The Knights' Tale

Ronan softball product leads Wenatchee Valley College to best

school record in history

Kaylee Larson didn't know anyone when she headed over to Wenatchee Valley College but, chances are, people from there know her now.

The softball player and 2009 graduate from Ronan High School made quite the impact this spring out on the diamond, earning 2011 Eastern Region First Team All-Conference honors at shortstop in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC).

"I'm going to miss it a lot," Larson, who finished her second year at the school with an associate's degree in arts, said.

The transition between high school and college wasn't easy at first for Larson, who after a successful career at Ronan moved into a completely different setting.

"It was a struggle at first just to get my groove down," Larson said. "Practices were the toughest things to get use to. It was totally different and it was more mentally challenging."

Wenatchee Community College had their players practicing upwards of five hours every day to get ready for games. Larson said she had to adjust to the full-speed pace of college ball, and things generally got easier and easier the more she got used to it.

"For my second year, I kicked it up a notch," she said.

Did she ever. Larson was named the Wenatchee Valley College Knights Most Valuable Player for the 2011 season and the team finished third in the 2011 NWAACC tournament in May.

She also helped the team to their six consecutive Eastern Region Championship with the best record in school history

(40-7).

"I loved it at Wenatchee," Larson said. "It was a totally different level of softball."

She added that the whole team knew just what it took to be successful as every single person practiced all-out at 100 percent.

It certainly paid off too, nine players from Wenatchee made first-team all-league.

"I had so much fun," Larson said. "My parents went to every game except for two."

That's a tall order considering the distance between Wenatchee and Ronan, coupled with the fact that college softball has a lot of games to be played. However that didn't stop her parents, Lucky and Teresa Larson from supporting their daughter.

Larson herself didn't get home too much, making it back to town on a rare occasion due to the demanding nature of school and athletics, but that didn't mean she forgot about her time with the Maidens.

"My senior year was awesome," she said. "I played with my best friends and we had played together since we were eight years old."

It was Larson's senior season in 2009 when Ronan took fifth at state with her dad, Lucky Larson, at the helm as head coach. He's now the Athletic Director for Ronan.

"My dad taught us all the etiquette of the game and how to respect it," Larson said.

Larson was an all-state selection her senior year and a four-time all-conference recipient in softball. She was also a two-time all-conference selection in volleyball and received all-conference second-team recognition her junior year in basketball.

Now after her career at Wenatchee, she plans to attend MSU-Northern and tryout for volleyball.