Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994 TAG: 9403310230
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUCHANAN LENGTH: Medium
She speaks of pressure and how she has dealt with it in the past four years at James River High School. She speaks of college and how she is looking forward to it.
She speaks of her family, which is no surprise.
It is Mundy's family, after all, that gave her this pressure in the first place. It also is her family that has helped ease it.
Kara's father, Ralph, was a four-sport star at James River in the mid-1960s. Track, baseball, football and golf - he lettered in them all. There were 14 letters in all during his four years at the school.
Then came Kara's brother, Doug. He was a baseball star at James River a few years ago and now plays second base for Eastern Mennonite College.
The Mundys are well-known in this small town. A cousin owns an auto body shop downtown, and James River softball coach John Shotwell said Kara Mundy's name often is in the headlines of the local paper.
That's what happens when you star in three sports at a small school.
Mundy has four letters in basketball, she soon will have four in softball, and she has lettered for three years in volleyball and two years in cheerleading.
Busy girl. Not only does Mundy play sports year-round, she excels in them. She was All-Group A last year in softball, All-Region C in volleyball the past two years and was All-Region C in basketball during the fall.
It's softball, though, that is Mundy's best sport.
"She's a nice person to start a team with," says Shotwell, who has coached various teams at James River for 31 years.
Mundy will play in the outfield this year, but she can pitch, too.
Two years ago in the Region C softball final against Glenvar, Mundy pitched a no-hitter. She went 12-3 that year, but hurt her back in volleyball last year and didn't pitch. She likely won't pitch this year, either.
"I would rather play in the outfield," she says. "I love to run. It's more exciting."
Shotwell, who played shortstop for two months in 1961 with the Appalachian League's Salem Pirates, says Mundy was solid in all the fundamentals when she came out for the team her freshman year.
"I could see that she had the talent, the things that are important in an athlete," he says. "She's got a great arm and can really get to the ball. She can run, bunt, throw and hit."
Then again, so could her father. And her brother. When Mundy came out for the softball team her freshman year, she brought more than her glove onto the field. She brought a name etched in James River athletic history and the expectations that came with it.
"Doug was an outstanding athlete, and I wanted to prove I was good, that I wasn't on the team just because of my name," she says. "My freshman year, I had a lot of pressure on me. It seemed like every time I'd get up it would be in the bottom of the inning, the bases would be loaded and there'd be no outs.
"Sometimes I'd just go home and cry, there'd be so much pressure."
But the support of her parents, who attend all her games, helped her through the rough times.
Mundy started playing sports at a young age - she says she started before she was 5. Much of her time was spent practicing outside with her father and brother.
"I always wanted to be like my older brother," she says. "That's why I have No. 18 now. My brother had it through high school.'
Looks like all that work has paid off. Mundy batted .525 last year and leads a team that went to the Group A state tournament last year and has seven starters back.
She has been accepted at Radford University, North Carolina-Charlotte and East Tennessee State. She's waiting to hear from Roanoke College and Pfeiffer, but doesn't know if she wants to compete in sports in college. If she does, she says, she'll play softball.
And as time goes by, her name will go down with the rest of her family, another high school sports legend to be put in the record books of James River High School.
by CNB