Keeping it in the family

By Margo Consul

Kathy and Mark Willinsky remember quarrelling with one another as they grew up.

But their year together at Santa Clara, where they shared the experience of being student-athletes, Kathy on the women's basketball team and Mark a pitcher for baseball, brought them closer.

"We are really close in age and we used to fight a lot, but I feel that's common with a lot of brothers and sisters," Kathy said.

"One of the biggest reasons I came here was because my brother was here so we could go to school together," sophomore Kathy said. "He was a big influence on me coming here."

Mark said it was somewhat weird attending the same school together because they went to different high schools.

"It was like the first time I had gone to the same school as her since middle school," he said. "It was a lot of fun getting to watch her play was pretty cool."

Most members of the Willinsky's immediate family played competitive sports. Their father, Jerry, played football at Cal State Fullerton, and their older sister Laura played basketball in high school and at a junior college. But Mark and Kathy were the first family members to take sports to the division 1 level.

Kathy said Mark helped her transition from high school to college.

Mark agreed. "She would come over to my place, because she lived in the dorms, and I cooked her dinner," Mark said. "We went to the movies to get away from the whole sports thing and stuff."

"It was really nice to have her there because she would make me feel like I was at home."

Mark came to Santa Clara as a freshman in 2006. He finished second in the West Coast Conference in saves with nine and third in games pitched, appeared in 28 games during his first season with the Broncos and struck out 38 batters.

His nine saves was one shy of the Santa Clara freshman record.

Mark finished with a record of 4-2 and a 5.46 ERA in 2008. The 6-foot-4 pitcher was also named all-WCC honorable mention after finishing fourth in the WCC in saves.

The Las Vegas native finished his Bronco career ranked fourth all-time in saves with 15.

The Milwaukee Brewers made Mark their 15th round pick, 458th overall, in the 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

"It was really exciting when they had the draft," Kathy said of her brother turning professional. "My parents flew me home for the weekend. We had games on the TV and we had family over. Everyone was anxiously sitting by the computer screen to see what would happen.

"When it finally happened, everyone was relieved I guess, but really excited for him."

Mark reported to Phoenix on Monday for the start of spring training and will most likely be playing single-A ball in Wisconsin this upcoming baseball season.

Kathy played basketball, softball and volleyball at Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, and was named most valuable player as a sophomore, junior and senior in basketball.

She currently holds Bonanza's single-game rebounding record of 25 and also set the school's single-game free-throws made record with 10 points from the charity stripe.

Kathy's father knew that his daughter had the natural athletic ability early on when she started to compete with the older kids.

"She was so much bigger and more advanced athletically," Jerry said. "When she was in the third grade she started playing with the fifth graders and sixth graders."

Kathy came to Santa Clara in 2007 and saw little action last year, but has seen much more court time this season.

The sophomore forward has played in 25 games and has accumulated 34 field goals and 67 total rebounds.

Both kids played a variety of sports while growing up. At one point, both were playing basketball, and Kathy played softball while Mark played baseball.

"When we were both playing basketball, my brother would always say he was better than me at it," Kathy joked about the rivalry.

"I could probably beat him now, but when we were little he used to beat me bad at basketball because he was so much bigger and stronger. He would throw me around. He didn't care about pushing or hitting me. He pretty much beat me up every time we played," she said.

Added Mark: "My dad and mom always told me to go easy on her, but if I did I would lose, so I kind of couldn't go easy on her. I don't play much basketball anymore and she does all the time now so I'm pretty sure she'd beat me."

Mark said that his favorite memory of playing basketball with his younger sister was when the two of them challenged friends to a game of pick up.

"They kept making fun (of our team) because she was a girl, but we ended up beating them pretty bad," Mark said with a laugh. "It was cool."

Playing with Mark aided in Kathy's development in basketball as a tough forward.

"Now you know why she plays basketball like that," Jerry said with a laugh.

Maybe some of that quarrelling helped on the court.

Contact Margo Consul at (408) 551-1918 or mconsul@scu.edu.