Senior Chloe Kerns leaves her legacy

At the age seven her father pushed her to play softball, and she hated it. On a team filled with older girls, due to her father being the coach, she was uncomfortable. Coming back a year later, she loved the new team with girls her own age surrounding her. Ten years later, senior Bearcathlete Chloe Kerns has four all league county titles, one Lion’s Club award, and she has played seven seasons on varsity teams. Her love for softball now soars, and so does the plane that’s whisking her 3,040 miles away from her home to Storrs, Connecticut on a scholarship from the University of Connecticut.

“You’re kind of signing your life away,” Kerns said. “It’s so far from home, but I’m excited. I know I’m going to miss home but I also need to experience my own experience on the East Coast, far away from home. And still having that family environment with my team and coaches will help me be able to do that, but still be on my own at the same time.”

Kerns has played softball for over half her life and four years varsity at PRHS , but the game wasn’t something she always loved.

“My dad made me play and my sister played, so I started when I was seven. I quit after a year, came back and fell in love with it, and I’ve played since then,” said Kerns, who was a role model for the softball team with her hard work and dedication.

“Chloe Kerns is the type of player who never gives up and always sees the potential in her teammates. Chloe Kerns is the type of player who wants to get everything right every time, even if that means staying ten minutes after practice taking backhands at first,” freshman teammate Amanda Snowbarger said.
Known for her positions at first base and behind the plate catching and her .419 batting average, it’s no surprise that Kerns was named Pac-8’s First-Team all league pick for her sophomore and junior year. Aside from her captain role on the softball field, she was also Co-Captains with Riley Austin on the varsity volleyball team for two years.

Volleyball has been a part of Kerns’ life since fourth grade. In her varsity career, Kerns has had approximately 70 aces and 300 digs in 190 sets according to MaxPreps.
Although Kerns dominated the court, her love for softball is the reason she’s attending UCONN in the fall, where a scholarship guarantees that she’ll play the game.

“It’s like my world could be falling apart that day, and I will still go to softball and I won’t think of anything except for softball. It literally makes me so happy,” Kerns said.

She is sad to leave behind her mom, who drove Kerns to be the talented girl she is and has “done so much” for her, her brother, PRHS alumni Colby Kerns (2013 Bearcathlete)– who is returning from his two-year mission in Colorado this spring, her grandpa, “the father figure” Kerns always wanted, and her best friend since she was eight, senior Sabrina Scott.

“She’s pushed me [Scott], she’s always been proud of me, she’s been my friend through it all. Everything I’ve gone through, I know I can count on her,” Kerns said. But Kerns is up for the challenge that college precipitates.

“My friendship with Chloe means the world to me. She isn’t just my best friend; she is truly family. Both of our families love each of us as their own, and it’s such a special bond. Chloe is somebody that I trust
with my life. She always tells
me the truth even if it isn’t what I want to hear. It breaks my heart that UCONN is so far away, but I am so proud of her I can’t even put it into words. I couldn’t imagine my life without her,” Scott said.

Kerns will be attending UCONN on a softball scholarship and plans to study Allied Health Services in order to become an Orthodontist.