13-year-old’s national anthem at Royals game ‘brought butterflies’

The eyes of nearly 33,000 people were on 13-year-old Mollie Beaver as she walked out behind home plate at Kauffman Stadium, microphone in hand, to sing the national anthem.

Mollie, who has been singing in competitions since she was 8, said this was the largest crowd she’d ever performed for.

“It definitely brought butterflies,” she said. “But I was more excited. It was so fun.”

Mollie, who will attend Andover High School this fall, sang “The Star Spangled Banner” on Thursday at the Royals game against the Houston Astros.

To get the chance to sing at the game, Mollie said, took some patience.

The Royals hold auditions for national anthem performers each year. They accept hundreds of videos, then invite a select amount of entrants to audition for a spot on the schedule.

“This year was my second year auditioning,” Mollie said. “My first year, I didn’t get it.”

Mollie said she was in school when she learned she’d been selected to sing this season.

“People kept texting me ‘congratulations about the Royals,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ Because (my mom) hadn’t told me yet,” she said. “So that’s how I found out. That was really fun.”

Mollie has performed at Wichita State University basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball games. She’s sung for local concerts and in national competitions. She’s even performed on Broadway Street in Nashville. However, she said singing at Kauffman has been her favorite performance yet.

“The mic was so cool; it was huge. That sound system is great,” she said. “And the players were nice. When I walked past, they said, ‘Good luck’ and ‘You’re going to do great.’ ”

Though Mollie typically is asked to perform the national anthem or “God Bless America” for venues, she also plays piano, guitar, ukulele and writes her own songs.

She has five singles on iTunes, two of which are her own original songs: “Invincible” and “Christ Is Here.”

Her mother, Darcy Beaver, said Mollie also has songs streaming on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon and CD Baby.

Mollie’s first EP, a four-track album, was released about two years ago as part of a fundraiser for a village in Nairobi, Kenya.

Darcy Beaver said Mollie wanted to continue a school project that helped to provide water filtration systems to a Kenyan education center. So, she said, Mollie teamed up with local songwriter Aaron Sidwell to create the song “When You Dream Big.” All proceeds from anyone streaming the song and EP sales went toward more water filtration systems for the village.

Mollie, who takes voice and piano lessons through local coach Sharon Garton and guitar lessons through Music Scene, said she’s inspired by genres like country, jazz, Christian and pop. When writing her songs, she said, she likes to draw from the sounds of her favorite artists. Some of those include Miley Cyrus, Keith Urban, Lauren Daigle and Colbie Caillat.

Mollie said she’s performed her original songs live only one time but wants to continue writing and singing them more often.

“I always feel like whenever I perform my originals, I get nervous that they won’t like it, and all this stuff gets in my head. I’m OK with singing other people’s songs, because they’ve already been approved by millions,” she said with a laugh. “But I love writing songs, and I want to share it with people.”

Heading into her freshman year of high school, Mollie said she’s excited to get involved with activities outside of singing. She wants to try out for the soccer and tennis teams and get involved with the school’s theater department.

However, she said, her dream of a singing career is never far from her mind. In fact, she’s already started searching for colleges that will help improve her musical abilities.

“I really have found interest in Nashville at Belmont,” she said.

Belmont University’s School of Music has been recognized as one of the top 25 music programs in the country. Mollie said she’ll be visiting the campus at the end of June for a vocal intensive.

“I get to stay in the dorm rooms and take classes on music writing,” she said.

Darcy Beaver, who also has two older daughters currently in college, said it’s been great watching Mollie grow as a singer.

“People don’t see how much time it takes on her end to practice and to get better,” she said. “But it’s something she enjoys, so it’s easy to support.”

Mollie’s next performance is Saturday at the fifth annual Andover Concert in the Park. She’ll be singing the national anthem before Clint Black and John Michael Montgomery take the stage. Tickets are available for $10 at http://tickethookups.com/andover2017.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 3:10 PM with the headline "13-year-old’s national anthem at Royals game ‘brought butterflies’."