Baseball
Favorite athlete: Andrew McCutchen
Favorite Team: Pittsburgh Pirates
Favorite memory: Beating Liberty in the state quarterfinals my sophomore year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened to me while competing: The bat flying out of my hands after swinging and missing
Music on playlist: House Music and rap
Future plans: Attend DeSales University to play baseball and major in nursing
Favorite motto: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
One goal by 30: Become a CRNA
One thing people don’t know about me: I can juggle
By Mary Jane Souder
There’s an email written in June of 2021 that Kevin Manero – on the receiving end of that email -still has in his possession. The North Penn baseball coach is not inclined to save four-year-old emails, but this one – well, it was different.
It’s an email from then eighth grader Kevin Brace, and it gives a window into the North Penn senior’s immense passion for his sport.
“I live for baseball,” Brace wrote in the email, going on to explain that his goal was to play for North Penn’s high school baseball team.
“He explained how he would like to be involved in our fall program as a freshman,” Manero recalled. “At the time, we didn’t have a lot of freshmen involved in the fall every year, so it was kind of hit or miss each year how many freshmen got involved.
“But he sold himself to me in an email that was directly from him, and it talked about everything he wanted to do and how excited he was to play baseball at North Penn. And that’s the way he has always been.”
Fast forward to the spring of 2025, and Brace, a three-year varsity starter, is having himself quite a season for a Knight squad that captured the SOL Colonial Division title and has its sights set high in the postseason.
“He is as steady and reliable kid as you’ll ever find, but his performance has not always been where he’s wanted it,” Manero said. “As a sophomore he was playing shortstop in a state semifinal game. Last year, I think he would probably agree that he had a little bit of a disappointing year.
"This year, he has been everything we wanted him to be and more. He’s been tremendous at shortstop. He’s batting over .400, and there’s no doubt, he’s been the most consistent hitter in our lineup all year. It’s all coming together for him. His baseball progression has been impressive to watch, and the level of confidence he’s playing with has been great.”
Although Brace is nearing the end of his high school career at the top of his game, his journey was not without its setbacks. Topping the list would be committing to play Division 1 baseball at Lehigh University only to have a dramatic change in circumstances that resulted in Brace – an outstanding student - decommitting to Lehigh and committing to take his talents to the Division 3 level at DeSales University (more on that later).
“I kind of feel like the whole ordeal that started in December – this kid’s already been to a college commitment day and everything for the school he wanted to go to, and he had to start all over again,” Manero said. “I think maybe to some extent getting that behind him and getting all the pressure off gave him a real clear head and has a lot to do with why he’s played the way he has this year.”
Baseball from the start
Baseball has been Brace’s sport of choice for as long as he can remember.
“Here and there, I would play basketball with my friends,” he said. “I played in a few rec leagues with basketball but nothing super crazy. I’m more of just a baseball-focused guy.
“I started playing when I was probably four and I just stuck with it. I fell in love with it.”
Brace’s commitment to the sport was apparent even as a youngster, and he received the ‘Gamer Award’ at Manero’s Junior Knights Baseball Camp. When he completed a successful eighth grade season, he sent the email Manero has saved.
“I kind of forgot about that,” Brace said. “I just wanted to kind of separate myself. I wanted to show him – I really am here to play. I want to be on your team, and I want to play for you.”
Brace participated in fall ball that September, and when the season ended, he was invited to morning workouts and has the remarkable distinction of never missing even one 5:30 a.m. workout in four years. This despite a less than promising start his first day.
“I was pushing myself,” he said. “I ate a little bit of yogurt before I went, and that was not a good idea. I remember – I just didn’t feel good. I was like – I don’t know what’s going on, and I took a few steps away from the squat rack, and I just threw up everywhere.
“It was awful. It was right behind the seniors’ rack, and everyone was asking me what I was doing and saying – ‘get out of the gym’ or something like that. It’s funny to look back on.”
Funny now but – as a freshman - certainly a reason to consider not returning.
“There wasn’t really a doubt,” Brace said. “Hopefully, I wouldn’t do it again next time, but I ended up doing it again the next time, but at least I made it to the bathroom. I got sick, I want to say, for probably the first 10 times.
“Yes, it was awful, but I just stuck it out, and my body just got used to it. Before that, I wasn’t really in the gym that much, so just to be up that early and do that much conditioning in the morning – my body was in shock.”
As for never missing a morning workout in four years – according to Manero, that just does not happen.
