The CT Softball Blog

COVENTRY—For as long as he has coached high school softball, Coventry’s Jeff LaHouse has never had a captain who was not a senior.

Of course, he never had a player like Brooke Blouin on his roster, either.

Midway through her high school career, Blouin, Coventry’s junior catcher, will be one of the captains for the Patriots this coming spring season, joining senior Charlotte Wesoloskie in that leadership role as the team chases a third straight state Class S title.

“This is the first time I’ve done it, but Brooke is going to be a leader on the field for us. I know that for a fact,” LaHouse said. “It’s better for the team to have her out there as a captain.”

It’s been a big junior year for Blouin in other ways, as well.

This fall, Blouin—an All-State player last spring as a sophomore—verbally committed to play softball at Iona University starting in 2026.

“I wasn’t sure it would be a good fit at first, but I went to a camp and saw the school and I did like it,” Blouin said. “My mom and I did an academic tour of the school and it’s a beautiful campus.”

Part of Blouin’s issue as she went through the recruiting process was that she loved every campus she visited.

“When I was looking at schools, I loved every single campus I stepped foot on,” she admitted. “It didn’t matter if I walked into a classroom that fit 20 kids or 200, I just loved it. That’s not a shock to me, though. That’s’ my personality.”

Blouin’s connection with first-year Iona head coach Carla Campagna didn’t hurt in the long run.

Campagna was at Division 2 Adelphi University before being hired at Iona and Blouin had been on her radar prior to the change in the jobs.

Previous teammates and other coaches helped bring the two together and Blouin felt like Campagna was a coach she could play for in college.

“I stayed in touch,” Blouin said. “After the camp, she offered me a spot. I think we have a similar personality. (Campagna) has a lot of passion for softball and her teams have a great culture. I loved all the players I met.”

It wasn’t Blouin’s goal to go Division 1, rather just a happenstance of how things worked out for her.

“It wasn’t 100 percent that I needed to go D1,” she said. “I wanted to go somewhere where everything felt like home and all the boxes got checked. I didn’t care what division. It’s a great feeling to know it’s Division 1. I’ve played softball my whole life, worked hard, did it all, and to know it’s a small percentage that gets to lay D1 softball, that’s special.”

Blouin will also get to play somewhat close to home, which was important to her.

“I didn’t want to be a plane ride away,” she said. “So, it’s perfect.”

Blouin, it appears, was born to be a catcher. It took her a bit of time to make the dish her permanent home.

After starting her career in Coventry’s rec league, she soon found herself getting involved in travel softball.

She has played for both the CT Bombers and the CT Lightning.

Both travel squads have equipped her with plenty of moments that have led to her success.

“I think with the Bombers, I was still very young, but it laid out the foundation of the hard work that was going to come in the future years,” Blouin said. “And switching to the Lightning, there was such a family environment. Everybody was there for each other.  They helped me a lot during the recruiting process, too.”

At Coventry, she immediately made the starting lineup but found herself at third base instead of behind the plate.

Likewise, the Lightning were using her more as a third baseman or first baseman.

Heading into her sophomore season at CHS, LaHouse knew his team needed a catcher for the new season and asked Blouin if she had been getting a lot of reps behind the plate.

“I had accepted I wasn’t catching for the Lighting. I loved third base and first base, and I was fine it,” Blouin said. “That freaked me out so much. I hadn’t caught in a year and a half and was like, ‘What do you mean?’ I told my travel coach, ‘I’m going to be the catcher for my high school team, and I need more reps.’”

The rest, as they say, is history.

With Blouin back behind the plate, Coventry won its second straight state championship game last spring.

“She’s so talented,” LaHouse said. “I know she’s a catcher, so last year I started her over a senior catcher, and she did phenomenal. She’s a gamer, absolutely.”

Can a three-peat happen for the Patriots come spring?

“We have a very young team this year,” Blouin said. “But I think it’ll be fun to see how we all come together as a full team. We have good pitching, but I’ll be a change for us.”

With a leader like Blouin paving the way, LaHouse thinks anything could happen this spring in Coventry.

“She’s a great leader. She doesn’t point fingers,” LaHouse said. “She’ll take kids under her wing and even without the official captain (tag) she was always one of our leaders. Softball is such a mental game. Sometimes it takes kids a bit longer to figure out they belong on that field, but she figured it out early.”

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