Kellee Vornhagen learned to be a competitor growing up in a small town in South Dakota playing sports with the neighborhood boys. Although she pitched growing up, she never really had formal training, she was just athletic enough to figure out how to throw. It wasn’t until she started coaching high school ball that she focused all attention on learning everything she possibly could about coaching the sport and developing pitchers. A new level of focus came when her daughter started pitching at age 8, launching her into working with a pitching coach and learning along with her daughter how to pitch. For the next 10 years, Kellee coached one of the most successful travel and high school teams to ever come out of central Nebraska. Kellee’s daughter, a lefty, led her collegiate team to a conference title and to the national tournament for the first time in school history as the pitching ace. Throughout that period of time, Kellee immersed herself into coaching softball attending coaching conferences and acquiring information and training for pitching. Without a pitcher, how can a team really compete? Kellee then had the opportunity to be the pitching coach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney – a Division II University in the MIAA conference. She coached there for 5 seasons before launching her dream indoor pitching facility – The Softball Classroom.
With a knack for building relationships with people, she combines her passion for teaching with her passion for softball. Kellee loves to support players learning to play at the highest levels. The aspect she loves about softball is how hard it is to play. If someone wants to play at the highest level, the game will demand hard work and discipline when no one is watching. Kellee describes softball as a dynamic game of instinctual, situational decision making that changes with every pitch. The game demands exceptional skill and focus, especially pitching. The work to be great cannot be escaped. If you don’t have the skills and don’t know the game at a deep, high level, that lack of knowledge will be exposed by someone who does. This is the most exciting, challenging draw to softball. Pitching is the heart of this game. While expecting athletes to work hard, Kellee strives to produce athletes that are great teammates, great competitors and even better people on and off the field. This is what continuously drives Kellee to keep learning and growing with the game as the game continues to evolve.
Why is Kellee excited about Tincher Pitching? “Although I have studied pitching for a very long time, I knew there was a deeper level of knowledge out there to understand. This is when I found Tincher Pitching. I started with training conversations with Denny. I appreciated the level of detailed explanation and straight talk on helping me understand this system. It’s simple, and undeniably effective. It puts the health and safety of the athletes first with movement patterns that are clean and powerful. Tincher Pitching has been life-changing for me and my students. For me this has been a deep dive into the detail of pitching and having an entire community of instructors to grow with. A few months after beginning my training, I was able to meet Denny and train with him and other instructors in Ft. Myers Beach, Fl. I was so impressed with how quickly Denny connected with the students attending the camp and with us instructors. Denny is so genuine and truly cares about his students, who the instructors are and what they know and are able to do. Denny’s work ethic is phenomenal. He has personally worked with every individual that is part of this organization to make sure we are of the same mindset and intention with what we do. I am so grateful for the privilege to be part of this instructor network. I have learned so much and know that no matter what challenge – this pitching family will be there with whatever support is needed. Doing what I do with my students in my facility is a long-time dream come true. Tincher Pitching was exactly what I was needing to further impact the lives of students in my care.
Here is what Denny says about Kellee. “Within the first five minutes of our initial conversation, I was sold on Kellee. She is so totally focused on her students and on ways that she can do a better job with them. I could tell this was the type of person who could not sleep if a student was falling short. And, yes, she is smart, extremely kind, but she knows how to demand a lot from a student while making it a lot of fun.”
Here is where you will find Kellee:
308 224-0281
Twitter: @MrsVornhagen
Instagram: TincherPitching.NE