The CT Softball Blog

GUILFORD—Forty-eight hours later, Guilford Little League Softball 12-year-old All-Star catcher Kali Reinhold could still vividly see the moment playing out in front of her.

The ball coming off the bat after her opponent swung, a ground ball heading toward her team’s second baseman with each rotation of the ball moving her team—and her dream—closer to the reality of a state championship.

Four-to-three in the scorebook, 6-to-4 on the scoreboard; Guilford had won the state championship with a winner-take-all victory over Fairfield, and Reinhold had a front-row seat to it all.

Finally!

“I ran out as soon as the ball got hit to our second basemen,” Reinhold recalled. “I knew that it was over, so I just sprinted out and everyone was screaming, and it was really fun.”

Two years ago, when this Guilford Little League squad was playing 10-year-old All-Stars, the team won a state title and advanced to regional play.

One player, however, was not there for the ride.

While her teammates were getting dirty on softball fields here in Connecticut and down in Pennsylvania, Kali Reinhold was on a sand-strewn beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Reinhold had made the Guilford 10-year-old All-Star squad, but a previously planned vacation could not be changed so the scrappy catcher with the infectious smile could do nothing but get updates as Guilford made it’s deep summer run, finishing third in the regional tournament.

“I was kind of annoyed,” Reinhold admitted. “I wasn’t mad. I was just sad I couldn’t be there with them.”

On Sunday, up in Waterford, when Guilford won its third straight elimination game—the third time clinching the team’s 2025 state title—Reinhold was out there with her teammates.

Screaming. Jumping up and down. Celebrating. Basking in a state championship moment she missed out on the first time around.

“Kali always had regrets about that,” Guilford manager Andrea Klein said. “She missed it. As we progressed and progressed, it was hard for her, so when I saw her after winning states (on Sunday), that brought tears to my eyes because I know how bad she wanted it. She didn’t get to experience it before the way these other girls had, so it was really special for her.”

As Guilford rolled along this summer season, winning the District 9 championship and the Section 3 title, Reinhold was a key cog in the success.

She continued in that role throughout the state’s final four, as well.

“She’s great with helping to call pitches, with framing the ball; her pop time and the throw downs are amazing,” Klein said. “She just does an absolute phenomenal job behind there. And she’s a great leader and you need a great leader behind the plate. She does a hell of a job for us.”

Not bad for a kid whose first position isn’t even behind the plate.

On her CT Lightning travel squad, Reinhold is primarily the starting shortstop.

It was her older brother who helped her become a catcher, though.

Well, kind of.

“My parents said that my older brother was always throwing balls at me, so I just kind of had to learn to catch them,” Reinhold said with a grin. “But, I’m not afraid of it. If I get hit, oh well, I get hit. It’s just really fun. I also like being in the moment. I like having the ball every single play. So, as a catcher, I was able to do that.”

The biggest adjustment for Reinhold in being a full-time catcher—and she has caught all 15 of Guilford’s games this summer—was adjusting to the pace of pitchers like Maeve Eagleson and Leah Michalowski.

“At first, it was a little weird,” Reinhold admitted. “I don’t catch much for my travel team and Maeve is pretty fast, so I had to warm up to it. I warmed up to it pretty quick, and it’s fun catching for them. They throw a lot of strikes, so I don’t have to do that and when they do throw balls, they’re not crazy bad.”

Reinhold never mentioned to Klein or any of her assistants about any concerns in making the adjustment behind the plate again.

Instead, she squatted down and became a full-time catcher, owning the position 100 percent.

“Kali is also a warrior,” Klein said. “She is a very competitive kid and works very, very hard to be everything that she is. I had no sense of any struggle with her at all or any adjustment by any means. So, I think she did a great job.”

While her glove and arm have played key roles in many games Guilford has played this year, so too has her head and her heart.

In Saturday’s first elimination game against Fairfield, the two teams battled into extra innings. In the top of the seventh inning, Michalowski came on in relief of Eagleson, and immediately gave up a walk and a hit.

Reinhold called time-out and went out to have a chat with her pitcher.

“My catcher, Kali, was really hyping me up and telling me advice to think about,” Michalowski said. “She was just saying, ‘It’s a game. It doesn’t really matter.’ She knew I could do it and she believed in me.”

Three outs later, Fairfield never scored and after Guilford scored in the bottom of the seventh, the teams were headed to Sunday’s if-necessary game with the title on the line.

In five games over the state’s final four tournament, Reinhold was also key at the plate. She hit .500 (4-for-8) while also drawing three walks. She scored four runs and had two RBIs.

Two years after Guilford made a splash in the state’s Litlte League scene, the team did it again this summer.

Only this time, Kali Reinhold got to be a part of the action and the celebration she and her teammates will never forget.

“I don’t think I realized it until afterwards when everybody was getting their medals,” Reinhold said. “Everybody was just screaming. It was amazing to get to be a part of it this time.”

And this time, Reinhold will get to be a part of the New England Regionals, as well, which means more memories with her friends and her team.

That’s absolutely better than a summer vacation in the Outer Banks.

(From The Dugout is a regular column written by CT Softball Blog Publisher John Nash)