Thomaston High shortstop Ava Harkness is a key cog for the Thomaston High School softball team.
But she is so much more, as well.
She is a Thomaston High soccer player. She is a Thomaston High School basketball player and she’s so good on the hardwood that she’s heading to Eastern Connecticut State University to play hoops come fall.
This story runs far deeper than that, as our old friend Rick Wilson tells her story on the Litchfield County Sports website.
But this is April and this is Spring and this is softball season and that is where Harkness’s focus lays at shortstop for the Bears, who played Staples High on Saturday.
The one-time travel player for the CT Titans and the CT Rapids, based out of Watertown, took a few moments after Saturday’s seven-inning game to go “Extra Innings” with the CT Softball block.
FIRST INNING: How’d you get started playing softball?
AVA HARKNESS: My dad pushed me into T-ball as a little girl and then I went into softball as I grew older in Little League.
SECOND INNING: What is the ultimate highlight you’ve ever had in your softball career?
AH: Honestly? The girls that I played with throughout the years. I’ve made lifelong friendships throughout the time I played and the people I played with.
THIRD INNING: As a softball player, would you rather have a walk-off hit or make a game-saving, spectacular defensive play to clinch your victory for your team.
AH: Game saving play because it’s a team sport.
FOURTH INNING: Do you have any certain pre-game hype music that you listen to?
AH: Not really. I would say that it’s just me doing my hair before games and getting together with my teammates before games and getting ready for the game.
FIFTH INNING: Do you have any superstitions that you follow before or during the game?
AH: Every time I go onto the field, I always do the right foot first over the foul line.
SIXTH INNING: I know you lost today (against Staples, 9-2, to fall to 6-4 on the season) but what are your hopes and goals for the rest of this season?
AH: Just getting the intensity up and finishing our season strong.
SEVENTH INNING: We’re going to switch up from the softball questions now. What is something nobody else knows about you?
AH: I mean there’s not really much nobody else knows about me, but I have cochlear implants in both ears, so not a lot of people know that. (See above story from the Litchfield County Sports website).
EIGHTH INNING: What scares you?
AH: Failing.
NINTH INNING: You’re going out to dinner tonight. You can invite three people from anybody in history, living or dead. Who do you invite?
AH: (My friends) Nicole Becker, who I have played with since I was in kindergarten, and Sloan Warmsley, she plays on the softball team as well. And my mom.
TENTH INNING: What one word best describes you?
AH: Hardworking.
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