By Derek Turner
From Seattle to New Britain, Kat Knowles has made a seamless transition and helped lead the 2011 Central Connecticut State University softball team to the most winningest season in program history.
A native of Woodline, Wash., and a fifth-year senior, Knowles has seen this softball program go through major changes in the past five years and she has been right in the middle of it all. Already with a degree in communication, Knowles had one year of eligibility left and decided to come back and play out her final year, now double-majoring in psychology.
“I called up Coach [Jeff] Franquet half-way through the summer and asked ‘Can I play next year?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, please, come back and play,’” said Knowles.
Knowles’ freshman year was a red-shirt season, meaning she practiced with the team, but could not travel or play in any games. It was a way for her to get established in her school work and get ahead.
By the time Knowles was in her junior season, she was leading the team on the field with a .306 batting average and .377 on-base percentage. She started all 43 games, appeared behind the plate and shared the team lead in hits with 38.
The 2010 season was a huge statistical year for Knowles. The second team All-NEC selection started all 49 games played, led the team for the second straight year in batting average hitting .378 and slugged a staggering .650 thanks to her team high 18 doubles. Behind the plate, Knowles posted a .982 fielding percentage and threw out 24.4 percent of base-stealers. The stats are nice too look at, but Knowles does not define her college career by them.
“I’d give up everything I had last year to be where I’m at this year,” said Knowles based on team chemistry and overall performance from the team as a whole.
The largest transition, Knowles described was not moving three time zones east, but last fall when Franquet took the helm as the new CCSU softball coach.
“It was a big transition last year structure wise. There is more responsibility and accountability put on yourself…we obviously have a dry season, we’re held accountable for that by ourselves and each other and by our coach,” said Knowles. “Being on time for things, being 15 minutes early, doing all the extra stuff…you’d see half our team in the bubble at night from 8 to 11.”
On the field, Knowles may not have had her best statistical year, but she does all the little things that most people don’t see. In talking with Franquet has never had anything bad to say about any of the players, but loves the initiative Knowles takes to get the little things done.
“She is the best player as far as understanding the game, as far as her work ethic, as far as her commitment to our program, her vision as to where we want our program to be, she understands it,” said Franquet. “She’s the best team leader that we have. In theory she’s another coach. If anybody would have a ‘C’ next to her name, it would be Kat. She’s an incredible leader, she’s a great person on and off the field and she has a high level of respect from every one of our players.”
Matching for practice may not seem like a big deal to most people, but Knowles and her roommates have taken that responsibility upon themselves.
“I’ll be sitting on the couch and ask Liz [Montemurro], ‘What are we wearing tomorrow?’” said Knowles.
She then sends out a text message to the entire team with the next days’ instructions. It’s the little things that Knowles has done to gain the respect from fellow teammates and coaches.
CCSU has become family for Knowles. She describes the girls on her team, especially her three roommates (Montemurro, Erica Koehler and Kendall Sours) who walked her out on senior day last Thursday, as bigger family than she ever had.
Knowles said that senior day would be a special day, but it would be even more memorable if the team qualified for the Northeast Conference tournament, which happened over the weekend.
After her final game in a Blue Devil uniform, Knowles wants to help others whether it be coaching or something else.
“I’m looking to work with kids in some way, whether it has to do with giving lessons, kind of just taking my knowledge and giving it out to the world and what I’ve learned because I’ve had so many coaches and I’ve played different places;” said Knowles. “I’ve gotten all that and grown from that, kind of work from that in order to help anyone out that I can.”
Knowles thoroughly enjoyed her time at CCSU meeting new people and developing a winning culture with the softball team. In the preseason poll, CCSU was picked sixth by the coaches and have turned in the most wins in CCSU softball history.
“It’s something to be very proud of and I think our senior class has built a great foundation for the program to build beyond this in the next couple years,” said Knowles as she leads her team into the NEC tournament. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing and who they are, we can still battle with anybody.”
