migrating to softball with little or no transition time (e.g., the girls’ basketball team’s last game – the State Finals – was March 1) to evaluate talent and makes.

Bear in mind, Kiser spent 15 years of her life to that point in “softball universe” and she had lots of eyeball tests in her frame of reference. The formal dates for tryouts, however, are usually less than a handful of days.

Enter Warsaw’s two-time NLC baseball championship coach Andy Manes.

“I was talking to Andy about how to do tryouts in such a short amount of time,” Kiser said. “(Manes said), ‘Well to be honest with you, they all know it's like - I don't have to say it - they know that during our winter (we are) making evaluations because you can't do an efficient tryout in a day or two.”

Kiser wants to encourage fun, camaraderie, and learning from losses, but the first-year coach’s presence at the off-season and tryout sessions aren’t optional, and success comes from additional ingredients: showing up at every practice in season and offseason, and approaching the game and the required mechanics to succeed in same… seriously.

With all this said, why should her athletes just show up on a lark, right?

In season, as the Tigers notched a few wins (surprising to those not intimate with the team’s daily development), Kiser spoke about a turning point where, despite clearing some hurdles with wins, she had to instill a greater drive and a sense of urgency.

Kiser wanted her team to feel the competitive fire she still maintains at age 36, 18 years removed from Warsaw’s last sectional champion softball team.

“I still love them,” she noted, and continued about how she was ready to instill the aforementioned characteristics. “One time it just set me off! At the beginning of the season it was like we either run-ruled or got run-ruled (games prematurely ended after at least five complete innings due to a 10-run margin) there was no seven-inning play, so that's toward the end of our second round of conference games. I just told the girls, ‘Listen you know I'm not OK with losing that's just not in my nature I'm a competitive person and of course I want to be good.’”

Assistant coaches Nikki Wood, a physical education teacher at Lakeview Middle School, and John Eastwood, who balances a successful tech role by day with the same methodical approach he uses to coach Lady Tiger or summer travel softball, mesh well with Kiser.

Wood is the teacher; Eastwood is the technician and also the reserved offset of Kiser’s trademark competitive intensity. Wood is especially masterful with the mechanics among the outfielders, and Eastwood has experience coaching pitchers.

The staff covers all the aspects of in-game and practice coaching.

“We all chose the team together we evaluated everyone together we put our list together pros and cons of what we need to work on. We help each other being efficient because there was an opportunity to get these players in a tightly planned official practice where we could gather at the end and share with the players that (they) accomplished something today.”

Kiser shared an anecdote where she leaned toward Eastwood to take the more intense stand with an on-field issue.

“There was one time Eastwood looked at me and said, ‘Alright we're gonna flip rolls really quick. I'm going to go in and raise hell.’ I said to myself, if he goes in there like that, then the team really knows they need to address the issue.”

Kiser started developing the culture she sought with her five seniors:

Lilly Carman, Brooklyn Nibert, Kaitlyn O’Dell, Mia Rodriguez, and Addie Williams, the latter a welcome return to the Lady Tiger dugout after last season’s sabbatical.

Some of these seniors, like Nibert, are more reserved, while Rodriguez naturally owns almost any room she enters. Each of the players contributed to their style of game-day/practice day examples of what a Lady Tiger softball player needs to do to succeed on and off the field.

Williams, who has taken some hard hits in live action in previous seasons, is a testament to resilience, as is O’Dell, who had some brutal outings on the pitcher’s mound, but this year embraced the opportunity to engineer her improvement when the ball was handed to her.

Carman demonstrated versatility filling in behind the plate, at second base, and in the outfield. Rodriguez – a NLC All-Conference selection – found additional ingredients to success in her season success beyond her expectations.

Rodriguez cultivated her relationship with the newest Tiger skipper early in the school year visiting Kiser’s classroom. She and her coach shared a competitive drive, a love and devotion to their families, and a continuous improvement mindset.

“This year she's never felt more confident on the field,” Kiser said of Rodriguez. “We're kind of comparing our stats from the last few years and (Rodriguez) said, ‘Oh my gosh, man you bring out the best of me.’ She's a great girl.”

Nibert made a notable transformation from middle infield to outfield. The reserved senior let her flexibility and focus on team needs speak for her.

“We reconstructed her whole throw. I remember just from winter workouts,” Kiser said of Nibert, whose mother and aunt were once her Tiger teammates. “I told her ‘We got a lot of middle infielders. Would you be O.K. with learning some new positions?’ She has the most amazing attitude and her outlook on life is so good.”

Nibert replied, “I'm down. just teach me,” and she took advantage of time after practice for additional work on her mechanics, particularly her profile, finding the fence.

“I thought my seniors were gonna be kind of tough to crack because here (they) are… senior year, another (third) new coach,” Kiser recalled about her senior collective. “How is she gonna run it, what are we gonna be expected to do, we've gotten used to losing more games… way more games than winning.’”

“…with a little help from my friends” – Kiser is a diligent worker with visibly strong-looking hands proving she won’t shy away from arduous work. She shared her thoughts and anecdotes for more than 70 minutes, and each of us were enjoying a hearty breakfast while using what I call the “chipmunk rule.” If your mouth is full, move the food to the inside of one of your cheeks and keep the dialogue flowing.

Kiser also cited coaching mentors Miller and DeMien, her former head coach Scott Freds, her assistant coaches, and some other interesting folks contributing to her joy during her inaugural Tiger softball coaching season.

Her father attended each of her games and also offered the Nibert sisters (Brooklyn and Leighton) a voice similar to the encouraging tone their recently passed grandfather had. Her nieces, one who will be a freshman on next year’s squad, and the other an elementary school younger sibling were a welcome presence for Kiser, who wanted to be sure they didn’t miss quality time, and Lady Tiger softball players as well.

Kiser mentioned a July 4^th pancake breakfast with Warsaw principal Troy Akers; a gentleman she admired even in the days she spent palling around with his son. Akers listened closely to Kiser’s casual, but sincere, discussion about making Tiger Softball a program that should strive for deeper postseason success.

Hilary Kiser is home again, and she’s just getting started.