“The offseason lifts run from usually the last week of September until the last week of February,” the Knights’ coach said. “To be there at 5:30 in the morning every one of those days for four straight years when you could get sick or you could have a family vacation or you could miss an alarm or you accidentally sleep in – there are just so many things that can happen that time of day, and he never missed one. I just can’t believe that a kid could do that.”
Brace acknowledged he wasn’t always at his best.
“There were a few times when I was definitely sick, and it says – don’t come to the weight room if you’re sick, but I wasn’t missing a day,” he said. “Getting up is the hardest part, and once I get up and go to the gym – I’ll be all right, I’ll want to be there because I’m with all my friends.
“Ever since we started morning workouts when I was a freshman, I just kind of fell in love with the gym, and I go every single day. It’s hard to go during the season, but I still try to make sure I get there a few times a week.”
So, when Manero suggested a summer program Brace was immediately on board.
“After we got knocked out of states last season, we had a meeting with all of our guys and we talked about how important their strength and conditioning was over the summer because if they wait until they get back into school, there are just too many months that are going by where they’re not getting stronger,” the Knights’ coach said. “Well, (Brace) and our second baseman, Logan Waynick, who’s a sophomore, paired up, and they were spending hours working out.
“Every time I would go out to the field in the summer, I’d see them out long tossing or running. They spent a lot of hours over at Iron Athlete, a gym in Lansdale our strength coach owns, and he just got after it, and he was physically stronger in September. I also believe that’s got a lot to do with why he’s having a great year. He’s not a big physical specimen, but you can clearly see how much stronger his legs have gotten and how the benefits are paying off for the efforts he put in.”
Change of plans
Playing collegiate baseball was always a goal for Brace, the son of Kevin and Danielle Brace, but his journey was not smooth sailing.
“Lehigh was my dream school – I always wanted to go there,” he said. “I started to get looked at by Lehigh the summer going into junior year. I did a camp there, and they were already looking at me a little bit. Then I hit a home run at the camp, and they really wanted me, so they gave me an offer.
“We talked about it, and I eventually committed there, I want to say, January of my junior year. I go through my junior spring season, junior summer season, and then finish up my senior fall season. Winter of senior year, we got our financial package, and it was nothing like we were expecting, and we just couldn’t do it, so we had to abandon that plan and just scramble and try and find somewhere else because it was still my dream to play in college.”
According to Manero, a lot of coaches came calling when Brace decommitted.
“He was a Division 1 commit who played shortstop, and that’s a commodity,” the Knights’ coach said. “It was really refreshing to see how many Division 3 coaches were jumping on this opportunity in a heartbeat. He was able to have some choices.”
In the end, Brace chose DeSales University.
“DeSales reached out to me the next day,” he said. “I took a visit, and I loved it. And the new coach – coach (Bryan) Torresani and Coach Neiman – they are great people. I love the campus, and I know a few people that went to DeSales, and they loved their experience there. So, I just felt like it was the right fit.
“There’s a little less pressure on me to be performing like a Division 1 athlete. Looking back, it was a blessing in disguise.”
The change in schools also resulted in a change in majors. Instead of engineering, Brace will major in nursing.
“My dream when I was little - I always wanted to go in the medical field, whether it was a doctor, a nurse,” he said. “My aunt is a nurse practitioner. My sister (Erica), who is already a nurse, is going back for her DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice). You can’t really play Division 1 baseball and major in nursing, so I was going to put my physics skills to work and major in engineering.
“Once I changed to DeSales, they said I was able to do nursing, so I got to do what I actually wanted to do. If you take baseball out of it, I’m going to have a job and a family to support, so doing what I love – that’s more important.”
A bright future
Just as Brace excels on the baseball diamond, he also excels in the classroom.
“The real story with Kevin Brace is Kevin Brace in the classroom,” Manero said. “We tell kids all the time – you do very well in school, you get good grades, you get good SAT scores, and many doors will open for you.
“And for Kevin, for much of his high school days, he was top 25 in the class, SAT scores over 1300, GPA over 4.0, AP classes, honors classes, you name it – everything.”
Academics have always been a priority for Brace.
“I always wanted to strive to do the best I could in school,” he said. “I want to do my best in everything. Whether it’s academics, whether it’s baseball, whether it’s relationships, I always want to put 100 percent into everything I do.
“That does mean sacrificing going out with people and hanging out or going out to dinner for studying. I have to sacrifice, but it is really important to me.”
With his future in both baseball and academics now a clear path, Brace is enjoying every minute of his final high school baseball season.
“I’m just having fun,” he said. “That’s all it is. There’s no pressure. I’m just enjoying it, which the past year, two years, I was putting pressure on myself because I wanted to perform.
“Now, there’s no pressure. I’m just having fun. “
