Hats Off to Kelley Montalvo
3/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? Sophomore third baseman Kelley Montalvo can be found on the field making defensive plays that no other third baseman can make and providing power at the bottom of a talented Crimson Tide batting lineup. Off the field Montalvo can be found constantly joking around and sporting her collection of different hats.
Montalvo, a native of Miami, Fla., has joined teammate Mandy Burford in a friendly competition to see who can accumulate the most hats. Kelley and Burford will try to be the first ones to purchase a new style of Alabama hat that comes on the market.
"We have this thing now where it is a battle of who can get the most hats," said Montalvo. "It sounds funny but I thought I was in the lead once and now everybody has caught up. Burford probably has the most hats you will ever see in Alabama history. She comes out with different colors. We are all in competition to get all of these hats. I tried to go to the mall just the other day to go get a hat. That is how competitive it has become."
The battle for hat supremacy is not limited to Alabama caps. The players also try to collect hats from professional sports teams and teams from the area where they are from.
Although the players don't wear hats while they are playing you will see them walking around with different Alabama hats from time to time.
"It is not just Alabama hats," said Montalvo. "You can have any kind of hat, Yankees hats, Boston hats, anything. I would have to say Mandy is in the lead for sure. She just had a birthday so it is not fair. Her hats are piling up and I am running low. My new hobby that I am trying to get in to is collecting Florida hats, which can be Marlins, Dolphins or even like a Cuba hat. That is my big hobby now. You can't find them here in Alabama so I have to wait until I go back to Florida to get those."
Recently on Alabama's trip to Gainesville, Fla. for a doubleheader against the Florida Gators, Kelley added to her collection when she bought a hat with the Cuba flag and outline of the island on it to honor her heritage. It is a hat she has been looking to buy for quite some time.
"I have been looking for one for actually a long time," said Montalvo. "They have them at home but not in Alabama. As soon as I saw it in Gainesville I had to jump on it. I didn't even try it on. It has the little island in the back and the flag on the front. I wish it would have said Cuba because the flag is similar to the Dominican Republic."
Both of Kelley's parents, Fernando and Grisel Montalvo, moved from Cuba to the United States with their parents at a young age. Growing up in Miami, they both learned to speak English and Spanish. Fernando is now a detective and police officer in Hialeah, Fla. a city that is part of the Miami metropolitan area. He is also a member of the SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team in the area.Grisel is now a manager for BellSouth.
In all Kelley probably owns about 25 different hats at this point in time. She is catching up now to Burford who claims she has about the same amount. When Kelley goes to a store she is serious about her purchases and knows exactly what she is looking for.
"My favorite hat would have to be a fitted small/medium or 7 1/8 is my size," said Montalvo. "That is specific but I said we are hat people. I used to like Alabama hats but now that everybody has the same ones, I kind of got over that. I said now I am going to start my own thing and get Florida hats. When I go back home over the summer I am going to try and see if I can get the most hats. My favorite team is the Marlins, especially now that Chrissy's (Owens) brother plays for them. My parents support them so much."
Montalvo picks her favorite hats by the way they fit. Most of her top choices are name brand hats and not Alabama hats. Burford said one her favorite hats is a white z-fit Alabama hat with a red "A" on the front. She also has a Braves hat that she has had for awhile and is one of her most comfortable hats because of the way it fits and is worn in.
In fact she is so serious about her purchases, she doesn't even like to go shopping with anybody else when she is looking for a hat because they might want it too. As soon as Montalvo buys a hat the first thing she wants to do is show Burford what she got.
"Every time I get a new hat I want to show Mandy what I got," said Kelley. "I really go hat shopping on my own and can't get one with everybody else there. If someone is with me and I say I like one they might say they like it to and want to get it so I have to go on my own."
Burford is the same way when it comes to buying a hat that nobody else owns. She does not want to wear the same hat that somebody else has. She also enjoys showing Montalvo her new hats.
"When everybody starts getting it I don't want to wear it anymore," said Burford. "They have come out with these new Major League Baseball fitted hats and I am a big braves fan so I couldn't wait to go get that one."
With the players owning so many different hats, it is hard to find new Alabama hats that are original. Some players end up getting similar styles but in different colors.
"Everyone sticks with the same Alabama hat," said Kelley. "There are so many different kinds. There is camouflage, red or black. I like the hats with the "A" but they need to be fitted and have a design on them. I also like the flat bill even though some people don't like the look of it. Everyone has different types. Mandy gets the same types of Alabama hats but in different colors. We keep it simple."
One of the most recent hats to come out was the hounds tooth hats with the red "A" on the front. They were a giveaway at a football game in the fall and soon became a highly sought out item, prompting retailers to start selling them in stores. It is one hat that Kelley does not have but would really like to add to her collection.
"I have been dying for the hounds tooth hat since it came out," said Montalvo. "Before the season started, I saw the hounds tooth hat and I wanted it fitted, not with the strap on the back. I knew my size and was going to go get it at the store when I came back after Christmas. When I got back you don't even know how many people have it. Coach (Patrick) Murphy had it, Vann (Stuedemann) had it and Mandy had it. They didn't get the fitted one, they got the regular one.
I lost interest in it. Whenever somebody has something I lose interest and don't want to get it because I don't want the same thing as somebody else. That was a really big hat that I wanted and now I can't get it because everybody else has it. I really want the fitted one and am still debating on whether to get it or not. Everybody tells me to get it because they have it, but I don't want it for that reason. I might stop by and get it because I need it really bad."
Besides collecting hats, Kelley also spends a lot of her free time with her teammates joking around. One of their favorite things to do is go to the movie theater and watch comedies. They spend a lot of their time together quoting lines from the movies they see.
"In our free time, it is always me, Kellie (Eubanks), Katie (Johnson) and (Alex) Blewitt," said Montalvo. "We always hang out. We have been trying to go and catch movies, especially funny movies. Any new funny movies that come out we try and go catch them. We quote movies all the time. Every five seconds we are quoting movies. If we don't get one then we get mad at each other for not knowing it because we are supposed to."
One of the things Kelley used to do with her family in the summertime was go on vacation with theme parks a popular choice for Kelley and her brother, Julian, and sister, Angie. The family used to go to several different parks, including Disney World, Wet ??n Wild, Busch Gardens and Islands of Adventure.
"When my family goes on vacation we go to Disney a lot or we go to water parks," said Kelley. "We usually try to go every year or two around my birthday in the summer. Disney has always been a big thing. We go either when we are playing travel ball or just for a vacation. I have the park memorized. Every time we go I don't need a map or anything. It is fun and we like it. I am not a really big Disney fan but I do like the theme parks."
Out of all the theme parks in Florida, Kelley's favorite ones are Busch Gardens in Tampa and Islands of Adventure in Orlando. She is a really big fan of roller coasters, especially.
"I like all of the rides at Islands of Adventure because I am a roller coaster freak," said Montalvo. "My favorite ride at Busch Gardens would have to be the Kumba, which I finally got to ride two years ago. At Islands of Adventure there is the Incredible Hulk which is awesome. Those are my favorite rides. I especially like the rides that go upside down."
It is Kelley's fearless attitude that has allowed her to gel into one of the best defensive players in the SEC at third base. Time and time again she makes plays on hard hit balls that most people would think are impossible to make. She earns the tip of the cap from her teammates, opponents and fans in attendance.
Kelley will get to flash her defensive skills and possibly one of her many hats this weekend when the Crimson Tide take on South Carolina for a three-game series in Columbia, S.C. The two teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday and will conclude the series with a single game Sunday at 1 p.m.
